Week 21
The Lord’s Prayer
5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Fresh off the press of practicing our righteousness before others Jesus jumps on the prayer band. Jesus addresses 3 issues in regards to our prayer life: our method, manner and motivation. Jesus expresses in light of those who want to pray in front of others, “you must be like the hypocrite’s.” The English through me for a loop because before I looked at the Greek I would have thought this was an Imperative “you must not” but it is a future middle indicative which puts the responsibility on the subject “you”. A middle voice technically has “subject both perform and receive the action expressed by the verb”. I believe in a sense you could say it reflexively “in the future, you yourselves must not pray like the hypocrites” (for all of you Greek scholars if I’ve missed this feel free to respond). Jesus has a solution…go in your closet and pray in secret to your Father who sees in secret. He sees what’s going on behind the closet door; He actually knows what is going on in your heart better than you do. This is where your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Those that want to pray In public already have their reward.
The structure of the prayer actually proves this point further. Jesus first teaches that we first must understand that honoring God comes first before we address any further issues.
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
After addressing Him as He deserves, as hallowed we express that we want His kingdom to come we want His will to be done on earth just like it is in heaven. Moving on from here we express our needs in light of our situation.
Please give, please forgive and please lead us. Jesus already told us that our Father knows what we need before we ask Him (vs 8). So why are we asking if He already knows? Much like Jesus stated in Mark 2:17 “It is not the healthy people who need a doctor, but the sick. I did not come to invite good people but to invite sinners.” He by no means implied that any were healthy only those who realized they were sick asked for a doctor. We ask what we need knowing full well He knows what we need before we ask but we realize our needs. He closes by us understanding our greatest need…FORGIVENESS.
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
His comment on the situation of our forgiveness reveals our attitude of forgiveness. If we realize how much we’ve been forgiven it will be easy to forgive others…and that’s how we are to pray. Don’t be a hyprocrite!