Now that Jesus has gotten some qualifications out of the way—not to pray like the hypocrites; not to pray like the Gentiles—he finally begins to tell his disciples how to pray. He finally gives to us…wait for it…ta-dum…THE LORD’S PRAYER!
I’m sure some of you think I am being a bit flippant with that last sentence, but I assure you I’m not. But I do want to discuss whose prayer this actually is. I might be mistaken, but the only place in the Bible I see the term “The Lord’s Prayer” is in the little paragraph headings added in by some well-meaning Bible editor so we can easily locate sections of scripture. It’s certainly possible that the term “The Lord’s Prayer” had been used prior to its inclusion in the “canon” of Bible paragraph headings, but the phrase “The Lord’s Prayer” isn’t from the Bible.
But why does this matter? Or does it?
I think it does, that’s why I’m writing about it. Words convey meaning and become meaning for each and every one of us. When we hear the words “The Lord’s Prayer” we think of the prayer that follows, but we probably think the prayer is actually the prayer of our Lord—the prayer of Jesus. But nothing could be further from the truth. A quick glance at the prayer will tell us that most, if not all, of the petitions in the prayer could only be prayed by a sinner like you and me. For instance, Jesus can’t pray, “forgive us our sins,” for he had no sin.
A much better way to think of this prayer is that it is the prayer he gave to us. But to use the phrase “The Lord’s Prayer” in this way seems a bit odd. It would, I think, be much like describing our presents at Christmas as “Bob’s present,” meaning the present that Bob has given to us, (assuming you know a “Bob” and assuming that “Bob” gave you a present). But usually say “Bob’s present” when we mean the present we gave to Bob, not the other way around. Think of it this way, when Bob gives us a toaster we usually say, “Look at my cool toaster. Bob gave it to me.” But we don’t say, “Look at Bob’s toaster.” If we did, someone might ask us how long we were going to keep Bob’s toaster before we gave it back to Bob. But even though we think properly about toasters and Bob, we still most likely think of “The Lord’s Prayer” as the prayer belonging to the Lord or a prayer he prayed. But it is not either of those, it is the prayer that that Lord gave to his followers.
That being said, I would suggest we stop thinking of this as “The Lord’s Prayer” and start thinking of it as “The Believer’s Prayer.” This is the prayer Jesus gave to his disciples in response to the question, “How should we pray?” It is the Lord Jesus’ gift to us; a prayer for all believers, at all times, and in all circumstances. And it’s not just some cool words we can set to music, it’s not merely for special occasions and liturgies, and it’s not merely for the Catholic church. This is a prayer for all believers.
I consulted one of the most accurate resources of our day (Wikipedia) and found a quote by St. Augustine regarding this prayer. (I did research and find the actual quote, but thanks to Wikipedia nonetheless). Augustine writes the following about this prayer,
“Whatever be the other words we may prefer to say (words which the one praying chooses so that his disposition may become clearer to himself or which he simply adopts so that his disposition may be intensified), we say nothing that is not contained in the Lord’s Prayer, provided of course we are praying in a correct and proper way. But if anyone says something which is incompatible with this prayer of the Gospel, he is praying in the flesh, even if he is not praying sinfully. And yet I do not know how this could be termed anything but sinful, since those who are born again through the Spirit ought to pray only in the Spirit.”
Augustine, From a letter to Proba by Saint Augustine, bishop (Ep. 130, 11, 21-12, 22: CSEL 44, 63-64) On the Lord’s Prayer
Augustine clearly saw in this prayer THE model for all of our prayers. And furthermore, he suggests that anything we pray must be compatible with the words of the prayer Jesus gave to us; anything incompatible with this prayer is not only fleshly but sinful. I’m not so sure if I would go that far, but I’m not so sure I wouldn’t. Regardless of my answer, I think Augustine’s claim is worth pondering as each of us think further about this prayer. It’s worth asking if Jesus told us to pray in a certain way, shouldn’t we heed his words? We might even ask ourselves what we call it when we choose to ignore the commands of Christ, either willfully or in ignorance.
Pray then like this…
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