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Gospel: Luke 11: 1-4
Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished,
one of his disciples said to him,
“Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.”
He said to them, “When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name,
your Kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Why is the Lord’s Prayer so meaningful?
It comes directly from Christ’s own prayer life. As the disciples say to him in today’s Gospel, “Lord, teach us how to pray as you pray.”
So, the Lord begins by telling us to call God our “Father.” But he uses the term, Abba, meaning, Papa or Daddy. We are meant to address God from a place of familial intimacy.
“Papa, hallowed be thy name.”
To “hallow,” means, “to be holy or set apart.” Thus, we are praying for the grace to keep God as holy, or first, in our lives.
We all know how challenging that can be. Often, there are a variety of other people and things vying for our attention – our marriage, our career, our children, our own plans and desires, material things, and so on.
We must strive to keep God first. All day. Every day.
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Towards the conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer, we ask God to, “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” This points to the very heart of God’s identity – his ability to forgive sins.
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus tells people like the woman caught in adultery, “Your sins are forgiven. Go, and sin no more.”
Jesus could not forgive her sins unless they were somehow committed against him, just I cannot forgive your sins, unless they are committed against me.
Jesus is the one who is affected by every sin committed, and thus he is the only one who can forgive them all. He asks only one thing from us in return: to forgive one another.
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These are two things we can strive for today: to keep God – our Papa – first in our lives, and to forgive those who trespass against us.
What does that look like for me?
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Image credits: (1) Sermon Series, ministrypass.com (2) ministry-to-children.com (3) pinterest.com