(Matthew 6:9-13)
Jesus gave us the Lord’s Prayer to pray, but also to use as a template for all prayer. In breaking down one line at a time, we can better understand what He is teaching:
Our Father who art in heaven;
God is the King of the universe, the judge of all mankind, and yet He wants us to address Him as father, because we are sons and daughters, not subjects or servants. A father relationship is important to God, since He has a beloved son, who He gave up for all of us. As our father, we don’t earn His love with good deeds. A natural father loves his children from the day they were born, before they could do anything right or wrong. God also loved us first, before we even knew of Him.
Hallowed be Thy name;
God is to be hallowed, which means to treat Him as sacred and holy. I love the contrast of the first and second line in this prayer. He is our loving intimate father but He is also the most high, sacred and holiest God. We are loved by a holy God who requires purity, self examination and regular confession of sin to Him. Unconfessed sin puts distance in our relationship with our father in heaven. This is typical of any healthy father and child relationship. The child honors and seeks to please their father, and not disappoint him with disobedience. Our holy God is pleased when we cling to Jesus, our redeemer, who cleanses our sin by His blood.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven;
This line reminds us that there is more to come and our life in this world is not all there is. God has a coming kingdom, and until that kingdom comes, He desires that we let His will be done in our lives. In all that we pray and ask for, our wishes and desires are still yielded to His will, saying as Jesus said, “Thy will be done.” We can say it because God always knows what’s best for us and we trust in His perfect will.
Give us this day our daily bread;
Bread is nourishment, and for us it is both physical and spiritually nourishing. Jesus is our daily bread of spiritual nourishment. Everyone is on a quest for nourishment, but sometimes we look for it in all the wrong places. We look for it through relationships or things we can buy, but Jesus called Himself the living bread of heaven. Jesus is our daily bread and no other bread satisfies the soul and spirit as He does.
Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us;
We are reminded that forgiveness needs to be a two way street. Here is the biggest challenge in the entire Lord’s prayer. Every statement in this prayer is one that Jesus talked about regularly. He reminded us many times about forgiving others, through his parables. If we want to be forgiven, He says we must forgive others. There’s an old Irish proverb “ We bury the hatchet but mark the spot.” Forgiveness is easier if we have a short term memory, and forget where all the hatchets are buried.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
The previous parts of the Lord’s Prayer pertain to things which we take control of, in order to line our will up with God’s. We seek His daily nourishment, we allow ourselves to be loved and fathered by Him, and we forgive our enemies, but this last line is a plea for divine help. It’s asking for what only God can do, in keeping us from all evil. He is our good shepherd, who leads us away from temptation, and delivers us from evil. One old testament title for God is “El Gibor,” which translates from Hebrew to, God our hero, or Mighty God.
Jesus saves the best line for last, because after all is said and done throughout this prayer, God is our hero, who intervenes to deliver us from evil. After the many times we have experienced His deliverance from evil, it’s easy to finally say, “To Him be the kingdom, the power and the glory forever.”
Amen