Luke 11 - Why Did Jesus Teach Us To Use the Lord's Prayer???
11 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
2 He said to them, “When you pray, say “‘Father hallowed be your name,your kingdom come.3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’”
What I like about this story is that Jesus is praying to the Father, and one of his disciples wants to learn how to do it. As they say, "When the student is ready the teacher will appear." This is certainly true as Jesus never forced anything on anyone, but was open to anyone who sought him. So Jesus gives this disciple a model to a prayer, which has been used throughout history, "the Lord's Prayer".
What I love about the Lord's Prayer is its simplicity. Remember Jesus criticized the Pharisees for their long and often self absorbed prayers. In this prayer Jesus gives us a pattern for coming to our heavenly Father. It was based on how he went to his Father, which was early and often. But it is also important to note that Jesus doesn't give us this prayer as if it something magical, and if we don't use these exact words it won't work! Note, we have tried to preserve the words Jesus spoke in contemporary language.
First, Jesus calls us to acknowledge that God is holy. "Halllowed" is just another word for "holy". I like to say God is God and I am not. When we pray we want to keep God's name holy and not use it in vain. Also, the word "Father" is a relational, familial word indicative of God's love for us as his children. Second, we pray for God's kingdom to come. As we have said all along, Jesus' main purpose was to show what God's kingdom looks like, as ultimately fulfilled in him. So we not only pray for God's kingdom to come, but we pray for it to come through us.
Next, we pray that God would give us our daily bread. As God provided for the Israelites in the desert on a daily basis, we ask God to provide for us each day. Daily bread is not only food, but all the things we need to survive including relationships. We pray for daily bread realizing that each day God's gives us enough for today. Daily we need to depend on God, and this prayer lends itself to our daily relying on the Father for what we need.
We also pray for forgiveness, as we forgive others. Notice the assumption is that we will need to ask for forgiveness on a daily basis. It is implied. Also you can see that as we ask for forgiveness we also forgive everyone who sins against us. Again though our forgiveness is not dependent on our forgiveness of others, the assumption is we will forgive. After all, how could we ask for forgiveness without being willing to offer the same mercy to others.
Finally, the prayer says, "lead us not into temptation". You may notice "for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and every" is omitted. This is called the "doxology". This was a later addition by the church. The Western part of the church in Rome did not add the doxology, and still is not added today in the Catholic church. While the Eastern part of the Roman empire added it in. There are some early church fathers that include it, and some don't. Most likely it was an addition in the early church and used in ancient liturgies. Interestingly Luther did not use it in his German translation of the bible. Nor does he include it in the Small or Large Catechsim, though after his death it was added.
In conclusion, I think the best argument is that the doxology was not included in Matthew or Luke's original version. It has been add within the tradition of the church most likely very early in the late 1st century. And, it certainly does not go against any other teaching about God in the rest of the bible.
So why does the prayer then end with, "and lead us not into temptation"? The bible teaches that God does not lead us into temptation or tempt anyone. But Jesus knew his disciples would be tempted by the devil. In fact, he said the devil desired to "sift them like wheat". (Luke 22:31) So it is good for us to finish our daily prayers by asking God to lead us not into temptation. Matthew adds, "And deliver us from evil, (some later manuscripts add "evil one").
So while we don't have to be legalistic about the Lord's Prayer, it is a great model to pray. Most importantly it leads us into a conversation with God acknowledging his holiness, forgiveness and power, while we rely on him each day for what we need which includes all the necessities and deliverance from evil and temptation. What a great way to begin each day!
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