Our Father

 

 "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 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 (chapters 5 - 7 of St. Matthew's Gospel).  Yesterday we began reading chapter 6, in which 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. . . . 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 like them.  For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him."  The two separate sections of yesterday's reading above, distinguished by the ellipsis ( . . . ), frame the section of the Gospel we're given in today's reading.  Here Jesus continues His teaching on prayer, begun by His teaching, "And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites."  Here in these verses He speaks of vain repetitions, which cannot establish the communion with God that we seek in prayer.  My study Bible comments that God does not need our "babble."  To partake of the communion with God, it says, both silence and words are necessary.  Therefore, we seek to pray always (Luke 18:1) and without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).   My study Bible further notes that Christ does not condemn the use of many words per se, but rather teaches that words must express the desire for communion with God.  Jesus gives us specific words to repeat in today's reading further along in today's reading (the Lord's Prayer, verses 9-13).  It is not repetition itself that Jesus condemns, but rather vain repetition.  Many psalms, prayer, and hymns of the Church have been repeated for countless generations in the worship of God "in spirit and truth" (John 4:23).  My study Bible adds that true prayer is not telling God what God already knows, and then telling God what to do about it.  Neither is it appearing pious in front of others.  Taking together the teachings in yesterday's reading and today's, we understand true prayer to be humble (go into your room), personal (pray to your Father), and sincere (do not use vain repetitions).

"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." The Father-Son relationship within the Trinity is a revelation of our own potential relationship with God.  My study Bible comments that Christ, the 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 both males and females, as heirs), a Christian is called to love, trust, and to serve God as Christ serves the Father.  My study Bible cautions us to understand that God is not our Father simply because God created us.  God is only Father to those in 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."  My study Bible says that daily is a misleading translation of a Greek word, found only here, epiousios/ἐπιούσιος, which literally means "above the essence," or "supersubstantial."  This expression daily bread, therefore, indicates not simply bread for today or for earthly nourishment.  It's the bread "for the eternal day of the Kingdom of God," my study Bible tells us; that is, for the nourishment of our immortal soul.  This living, supersubstantial bread is Christ Himself, the voluntary sacrifice given for us.  In the Lord's Prayer, therefore, we are not asking merely for material bread for physical health.  We ask for the spiritual bread of eternal life (John 6:27-58).  

"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."   My study Bible points out that this request for forgiveness is plural (as the prayer is in the plural, for we pray to "Our Father").  Here, this plural form means that we are directed always to pray for the forgiveness of others.  The term debts is used to refer to spiritual debts (see Matthew 18:21-35, as well as the final verses of today's reading).  

"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."  My study Bible affirms for us that God tempts no one to sin (James 1:13).  Temptations, it notes, are from the evil one, the devil.  Temptations are aimed at the soul's giving in to the sinful passions of the flesh (Romans 7:5).  My study Bible 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. 

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

 

Jesus teaches us to pray addressing "Our Father."  In a discussion on another blog, written by Fr. Stephen Freeman (Glory to God for All Things), Fr. Freeman comments as follows:  "In Romans 8:15, St. Paul writes: 'For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, "Abba, Father."'  This describes what is happening in prayer. The Spirit prays within us, with the voice of the Son, calling 'Father.' We pray 'our' Father, because we are always praying through the Spirit in the voice of the Son."  This is a tremendous understanding of what is happening when we pray -- and especially in this wonderful prayer given to us by Jesus.  In the sense that Fr. Freeman seems to be indicating, and as my study Bible commentary also notes, and St. Paul conveys, Jesus invites us in to His own Father-Son relationship with the Father, whereby we also may be "sons" (meaning heirs), and through the Spirit of adoption in the voice of the Son praying, "Abba, Father."   So if the Trinity in some sense is participating with us in prayer, Christ has given us this extraordinary gift of an entire universe singing through the voice of the Son in the power of the Spirit, all praying together to our Father.  This puts a perspective on the entire rest of the prayer in which Christ teaches us to participate in the same life He leads for us, while the Spirit helps to guide us in this life.  As He taught us, we pray for that Kingdom to come into this world, as it is always in the process of coming.  We pray to forgive and to be forgiven, and we pray for the bread of the Kingdom so that we all may be together and  dwell there ("In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you" - John 14:2).  Jesus faced His own temptations (Matthew 4:1-11), and we know how often He Himself took time out for prayer to His Father (for example, Mark 6:46; Luke 6:12).  We are encompassed in this prayer, which has as its center a prayer for our daily bread -- that is, for Christ Himself, giving His "supersubstantial" Body and Blood, so that we may participate fully in Him and He in us in the Kingdom for which He teaches us to pray.  When we say this prayer He has given us, we pray with Him and in the Holy Spirit, joining to "Our Father."