Summary
In response to a request from one of his followers, asking him to teach them how to pray, JesusJesus is the Messiah whose life, death, and resurrection are God's saving act for humanity. More offers a sample prayer. This prayer, enshrined in Christian tradition as the “Lord’s Prayer” or the “Our Father,” has been memorized and recited by Christians ever since the time of the nascent church.
Analysis
It was not unusual for ancient Jewish teachers to provide their students instructions about prayer. The prayer Jesus offers in this passage is similar but not identical to a slightly longer prayer described in MatthewA tax collector who became one of Jesus' 12 disciples. More 6:9-13. The differences between the two versions likely owe themselves to the various ways the prayer evolved as Jesus’ earliest followers used it in their worship. It is impossible and fruitless to speculate whether there was one single original prayer Jesus taught without variation. Although the version in Matthew is the main (but not exclusive) version on which most liturgical recitations of the Lord’s Prayer are based, aspects of Luke’s version nonetheless influence how the prayer is memorized and spoken.
The five short sentences of the prayer in LukeThe "beloved physician" and companion of Paul. More remind readers that Jesus is Jewish. The prayer’s perspective and language show the influence of Jewish thinking and practice. There is nothing uniquely “Christian” about this prayer, aside from the fact that Jesus speaks it and it involves mention of God’s “kingdom,” which is an especially prominent theme in Jesus’ preaching and teaching. Jesus urges his followers to use this prayer “when” (or, “whenever”) they pray, indicating its usefulness in almost any setting.
The first two sentences each declare something about God: God has shown God’s name (that is, God’s own self) to be holyHoly is a term that originally meant set apart for the worship or service of God. While the term may refer to people, objects, time, or places, holiness in Judaism and Christianity primarily denotes the realm of the divine More or sacred, and God’s reign (or “kingdom”) has come near to the world through Jesus (see Luke 10:11a). At the same time, the sentences implicitly ask God to make those two things more true: so more people would come to revere God’s name of the Lord, and so God’s reign would burst forth in greater fullness.
The last three sentences ask for things everyone needs on a regular basis: food, forgiveness, and protection. The syntax of the request for regular sustenance makes it a request that God will keep on giving people what they need to live. In asking for forgiveness for “sins” those who pray are reminded of their evergreen need to forgive the sins that others commit against them. Divine forgiveness connects to interpersonal forgiveness. Finally, the prayer for protection from “the time of trial” (not necessarily “temptation”) asks God to deliver from whatever might test or weaken a person’s or a community’s faith, such as oppression and hardship.
