Posts
"And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.
- Matthew 6:7-15
We are reading through the Sermon on the Mount. We began with the Beatitudes, then we read You are the salt of the earth, Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill, Whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment, Let your "Yes" be "Yes," and your "No," "No." and Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. Yesterday, we read that Jesus taught, "Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly. And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly." The lectionary then skipped over the reading passage for today, in which Jesus gives us what we call the Lord's Prayer, or the Our Father. Jesus continued afterward, "Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."
"And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him." These are teachings Jesus continued on prayer from yesterday's reading. We understand that prayer is for a deliberate and personal communion with God. We are to pray to our Father who is in the secret place. We are to go into an inner room to pray. Everything is about intimacy, the personal, the depth of the heart, where the Father sees in secret. It's the most intimate and true relationship we can have. The vain repetitions don't help to establish such intimacy. My study bible says that God does not need our "babble." Both silence and words are necessary. So, we pray always (Luke 18:1) and without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). It's not "many words"or even "repetition" that is problematic, but rather vain repetitions. Below, Jesus gives us specific words to repeat, the Lord's Prayer, or Our Father. My study bible says that many psalms, prayers, and hymns of the Church have been repeated for countless generations in the worship of God "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23).
"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." This prayer is found as a centerpiece of worship, and a constant personal prayer all over Christendom. It is the prayer we are given by Christ, thus "the Lord's Prayer." First of all, says my study bible, the Father-Son relationship within the Trinity gives us our potential relationship with God. It tells us, "Christ, Son of God, grants us the privilege of calling God Our Father by the grace of adoption (Galatians 4:4-7). As a 'son of God,' the Christian is called to love, trust, and serve God as Christ does the Father." It adds that God is not our Father just because He created us -- He's only Father to those who are in a saving and personal relationship with Him, a communion that comes only by the grace of adoption (see John 1:13, Romans 8:14-16). We can't limit who that's on offer to, but we do know it's realized through our active participation in that relationship. The first words of the prayer establish that relationship and our part in it.
"Give us this day our daily bread." What is our daily bread? The word here in Greek that describes this bread is "epiousios" -- it doesn't mean "daily." It means literally "above the essence" or "supersubstantial." This is a "super-bread" so to speak. Daily bread doesn't just mean food for the day or worldly bread we eat for today. This is the bread for the eternal day of that Kingdom of God we've just prayed about. This is the bread for the nourishment of our immortal soul. The living, supersubstantial bread is Christ Himself ("I am the bread of life" - John 6:35). So this prayer Jesus teaches doesn't have us praying for just material needs for physical health, but the spiritual bread of eternal life (see John 6:27-58).
"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." My study bible notes that this request to be forgiven is in the plural, so we're directed to pray for the forgiveness of others. This is basically a community prayer, we pray as a community, even alone in a secret place. And what we do, and what we pray, affects others in ways we don't necessarily know or see. Within the Body of Christ we have a communion that is always going to be at work whether we realize it or not. Debts here are spiritual debts (see 18:41-35).
"And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." God doesn't tempt us to sin (James 1:13) -- that comes from the evil one, the devil. Temptations are aimed, says my study bible, at the soul's giving in to sinful passions of the flesh (Romans 7:5), characterized by a kind of selfishness or self-centeredness that spiritually harms self and community. Nobody lives, it says, without encountering temptations. But we pray that great temptations, tests beyond what we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13), should not come to us.
"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." This is another type of statement like the "Golden Rule." My study bible says that Jesus insists on mutual forgiveness between people as a precondition of God's forgiveness. We forgive if we want to be forgiven; if we don't then we do not realize forgiveness for ourselves. The teaching is found also in the parable of the unforgiving servant (18:21-35), which concludes with the same teaching. Earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has taught, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."
It's interesting to think about debts and trespasses. These are types of sins in the Law, for which offerings are given at the temple. Debts and trespass involve both community and God the Father, God as Judge. They both imply "owing" something. A debt means we've taken something away from someone else. A trespass teaches that somehow we crossed over the line with what is someone else's. This is another sense in which Jesus fulfills the Law of "an eye for an eye," which is a kind of exact repayment for debt, in kind. We recall once again that the Law as Moses gave it was intended to limit retribution, to create justice. It was merciful in the context of its time. Jesus speaks of forgiveness, erasing the need for payment in kind. But above all, we have the Judge. Forgiveness does not mean we take it upon ourselves to decide what needs to be paid and what doesn't need to be paid. It doesn't mean that we don't recognize what's wrong, or what's hurt us, or what crosses over the line -- neither does it mean we don't have to know when we've done this! What it really means is that we don't seek retribution, and furthermore, we give it up to the Judge to decide. As we pray to God for "Your will be done," we ask what is the best way to go about living our lives. Have we been harmed? Is there a debt somewhere? No doubt there always will be in a world that has not realized God's perfect will. But how do we handle such things, and how are we disciples who wish to bring about God's kingdom in the world? This is the key to forgiveness. We don't waste our time with a kind of retribution or vengeance that's not going to serve our best interest, the best life we can have. This is not our top priority. Serving God becomes the top priority, and in that service what we will find is a way in which we seek to serve that which serves our lives best and our community best -- bringing further harm neither to ourselves nor to those whom we love and care about, nor to our community. Think of all the times we might take things into our own hands and go from the frying pan into the fire. Now think about prayer, and asking God instead for the wisdom to know the best way to go forward. This might be the most important lesson we learn, using trauma to steer our lives into the better direction, the best "Way" we can. Forgiveness is giving up our understanding of justice to God, seeking God's will in prayer, and doing what's best for ourselves and our community, those who are most intimately connected to us. It doesn't mean we ignore a state justice system, and it doesn't mean we overlook continual harm or fail to protect against it, but it does mean we find the best way. Think of all the children who might be spared bitterness and harm if parents choose to handle life's crises this way, spouses who are given a measure of peace with such wisdom. Vengeance is rarely satisfying, no matter how it may be portrayed! There's always someone or something else to continue the cycle. And "closure" requires a much deeper recipe than what happens in somebody else's life. His Way, we will always be on the way to somewhere better and wiser and more peaceful. And with God, all the things in our lives can be used to work toward such a goal, helping us to grow.
