What
we commonly refer to as the Lord’s Prayer was not in fact a prayer Jesus is
recorded as having prayed; rather, it was a formula Jesus spoke to us to show
us what to emphasize in our prayers.
It
important though to remember that these verses are a guide, a formula or
pattern for prayer and they were not meant to be repeated over and over as a
routine prayer. For any Catholic readers please note that the underlined words
of Jesus below apply to the pagan influenced rosary as well. Before teaching
the disciples this pattern Jesus stressed the following:
And when you pray, you shalt not be as the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the
corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they
have their reward. But you, when you pray, enter
into your closet, and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father which is
in secret; and your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly.
But when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as
the heathen, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Be not you therefore like unto them: for your Father
knows what things you have need of, before you ask him.
(Matthew 6:5-8)
The
above verses were followed by the “Lord’s Prayer” formula given in Matthew (the
formula also appears in Luke):
Matthew
6:9/13
- After this manner therefore pray: Our Father which
art in heaven, Hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done. in
earth, as it is in heaven. Give
us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our
debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine
is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Luke 11:2/4 - And he
said unto them, When you pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be
Your name, Your kingdom come. Your will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also
forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but
deliver us from evil.
Although the “Lord’s Prayer” is not
found in Mark we do see a record of a very important concept Jesus continued to
stress - forgiveness:
Mark
11:25/6
- And when you stand praying, forgive, if you have
ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you
your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father which is
in heaven forgive your trespasses.
And because Jesus knew that we would
struggle He later repeated:
Luke 22:40 - And
when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into
temptation.
The “Lord’s Prayer” though doesn’t
cover all the things Jesus told us to pray about. Consider:
Matthew
5:44 - But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless
them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which
despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Mark 13:33 - Take
heed, watch and pray: for you know not when the time is.
We see then that our prayers are to be
about being better children of God and not about worldly needs. That is how
Jesus prayed. That is what we see in John 17. The entirety of John 17 is more
appropriately the Lord’s Prayer. It consists of basically three parts. The
first concerned the work Jesus did for God:
These
words spoke Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify your Son, that your Son
also may glorify you: As you have given him
power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have
given him. And this is life eternal, that they might
know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have glorified you on the earth: I have finished the work
which you gave me to do. And now, O Father,
glorify you me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before
the world was. I have manifested your name to
the men which you gave me out of the world: yours they were, and you gave them
me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have
known that all things whatsoever you have given me are of you. For I have given to them the words which you gave me; and
they have received and have known surely that I
came out from you, and they have believed that you did send me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which
you have given me; for they are yours. And all
mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the
world, and I come to you. Holy Father, keep through your own name those whom
you have given me, that they may be one, as we. While
I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name: those that you gave me
I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the
scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to
you; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy
fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your
word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as
I am not of the world.
(John 17:1-14)
The second part
concerned Jesus’ prayer for His disciples at that time:
I pray not that you should take them out of the world, but that you
should keep them from the evil.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth.
As you have sent me into the world, even so have I also
sent them into the world. And for their sakes I
sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
(John 17:15-19)
The third concerned
Jesus’ prayer for us:
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall
believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as you, Father,
in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us:
that the world may believe that you hast sent me. And the glory which you gave me I have given them; that they
may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and you
in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that
you have sent me, and have loved them, as you have loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom you have given me, be
with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which you have given me: for
you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world has not known you: but I have known you, and
these have known that you have sent me. And I
have declared unto them your name, and will declare it: that the love
wherewith you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.
(John 17:20-26)
Our prayers, like
our lives, should reflect that our lives are not about us anymore, rather our
service as servants for our Lord Jesus Christ and as the children of God.
Thank for joining
me on The Path to Light.
In Brotherly
Love,
Wayne
NOTE: For those that are interested here is some information about
“amen”. Saying “amen” is and was a Jewish custom -
see Deuteronomy
27:15-26.
In the KJV of the Old Testament amen
is rendered as amen with two odd exceptions - Isaiah 65:16 and Jeremiah 11:5. The
LITV and YLT correctly render Jeremiah but still corrupt Isaiah. The DRB stayed
pure with amen rendered as amen throughout all the Old Testament.
Jesus often used “amen” to put emphasis to His own words but in the KJV it
is almost always corrupted as "verily" - key exceptions are Matthew
6:13, 28:20, and Revelation 1:18. The LITV and YLT again stay pretty much with
the KJV pattern; but, as
with the Old Testament, the DRB stayed true and “amen” is used 147 times in the
New Testament.
In Revelation 3:14, Jesus is referred to as "the
Amen” - thankfully here the KJV, LITV, YLT and DRB all agree!
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