Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven

 

 "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,

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.

"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."

 

- Matthew 6:7–15 

 

We are currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount, found in chapters 5 - 7 of Matthew's Gospel.  In yesterday's reading, 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."  Today's reading begins here.  The following passage brackets afterward, and was included in yesterday's lectionary reading:  "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."  My study Bible continues its remarks on this passage (which we began in yesterday's reading), in which the subject is the spirit of prayer.  What is important is the communion established through prayer, and Jesus cautions against what interferes with that communion, particularly hypocrisy.   Here, He speaks of vain repetitions, which cannot establish this communion, for, my study Bible says, God does not need our "babble."  To partake of this communion, it says, both silence and words are necessary.  Therefore, we are taught to pray always (Luke 18:1) and without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).   Christ does not condemn the use of many words per se, but rather teaches that words need to express the desire for communion with God.  In the following verses, Jesus gives us specific words to repeat (the Lord's Prayer).  It is not repetition itself that is condemned, my study Bible emphasizes, but rather vain repetition.  Many psalms, prayers, and hymns of the Church have been repeated for countless generations in the worship of God "in spirit and truth" (John 4:23).  The emphasis in this particular warning is not about repetition in and of itself, but rather on sincerity in prayer.

"In this manner, therefore, pray:  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 explains that the Father-Son relationship within the Trinity reveals of our potential relationship with God.  Christ, as 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," (meaning heir, regardless of gender) a Christian is called to love, trust, and serve God as Christ does the Father.  This loyalty is part of our trust in God, as is our deep desire for God's kingdom to manifest, and will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.   My study Bible says that we must note that God is not our Father simply because God created us.  God is only Father to those in a saving and personal relationship with God, a communion that only comes by the grace of adoption (see John 1:13, Romans 8:14-16).  

"Give us this day our daily bread."   "Daily" is a misleading translation of the Greek word ἐπιούσιον/epiousion.  This word literally means "above the essence" or "supersubstantial."  So, the expression daily bread indicates not simply bread for this day, for earthly nourishment.  It is the bread for the eternal day of the Kingdom of God, for the nourishment of our immortal soul.  My study Bible comments that this living, supersubstantial bread is Christ Himself.  Therefore, in the Lord's Prayer, we aren't merely asking for material bread for physical health, but for the spiritual bread of eternal life (John 6:27-58).  

 

"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."  This request to be forgiven is plural, my study Bible points out, and so it directs us to pray always for the forgiveness of others and not merely ourselves.  The term debts refers to spiritual debts (see Matthew 18:21-35).  See also that Jesus repeats a message regarding mutual forgiveness after the end of the prayer.

 

"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 tempts no one to sin (James 1:13); temptations are from the evil one, my study Bible notes; that is, the devil.  It says that temptations are aimed at the soul's giving in to the sinful passions of the flesh (Romans 7:5).  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.

"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."   My study Bible comments that Christ insists on mutual forgiveness between people as a precondition of God's forgiveness.  That is, those who do not forgive are not forgiven.  This is a teaching repeated in the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21-35), which concludes with this same teaching.  To not forgive others is to willfully flee from the forgiveness of God for ourselves.

In the Beatitudes, which begin the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus proclaims, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy" (see this reading).  Here in today's reading, He repeats teachings on mercy, so central are they to His gospel message.  Forgiveness is a part of that mercy, if we would understand it in a certain way.  We are asked, additionally, to pray not only that our own spiritual debts are forgiven, but the prayer is communal: that is, we pray corporately for the forgiveness of our debts, for ourselves and for others, as my study Bible points out.  It reminds us of the first martyr, St. Stephen, who prayed as he was being stoned to death, first, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," and then, in a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin."  (See Acts 6 -7.)   In so doing, we remember that it is God who is the ultimate Judge, the Banker, if you will, who holds all the debts and makes a final decision about them.  We ask for our debts to be forgiven, as we "let go" (as the word translated as forgive in this passage literally means in Greek) of the debts we hold, and so we give them up to God for God's adjudication.  This image of forgiveness places everything in the hands of God.  It does not simply take reconciliation into our own hands, and certainly leaves off ideas of vengeance.  But what we so frequently seem not to understand in this notion of forgiveness is that it simply places all things in the hands of God, and so we are encouraged to find our way through prayer for how to handle relationships with those who have wronged and hurt us.  Ultimately, we seek God's way, and within community, for how we proceed with our lives, even when we have enemies who might seek to harm us or feel enmity for us.  In the gospel of Jesus Christ, we have first of all the Incarnation, God and man united in one.  When we pray for our "daily bread" which is really our "supersubstantial bread," we pray, in some sense, for what is given in the Eucharist, for that living bread in which we also can become like Him, where we can help our Father's will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  That is, we seek Christ who helps us to find our way His way.  He is the one who offers us the way out of endless debts, recriminations, and cycles of abuse.  It is ultimately in Him we have our peace, and with Him we need reconciliation.  We are not asked, in forgiveness, to become best friends with those who would do us harm or abuse, and neither are we asked to love that which we consider to be harmful.  But we are asked to find His peace, and His way for our peace.  We are asked to give up all the debts we hold, and the trespasses we feel, to Him.  And moreover, we are promised by Christ that the practice of mercy is the only way we will find and realize that mercy for ourselves.  These are not words that we can ignore, but rather a firm statement of spiritual truth.  We will not find what we seek without practicing it ourselves.  The way I read it, Jesus gives us a spiritual law of the universe in this statement, that we must practice mercy, which is "love in action" in order to realize God's great mercy for ourselves.  This extends to our own comprehension of God's love which will lead us beyond the hurt and pain, and debt and trespass, into a forward-looking life and a healing process as we seek union with God.  Ultimately, everything comes together in the Lord's Prayer, as it is both our place in God's Kingdom that we seek, and also how we may bear God's Kingdom into the world.  Mercy remains central to this plan, love in action, and we will be called simply to learn how to live it and find His way for us.  We might have all kinds of ideas about what that is supposed to look like, but ultimately we only find it when we seek Him first.  Some people expect that Christ's teachings are simply moral aphorisms, a formula for living.  But I find that faith is a learning journey through difficult circumstances, a dynamic struggle.   St. Paul called it fighting the good fight (2 Timothy 4:7).   When we find ourselves in the midst of the untenable and impossible, unable to control others or the world around us, then we need His way, for it is only with God that all things are possible.