Simple yet profound, ancient yet always fresh; deeply Jewish yet available to all, the Lord’s Prayer offers the central message of Jesus in the form best suited to its appropriation. Jesus did not come, after all, merely to teach true doctrine and ethics, but to bring about God’s kingdom; within that sovereign and saving rule, human beings are caught up with the challenge and invitation to corporate and personal renewal, as deep as the human heart, as wide as the world. To pray this prayer with full attention and intention is to partake in this renewal.
The prayer occurs in Matt. 6.9-13, within the Sermon on the Mount; in Luke 11.2-4, answering the disciples’ request for a prayer; and in Didache 8.2, which instructs that the prayer be used three times daily. Luke’s text is shorter, with some changes in the Greek; Matthew’s is the one that has become widespread in the church, with some traditions also adding Didache 10.5 (“remember, Lord, your church...”). The doxology (“yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever”) is probably not original, but became part of the prayer very early on in the life of the church. The prayer clearly stems from an Aramaic original, and it is virtually certain that it represents what Jesus taught.
The prayer is rooted, in shape and content, in older Jewish traditions. But the particular combination of elements marks it out as belonging within Jesus’ aim of inaugurating God’s kingdom, and his invitation to live by this kingdom in advance of its full appearing. It divides into two parts, the first (in the longer form) containing three petitions about God’s purposes and glory, and the second three petitions for human need.
The address, “Our Father,” expresses the intimate trust which characterizes Christian prayer. It evokes the Jewish belief that Israel, God’s people, was his firstborn son (Ex. 4.22; Isa. 63.16; 64.8). The Aramaic word Abba, “Father,” expresses Jesus’ own intimate sense of sonship (e.g., Mark 14.36) and the early church’s sense of sharing that sonship through the Spirit (Rom. 8.16; Gal 4.6, where the Lord’s Prayer may well be in mind).
The first three petitions pray that God’s glory and purpose may come to birth throughout creation. God’s name is sanctified, held in honor, when his world is ruled by his wisdom and power, and his image-bearing human creatures worship him and reflect his glory in the world. His kingdom comes through Jesus’ death and resurrection and his final victory over death itself (1 Cor. 15.24-28), and through every intermediate victory of his love over the powers of the world. The prayer for God’s will to be done on earth as in heaven indicates, despite centuries of misunderstanding, that Christianity is not about escaping earth and going to heaven instead, but rather that God wills to renew both heaven and earth and bring them into ultimate unity (Rev. 21).
Emboldened by this trust in God and his kingdom, the last three petitions express the basic needs of those who live between Jesus’ initial victory and his final triumph. Bread for today (Matthew) and every day (Luke) symbolizes our constant dependence on the creator. It also refers to the Bread of Life, the Eucharist, which sustains as the source and summit of Christian Life. Forgiveness, both of sin and of material debt, is the central blessing of the new covenant (Jer. 31.34; Matt. 26.28), obtained through Jesus’ death. The church here commits itself in turn to forgive (emphasized in Matt. 6.15; 18.21-35). Those who claim the new covenant blessing must live as new covenant people; the heart renewed by God’s forgiveness cannot but offer forgiveness to others. The final petition for rescue from danger and evil has two branches. First, we pray to be spared the ultimate test, whether that of fierce temptation or, more specifically, the “tribulation”, the “time of trial,” which in early Judaism was believed to be coming upon the world (compare Matt 26.41, where it seems that Jesus will face this “tribulation” alone). Then we pray to be delivered both from evil in general and from “the evil one”; the original wording could be taken either way, and both may be in view.
From very early, the Lord’s Prayer has been at the center of Christian devotion and liturgy, not least at the Eucharist. Most of the great spiritual writers have expounded it and drawn on it. Alongside its regular use as a straightforward prayer, some have employed it as a framework, allowing other concerns to cluster around its various petitions. Others have used it, like the “Jesus prayer,” as a steady, rhythmic subterranean flow, beneath the bustle of ordinary life. It is, above all, a prayer which unites Christians of every background and tradition. It could energize and sustain fresh growth in shared ecumenical witness and life.