February 10 2013
The Lord’s Prayer and the Church’s blind spot.
2000 years ago a mysterious star- indicating the birth of a king- guided three kings to Jerusalem. There they went to see the real source of power, Herod the King, to ask what he knew about this baby King. Clueless but concerned, Herod summoned the Bible experts, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. The church leaders, knowing the Scriptures, directed the three magi to Bethlehem, but they themselves ignored the extraordinary event how three important foreign dignitaries, traveling for weeks, had followed a celestial sign that indicated the birth of a royal child. The official church had a distinct blind spot regarding the coming Messiah. The biblical scholars in Jesus’ time wanted the Messiah to be a secular power figure: failure to recognize Jesus as the Son of God spelled the end of the Old Testament temple worship.
History is repeating itself. Again the church has a blind spot: this time she fails to recognize “the Gospel of the Kingdom.” Will this have the same consequences for the New Testament church?
Most church goers are very familiar with the Lord’s Prayer. Often the communal prayer in a church service is concluded with the well-known words of the prayer Jesus taught us.
I have been influenced to write about the Lord’s Prayer while translating De Mensch en zijn Wereld, We and Our World written by Dr. J.H.Bavinck. Its third chapter deals with “The Kingdom” (available upon request). Here this well-known Dutch professor writes that: “The concept of the Kingdom of God resounds like a majestic chorale through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation….. God’s Kingdom has a cosmic character, which means that it comprises the entire world as we have come to know it. Not only are we humans part of that Kingdom, but it also includes the world of animals and all plants.”
Dr. Herman Ridderbos, another Dutch theologian, in his classic book The Coming of the Kingdom affirms this: “The central theme of Jesus’ message is the coming of the Kingdom of God”. In its introduction he writes: “The kingdom of God is a purely future and eschatological event, presupposing the end of this world; and therefore, cannot possibly reveal itself already in this world…. It is nothing but the commencement of the new world, after the catastrophic upheaval of the present era.” In connection with the Lord’s Prayer he writes that “The Lord’s Prayer has been entirely inspired by the coming of the kingdom.”
I don’t know why the church is so reluctant to deal with the kingdom, but I have a feeling that the church wants her members to be comfortable and at ease. It frightens people that the “coming of the kingdom” is preceded by catastrophic upheaval, of which today there are plenty of signs. I also believe that ignoring to pursue “the coming of the Kingdom” is the real reason why today’s church is in rapid decline: when the church misses her true calling then people sense that and leave. Jesus himself told the church (Matt.24:14): “To preach the Gospel of the Kingdom.” It is my wish that having a new look at the Lord’s Prayer may help to remedy this situation to some extent.
So let me start with these first words: “Our Father”.
There is an intimacy expressed there that is typically New Testament. I see that as the result of Jesus, as the Son of God, being human. He is like us in everything except for sin. By addressing God as “Our Father”, we move away from individualism and stress the idea of community that will be perfectly realized in the New Creation, the Kingdom to Come. There God’s people will enjoy the unsurpassed bliss of a renewed Earth. When we address God as Father this implies that we will share in the sheer happiness of the Kingdom that is to come and signifies that a brand new relationship between God and his people has begun.
“Hallowed be Thy name.”
That is old-fashioned language. It simply expresses the wish, or command, that God’s name be made holy. God is synonymous with his name. God created the earth by naming the parts, sun, moon, seas, animals, humans. All of these are holy because they carry God’s signature. The prayer simply asks us not to profane God’s name, not to defile his creation, but treat it as God’s holy property. When we pollute, we take God’s name in vain; we then molest his majesty; we do not hallow God’s name.
“Your Kingdom Come.”
If there were ever a prayer that indicates the ultimate desire of the church, then it is these three simple words: “Your Kingdom Come”, closely followed by “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Both petitions are similar in aim. Here we pray not for us, not for this world, not to make life better for us, but we simply ask God to speed up the return of Christ so that ‘real’ life can begin. The Psalms often mention how the rich have their reward ‘in this life’. We hear and read about the “One Percent” who have their yachts, are accompanied by beautiful women and jet all over the world: “They have their reward” in this short life, 70-80- perhaps 90 years. The Lord’s Prayer has a different emphasis: eternal life on God’s totally renewed earth, restored to its “Eden” like beauty. That is what we express when we pray “Your Kingdom Come.” When we ask that God’s will be done, then our request is equally radical. In essence, we say: “Lord, I will do my level best to follow your commands by living so that when you return I have no trouble fitting into life in the New Creation, an adjustment that must begin here and now.
And here comes a difficult one. “Give us this day our daily bread”.
Translators have had great difficulty with this text because of the one word ‘daily’, the Greek ‘epiousios’. Among my many books is one by Dr. Diarmaid MacCullogh, who wrote Christianity, the first 3000 years. Dr. MacCullogh is a professor of church history at Oxford University. On page 89 of this 800 page book he writes: “Epiousios does not mean ‘daily.’ In other words: the line has nothing to do with making us comfortable by giving us our ‘daily’ bread. The Greek word means something like ‘of extra substance,’ and if we can assign any meaning to epiousios it may point to the new time of the coming kingdom”
Other authors, such as Robert Guelich in his The Foundation for understanding the SERMON ON THE MOUNT also deals extensively with this word. Commenting on this petition he writes: “The eschatological element remains inherent in the request, since Jesus’ ministry introduces the new age.”
Based on these sources and the general direction of the prayer, the request “Give us today our daily bread” could mean something like this: “Grant us the wherewithal to prepare ourselves for the Kingdom to come.” This is also in full agreement with the following verses in Matthew 6, where it says in verse 25: “do not worry about what you eat and drink. Is not life more important than food?” So really our request for daily bread does not fit into the spirit of the chapter at all, which looks ahead to life in the New Creation. That is, perhaps the most difficult part of the prayer: it asks us to be in the world but not of the world.
And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.
I believe that our greatest sins are of an environmental nature. We constantly sin against God’s creation, especially we people of the 21st Century, where each time we drive a car, switch on a light, eat manufactured food, we increase the environmental debt. (It takes at least 10 fuel calories to produce one food calorie.) At this stage of history we cannot ‘not’ sin in whatever we do. No holier than thou attitude is ever warranted. We can only expect to be forgiven when we at the same time forgive others of their sins.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.
1 John 5: 19 tells us that “the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” It’s up to each one of us to determine where temptation lies. We all are touched by the power of the evil one.
I believe that Jesus gives us this prayer with the Kingdom in mind. When we recite it reflect on its real meaning while patiently waiting for Christ to bring his Kingdom: WHICH IS AT HAND! Hallelujah.
Next week a comparison between the 14th and the 21st century.