“Rabbi, teach us to pray.”
and Jesus said,
“This is how you are to pray…”
• Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread;
and forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors;
and do not subject us to the final test,
but deliver us from the evil one.
Matthew 9-13
But what are we saying?
What are we asking for?
• The Lord’s Prayer summarizes the teachings of
Jesus in the four Gospels. If we look closely at
the prayer, we see seven petitions, or
requests.
– In the first three petitions, we praise God and ask
that God always be praised and glorified.
– In the final four petitions, we express our needs
and our desire to be close to God.
The Beginning
• Our Father
–A greeting: Jesus made God know
to us.
• who art in heaven
–God’s majesty and his presence in
our hearts and we look forward to
being with him forever.
The Glory of God
Petitions 1-3
• hallowed be thy name
– First petition: We ask that God’s name be made
holy
• thy kingdom come
– Second petition: We ask God to help us live in
hope of Jesus’ return
• thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven
– Third petition: We pray to God for the ability to
do His will.
Our Needs
Petitions 4-7
• give us this day our daily bread
–Fourth petition: We ask God to
give us nourishment for living.
BREAD is bodily nourishment, like
food and shelter, as well as
spiritual nourishment, including
Eucharist—our Bread of Life
Our needs
• forgive us our trespasses, as
we forgive those who trespass
against us
–Fifth petition: We ask God first
to forgive us and then for the
gift of mercy to forgive others
Our needs
• lead us not into temptation
–Sixth petition: We ask the
Father to help us find the
courage to fight sin and to avoid
whatever causes us to want to
sin
Our needs
•deliver us from evil
–Seventh petition: We ask
for God’s protection from
the evil and harm that
exist in the world.
AMEN
• Oddly, to get a scriptural answer to what “Amen” means,
we go to a place where it is used not as the last word but
the first word. Jesus would often start a solemn statement
by saying "Verily" or "Truly". In John's gospel (eg Jhn 3:3)
Jesus is recorded as using the word twice in succession,
"Verily, verily, I say to you...". This is actually the
word “Amen”.
• When we compare an instance of this in Mark, with the
same statement in Luke, we find Mark has left the word untranslated (just as αμην “Amen”), but Luke has translated it
using the word αληθος "Truly". (Mark 9:1, Lke 9:27).
• This shows us that the underlying meaning of the word
“Amen” is truth and actuality. It is a solemn affirmation.
When we say,
“Amen” we are
saying before God,
"Yes, I agree with
that, I believe that
to be true, I want
that to be so".