Knowing The Word in Luke 11:2-4

The Lord's Prayer

11:2 And Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say:

“Father, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread, 4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”

Comments

Jesus taught his disciples to pray using the plural form of “you.” The Lord’s prayer is not just an individual prayer but one for the Christian community to be prayed corporately. He gave them words to say just as they stand. The words in Luke are different than in Matthew. One explanation is that Jesus taught this prayer more than once. Of course, these prayers have more in common than differences. Let us take a look at the meaning of the words and phrases:

Father: “Abba,” in Aramaic, is the address of a child to its father, which is similar to “daddy” in English but a bit more formal. Jews tended to say, “our Father in heaven,” a more formal and distant address, which is found in Matthew the more Hebraic gospel.

hallowed be: God is understood as “holy” or “reverenced” by the petitioner.

your name: A name in antiquity summed up a person’s revealed and known character. The gist of what this means is that God shall be God, and that man shall not reduce him to a manageable shape or size to understand.

Your kingdom come: This asks for the bringing in of the kingdom that is constant in Jesus’ teaching, so that our hearts and lives become subject to the Father, and that his kingdom comes to fulfilment in God’s perfect will. We want on earth what exists in heaven.

Give us each day our daily bread: We ask for the provision of our needs on a daily basis as we live in a continual state of dependence upon God, reversing what Adam and Eve did in desiring to live independently from God. We need to remind ourselves constantly of this.

And forgive us our sins as we forgive everyone who is indebted to us: An unforgiving heart cannot accept forgiveness from others. Our forgiveness by God is not conditional on our forgiveness of another, but it reflects the fact we understand that sinful people, like us, forgive others and understand the need for forgiveness.

And lead us not into temptation: Even Pope Francis has weighed in on this difficult phrase in the Lord’s Prayer, suggesting a change in the wording to understand better its true meaning. As written, this does not imply that God sometimes cause us to be tempted. James (1:13) assures us he does not tempt us. Rather, Jesus is encouraging an attitude that flees from temptation. In this phrase we Christians recognize and admit our weakness and the ease we have to be swayed into temptations, and it requests God to lead us in the opposite direction. It is our recognition of the continual need for God’s Spirit in our lives to lead us in the right direction.

Application

How does Jesus make God more approachable to you when he calls him Father?

Why is the phrase “give us each day our daily bread” so important to our faith?

Think about your understanding of the phrase “lead us not into temptation.” Does the written explanation above give you new insights?

Prayer

Take some time to pray the Lord’s Prayer, slowly saying each phrase and reflecting upon it.