Lord’s Prayer: Divine Food for Thought

Letter to Romans: Biblical scholars like lawyers are trained to argue “words matter.” Nowhere may it be truer than in The Lord’s Prayer. Two of today’s influential theologians suggest it’s more than just a prayer but a manifesto on how nations & people can enact God’s plan.

Yesterday, it was proffered here that mid-century’s Joachim Jeremias & 77-yr-old English scholar N.T. Wright have “strongly shaped modern thinking on the Lord’s Prayer” by picking it apart phrase by phrase – it would seem to us humans’ advantage during this Lenten Season to take a look see & ponder a sampling of what they see/saw (with the help of CHAT). Let’s start at the beginning. “Our Father” to Jeremias we’re told shows how important “Abba” was to Jesus, how He treasured an “intimate” relationship with His heavenly Father, while Wright went further in saying “Father” encompasses Israel’s relationship with the Almighty, a new covenant with the peoples of His earth. “Your kingdom come” to Jeremias, then, reveals God’s future reign, while Wright sees it as the kingdom is arriving through Jesus Himself. Could it also reflects the idea that Jesus’ birth means at least a roadmap to the kingdom HAS come?

How about “Give us today our daily bread”? Jeremias “famously argued” the phrase refers to the bread of the coming kingdom along with God’s final salvation, while Wright says it’s more practical in emphasizing our dependence on God in the here & now, as did the Jews wandering in the wilderness need His life-sustaining manna. As for “forgiving us our debts,” Jeremias focuses on the moral duty for individuals to forgive others, while Wright takes the duty a step further by applying to all of society. Likewise, Jeremias reads “Lead us not into temptation” as a plea to be spared at our final trial before God, while Wright connects it to everyone’s (including Israel’s) real time daily testing by the Evil One among us. More complicated maybe than first thought, heh? A heavenly meal, Divine Food for Thought, no?

Davd Soul