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The Lord’s Prayer

March 11, 2025

Isaiah 55:6-11 | Matt 6:7-15 | Psalm 34:15-22

Today’s readings are among the most beloved in the Bible, including the Lord’s Prayer, probably the best known of all scripture. 

Today gives the opportunity to look upon the Lord’s Prayer with fresh eyes.

In Matthew, Jesus tells us “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”  This preface tells us that Jesus is paring down our words to God to only those that are most important—the very essence of what our prayer needs to be.

The prayer begins by acknowledging that God’s name is holy and that it is our most basic desire that God’s will be done.  It is already done in heaven.  Now let it also be done on earth.  Then we make a supplication:  give us today our daily bread.  This is the simplest and most essential thing we can ask for.  I feel it means both that we ask God to give us the means to sustain our lives and that he gives us Jesus, the living bread, in our daily lives.

The next section of the prayer involves our confession of a debt we owe or a wrongdoing we have committed.  Sometimes, as in this translation of Matthew we ask for forgiveness of our debts.  Other times, as in the prayer we say as part of the liturgy, we ask for forgiveness of our trespasses.  Sometimes of our sins.  Whatever we ask to be forgiven for, the key is that to be forgiven, we must do the same for others “as we also have forgiven our debtors.”  This calls to mind the parable of the unmerciful servant (Matthew 18: 21-35).  In this parable a slave is in debt to the King and begs for forgiveness.  The King is moved by the penitence shown by the slave and forgives him his debt.  However, it soon emerges that this slave was owed money by another slave.  When the other slave begged him for forgiveness, the slave whose debt had been forgiven by the king showed no mercy, and had the other slave thrown into prison.  When word of this got back to the king, the king confronts him, saying ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. ³³Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ This could be a good question to include in our reflections.

Finally, we ask that we not be brought to the time of trial and that we be rescued from the evil one.  In our liturgy we read this as “do not lead us into temptation.” This is the most difficult verse in the Lord’s Prayer for me because it is my belief that God will never lead us to a path of evil and in fact James 1:13 specifically tells us that “No one, when tempted, should say, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one.”  It is perhaps rests on distinctions among being tested, experiencing a trial, and being tempted.  As we are told in 1 Corinthians 10:13 “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.”

As we pray the Lord’s Prayer during Lent, it is my hope that everyone will meditate on the meaning of the prayer, especially as it applies to our own lives. 

Trish Morokoff