"The Lord's Prayer"
And so we come to the third Chief Part of the Catechism, the Lord’s Prayer.
It’s a good time to talk about prayer. It seems a very widespread reaction, amongst God’s people, and even in our culture at large – in times of peril and tragedy, uncertainty and crisis – that most people’s impulse is to pray. Even our president declared last Sunday a national day of prayer, for whatever that is worth.
For Christians, especially, it seems these troubled times are a good excuse to do what we ought to be doing anyway – pray fervently. And so we have, and so we will continue to do.But often, people who mean well to pray, express a frustration with it – that we don’t pray as we know we should. That we don’t pray as often, as fervently, or for the right things. In times of uncertainty we may not know exactly what the best prayer is. For instance, a loved one who is suffering greatly with what appears to be a terminal illness. Christians have asked me, “Is it ok for me to pray that God would take my loved one and end their suffering? Or should I be praying that they would be healed and stay with us on earth?” Or how about the person who struggles with anger and hurt at some injustice done to them. Do they pray for justice, or mercy for the wrongdoer?
We are sinners, after all, and why shouldn’t sin infect every aspect of our life, including our prayer life? Why should we expect, corrupt as we are, to know how to pray, what to pray for, or really any of what is best for ourselves and others?
What a blessing it is that our Lord Jesus Christ himself teaches us to pray. What better teacher for our prayers could we have? What better, more perfect prayer could we think of than one composed by the Son of God himself? Far better than any heart-felt words or well-meaning prayer we could concoct by our own devices, these 7 petitions sum up the entirety of our faith and teach us so much about the God to whom we pray it.
It is a model prayer – showing us “how” to pray, both in its structure and priority and also by its content. It is a prayer that seeks first the things of God, his Name, his kingdom and his will… before turning to ask for the things we personally need: daily bread, forgiveness, and protection from evil. And in this way is very similar in structure to the Ten Commandments – which teach us first to love God, and then on the second table, to love our neighbor.
And even the introduction to this wonderful prayer holds out a precious promise for us – when Jesus tells us to call upon God as our Father! We should consider ourselves God’s children, and ask him for what we need – just as an earthly child asks an earthly father for his needs. We might think of Jesus remarks, “if you then, though you are evil, know how to give good things to your children, how much more then… will your Father in heaven give you good things?”
I’m reminded of a story an old pastor once told about his son who had a toy truck with a broken wheel. The son left the truck on his father’s garage work bench with a note, “Dad, can you fis dis?” So the Christian comes in faith to our Father in heaven, not knowing when our how, but trusting the goodness of our Father to hear and answer. Believing that he knows best, and will do what he knows is for our good.
Luther’s hymn on the Lord’s Prayer is also an excellent instructional tool. It both paraphrases and expounds on the Lord’s prayer. Each stanza is built around a single petition, and echoes the teachings of the Small Catechism:
Verse one reminds us that God is “our” Father, and that makes us Christians a family, that we should pray in unity.
Verse two shows that God’s name be kept holy by teaching his Word, and includes the prayer that God keep us safe from false teaching.
Verse three we pray that the kingdom would come by the work of the Holy Spirit. As in the catechism, “God’s kingdom comes when he breaks and hinders every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our own sinful nature.” For these spiritual enemies are opposed to God and don’t want his name hallowed, or his kingdom to come. And so also, we pray for the church – where God’s reign on earth through the Gospel is manifest from age to age.
Verse four asks, along with the third petition, that God’s will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Here we see a most important point from the Lord’s prayer that answers many a Christian’s vexation about what to pray for. When I don’t know what God’s will is – simply pray that it would be done.
Verse 5 may be particularly meaningful for many of us in our current context – praying for daily bread. Wherein we pray that God would give us what we need and save us from dangers and trials of “hardship, war and strife, in plague and famine spare our life”. That Jesus who teaches us to pray for daily bread also promises to provide it, and points to the sparrows that God feeds each day, and aren’t you worth more than many sparrows? Luther also mentions in the hymn the twin dangers of “care and greed” – that God would spare us from worry about tomorrow’s needs, and keep us from greed for more than we need, but to be content with those blessings he provides.
Verse 6 begs God for forgiveness, and for the strength to forgive others who hurt us and sin against us. While God’s forgiveness of us sinners is not contingent on our forgiving others – as if God’s waiting around for us to forgive everyone else before he will forgive us – yet Jesus often connects our own forgiveness received with the forgiveness we show – as he does in the Lord’s prayer. So also in parables and sermons, Jesus emphasizes the great need for Christians to forgive others – as a true expression and exercise of our faith, and the forgiveness, love and mercy God first shows to us.
Verse 7 of Luther’s hymn tracks the 6th petition in praying against temptation. Luther is especially good when it comes to the devil, the Old Evil Foe he calls him in that other famous hymn. Here, “the grim foe and all his horde would vex our souls on every hand”. And yet Jesus and Luther both teach us that we cannot stand under temptation alone – but need God the Holy Spirit to lead us, strengthen us, keep us firm in faith in the day of temptation.
Verse 8 considers the final petition, “Deliver us from evil”. Luther calls this a summary petition – that God would deliver us from all evils of body and soul. That he would give us all the things we have just prayed for in the above petitions. In the hymn we sing, “The times and days are perilous”. And it’s as true now as it was a month ago, in 1536 when they first sang this hymn, and in Jesus’ day when he first taught and gave us this prayer. Deliver us from evil, Lord. The days are evil. Sin is always with us. The devil is always prowling. The world is heaving and churning, corrupt and corrupting. We need saving, now, as always.
Thanks be to God for our Lord Jesus Christ, the giver and teacher of this prayer, and the one who accomplishes our deliverance from evil. He does so, himself, by submitting to evil. By enduring the cross and despising its shame. He takes his place of isolation – as God the Father turns his back and forsakes his Son unto death. He made him to be sin, and condemned that sin to die in the flesh of Jesus. All scorn and sorrow, all grief and shame, all the devil’s seething rage and spite. Jesus bore it all. Suffered all. Died for all.
So now, when we yield our dying breath, we can do so in the peace of his deliverance from evil – know that death has no hold on us who are in Christ. For he has defeated it.
Finally, the church adds this little word to so many of our prayers – Amen! It’s a word of confirmation. A word of faith. Yes, yes, it shall be so! We can pray our prayers in confidence, especially the Lord’s Prayer, knowing that the one to whom we pray will hear and answer. That he means us well. That our dear Father receives our prayers for the sake of his beloved Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Hear us for the sake of him who has taught us thus to pray. Amen, that is, so shall it be. In Jesus Name. Amen!
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