The Bible’s Most Difficult Text to Preach?

I, SMcK, vote for the Lord’s Prayer — it is so familiar, so dear, and so often said that it is impossible to bring fresh light.

Here is a post by John Frye:

Scot McKnight notes that the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:7-15) is an intrusion into the almost “obsessive organization” of Matthew 6:1-18. Even more, verses 14-15 are an intrusion into the intrusion as Jesus offers commentary on the forgiveness petition (6:12). We are reviewing Scot’s SGBC: The Sermon on the Mount.

The short Lord’s Prayer is set in contrast to the “long-winded, gassy” pagan (Gentile) babblings in prayer. Pagan theology believed that the gods could be manipulated, cajoled by piling up words. Jewish theology held that the LORD is a benevolent God Who loves his people as a father does his children.

By praying the way Jesus instructs, we are invited into “the perichoretic, or inter-relational life, of the Trinity: this prayer reveals how God communicates with God” (170). The structure of the Lord’s Prayer is quite simple: it has “You” petitions (6:9-10) and “We” petitions (6:11-13) with Jesus’ added commentary (6:14-15). Reminds me of loving God, loving others. Because by Scot’s own admission that he crammed a lot into chapter 13, I will offer some teased-out, significant observations that I hope will provoke you to read more in the SGBC: Sermon on the Mount.

1.  Jesus builds on and extends the Jewish Qaddish prayer (173).

2.  Calling God “Father” was not a unique innovation of Jesus, but characteristic of Jesus.

3.  Hallowing God’s Name is not a moral imperative of the pray-ers, but an action that God takes upon himself (177, see footnote 18).

4.  The kingdom of God petition “aches” for “the society of God’s people [to flourish] in this world under Christ as the King” (179).

5.  There is nothing Platonic about “as it is in heaven,” but means “God’s redemptive power aims at realizing the heavenly condition on earth (180, see Revelation 20-22).

6.  “It can be put baldly: we do not know exactly what “daily bread” means” (181). Scot thinks it refers to “ordinary bread for ordinary days” (182).

7.  Yes, Jesus said it! Our forgiveness from God is conditioned on our forgiving of others. There is no way around it (182-83). Get in touch with Jesus’ rhetoric. And, no, Judaism was not a “works-based religion” (184).

8.  The key to understanding the phrase where we ask God not to lead us into temptation is found in the term “rescue/deliver” us from evil/one (185). See 1 Corinthians 10:13.

9.  The “doxology” was added to the New Testament documents (perhaps in light of 1 Chronicles 29:11-13) and was not part of the original Lord’s Prayer (186-87).

In Live the Story, Scot offers some pertinent (pastoral) direction about the way prayer works within God’s overall plan and purpose. Prayer does, indeed, influence God to change. Scot spends some time on the importance of “the daily office,” that is, praying set prayers on an “at least three times a day” schedule. The Lord’s Prayer “expresses the heart of Jesus’ kingdom vision” (191). The prayer teaches us to yearn for what God has promised about himself and his kingdom and to yearn for the good of others. Should we be reticent in our culture to use a “patriarchal” word like “Father” for God? Scot ends chapter 13 with some good direction on that question.