Teach Us How to Pray The Lords Prayer

Teach Us How to Pray The Lord’s Prayer Part III

Prayer • Primary speech – humans reaching out to God • Old as humanity itself • Takes many forms

Appears 2 x in Scripture • In Luke 11: 2 -4 • Part of a larger narrative where the disciples observed Jesus praying and asked him to teach them, “just as John taught his disciples” (11: 1) • Matthew 6: 9 -13 • Part of the Sermon on the Mount. Set up as a part of didactic teaching. When you pray, don’t do this, do this. • Pray where and how • Pray what

The Lord’s Prayer • 9 After • • this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer/Matthew • In sermon on the Mount • In the middle – preceded by 116 verses, followed by 114 verses • Three invocations • Hallowed be your name • Your kingdom come • Your will be done

The Lord’s Prayer • Three requests for human need • Give us this day our daily bread • Forgive us our debts • Do not bring us to the time of trial/lead us into temptation

The Lord’s Prayer • Is subversive and risky • Counter-cultural, counter to our will, outside of our control • Utter abandonment to one we can only know by metaphor and experience • Acknowledges God’s holiness and our neediness • Reminds us of our responsibility and our need for God

Surrounding Context • Repudiation of pious showboating or hypocrisy (Matt 6: 1 -8) • Imperative of communal reconciliation (5: 23 -24) • Desire for peace that issues from the law’s fulfillment (5: 17 -18)

The Lord’s Prayer • 9 After • • this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

How do you interpret a test or trial?

How do you interpret a test or trial? • Something neutral = clinical trial or experiment • Something positive = a discovery of something’s strength or effectiveness • Something negative = an academic examination or legal action in court

Positive Interpretations of Test/Trial Deuteronomy 8: 2, 5 “Remember the long way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments…Know then in your heart that as a parent disciplines a child so the LORD your God disciplines you. ”

Positive Interpretations of Test/Trial Psalm 26: 2 -3 “Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and mind. For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in faithfulness to you. ”

Positive Interpretations of Test/Trial James 1: 2 -4 “My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; 4 and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. ”

Positive Interpretations of Test/Trial 1 Peter 1: 6 -7 “In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, 7 so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ”

Positive Interpretations of Test/Trial Matthew 4: 1 “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ”

Alternative Interpretations of Test/Trial • Jesus faces the trial so that we wouldn’t have to • Time of trial refers to apocalyptic thought • Temptation is a result of our own desire, not God’s leading

Comparison Matthew 6: 13 (NRSV) Luke 11: 4 (NRSV) • 13 And • 4 And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. do not bring us to the time of trial.

BUT • Greek word: alla • Could simply paraphrase the clause just negated • “Do not bring us, but lead us away” • Or it clarifies that the trial could lead to a catastrophe that should not be attributed to God • God is not connected to anything evil or worthless

Manifestations of Evil (intertwined) • Individual Act • Systems and Powers • Turning a blind eye

DESPAIR • “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread” • Temptation to allow natural desires to drive our decision making • Evil seeks to convince us that we have one route to obtaining pleasure • In resistance to evil we find the one route to obtaining joy

DISPLACEMENT • “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down” • Temptation to rely on your own power • Evil persuades us to turn from dependence on God to a vain selfreliance • “I can do all things through my own strength”

DENIAL • “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me” • The last temptation makes no sense because it denies the undeniable fact that all belongs to God • Evil is often irrational or intelligible, but our inability to explain evil cannot allow us to compromise with it

RESISTING EVIL

The Doxology “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen. ”