Our Father in heaven

 

Spiral Galaxy UGC 12158.  NASA, Hubble Space Telescope (public domain)

 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples."  So He said to them, "When you pray, say:

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us day by day our daily bread.

And forgive us our sins,

For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

And do not lead us into temptation, 

But deliver us from the evil one."

And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you'?  I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.

"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?  Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"

 

- Luke 11:1-13 

 

Yesterday we read that, as Jesus was alone praying, His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"  So they answered and said, "John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again."  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God."  And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day."  Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.  For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?  For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels.  But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God."

 

 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples."   My study bible comments that the request teach us to pray expresses a universal longing to be in communion with God.  We remember that several of Jesus' disciples were first disciples of John the Baptist, who led them to Christ (John 1-29-30).

 

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.  Your kingdom come.  Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."   My study bible says that the Father-Son relationship within the Trinity is a revelation of our potential relationship with God.  Christ, who is the Son of God, grants us the privilege of calling God Our Father by the grace of adoption (Galatians 4:4-7).  It notes that as a "son of God" -- that is, all who are children by adoption and therefore heirs, regardless of gender -- the Christian is called to love, trust, and serve God as Christ does the Father.   It says that it is important to note that God isn't simply our Father because God is our Creator.  God is only Father to those who are in a personal and saving relationship with God, a communion that only comes by the grace of adoption (see John 1:13; Romans 8:14-16).  This prayer sets into its beginning the understanding of the gospel of the kingdom of God, that we are citizens in this heavenly kingdom, and as such our responsibility is living the will of our Father even in our earthly lives.  For this kingdom to be manifest in the world we earnestly pray.

"Give us day by day our daily bread."  The word daily is a misleading translation of the Greek word epiousios/ ἐπιούσιος, an adjective which modifies the word bread (both here and in Matthew 6:11).  This word literally means "above the essence," or "supersubstantial."  My study bible characterizes the expression daily bread as indicating not merely bread for this day and for earthly nourishment, but the bread for the eternal day of the Kingdom of God, and for the nourishment of our immortal soul.  This living, supersubstantial bread is Christ Himself.  In the Lord's Prayer, then, my study bible tells us, we are not asking simply for material bread for physical health, but for the spiritual bread of eternal life (see John 6:27-58).  We can see, also, a clear connection with the mystery of the Eucharist in this understanding.

"And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us."  My study bible notes here that the request to be forgiven is plural, and therefore directs us to pray always for the forgiveness of others.  The term indebted refers to spiritual debts (see Matthew 18:21-35).  

"And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."  My study bible declares that God tempts no one to sin (James 1:13); temptations are from the evil one, the devil.  It says that temptations are aimed at the soul's giving in to the sinful passions of the flesh (Romans 7:5).  It adds that no one lives without encountering temptations, but we pray that great temptations, tests beyond what we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13), should not come to us.  

And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you'?  I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs."  My study bible tells us that this parable demonstrates God's faithfulness to those who are in need and who pray with persistence.  The patristic writers interpret midnight in the parable both as the time of our death, and also a time of great temptation.  The friend is Christ, who, as our only source of grace, provides everything we need, and upon whom we ultimately depend.

"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?  Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"   In Greek, my study bible points out, the verbs translated as ask, seek, and knock imply continuous action.  They are better translated as "keep asking," "keep seeking," and "keep knocking."  God responds, it says, when we persistently ask for things that are good.  Break, fish, and an egg are all images of life - they symbolize the gift of the Holy Spirit (see John 14:13-14, James 4:3).  In the Creed, we call the Holy Spirit the giver or creator of life (the Greek title is ζωοποιών/Zoopion).

Jesus' words and teaching in today's reading give us a sense of our faith as one that inextricably links our worldly life with the mystical life of the Kingdom.  We live in this world with citizenship in the holy Kingdom of God the Father.  So much so, that we pray for sustenance for the life of this Kingdom in us to be given on a day to day basis.  When Jesus teaches us to keep asking, seeking, and knocking for the gift of the Holy Spirit, then surely we must understand that He is not simply talking about worldly lives in which we seek only worldly gifts and outcomes.  As citizens of this heavenly kingdom, we pray, "Your kingdom come.  Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  It is clear from the prayer where our true "law" comes from, and what the true law written on the heart must be (Jeremiah 31:33, Ezekiel 36:26–27, Romans 2:12-16).  Moreover, the prayer sets down a clear priority.  That is, just as Jesus taught that one should "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s" (Luke 20:25), we know which one takes the higher priority even in our earthly lives.  If there is a conflict, the choice is clear, as the martyrs attest.  God's law also teaches us about a greater mercy than does the law of the world, to look to the heart, and so there also we supersede worldly laws and codes (including social codes) to live the life of the will of the Father and to bring a heavenly kingdom as part of our world.  In short, although we are both of God and of the world, there is clearly the priority set down of anchoring this heavenly kingdom in the world, even through our prayers for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, manifesting and living a mystical reality while we live in this world.  This is the story of the Incarnation itself, of Jesus Christ who lived as a devout Jew, and called Himself not the "undoing" but the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.  We are here to fulfill a mystical mission, not separate from the world but a part of it, bringing God's kingdom in our hearts and living it, doing it.  When we lose sight of this spiritual mission, this mystical connection to Christ, how much it permeates our worship and our practices of prayer, almsgiving, fasting, throughout the centuries, we lose sight of what our faith is based upon.  A personal relationship to Christ isn't only about going through motions, nor following social codes.  It is about a living mystical relationship -- a life we need spiritual food to nurture every day, and which permeates everything.  Let us focus on praying for these gifts as Jesus tells us.  Let us focus on our Father's will and its manifestation in this world.  Let us remember to pray this prayer every day, seeking as we do to forgive and to be forgiven, to live according to that spiritual law in which we store up treasures in heaven even as we give and forgive, giving up the spiritual debts of those who sin against us to God rather than simply seeking a worldly vengeance.  Instead, we ask God to guide us in righteous response to the world, whatever that might mean as proper to our own mission in life as citizens of this Kingdom and as those who each bear our own crosses.  Living this life means seeking that will through spiritual, mystical work, remembering our faith and doing what it takes to live it and shore it up.  Let us take good care to live the full lives He offers in this faith and God's kingdom here and now.