Last week, we began our sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer.  For that first Sunday in Lent, I began with the names for God and how we come to God using the name Father, who in Jesus’ Aramaic language was “Abba”, translated as the endearing familiar name “Papa”, while at the same time revering God and God’s name as sacred and holy in the first of three “you” prayers in the subtext.  “Our Father who is in heaven, holy is your name.” 

Today, we will look at our prayer for God’s kingdom to become a reality on earth as it is in heaven. 

Last week, we also heard a humorous play where Karen Mitchell played a woman who was praying, and Robert Lodge played the voice of God, challenging the woman to really think about what she was saying as she prayed the Lord’s Prayer.  And, that’s what I hope to do today:  to challenge you to really think about what you are praying for when you pray the rest of the three “you” prayers.  Your kingdom come; your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

How many of you have ever stopped to really think of what you are praying for when you pray this part of the prayer?  When you say to God, “Your kingdom come…” do you really want God’s kingdom?  Or do you want your version of what you think God’s kingdom is?  Understanding God’s kingdom is the key to discerning God’s will.  And, Jesus taught the disciples to seek God’s kingdom and God’s will before making their petitions and requests. 

The central message of Jesus in the first three gospels is that the kingdom of God, or Heaven, has come.  In Mark, Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven has come hear.  In Matthew, Jesus says that the kingdom of God is at hand.  And in Luke, Jesus, in answer the Pharisees questions about when the kingdom of God was coming, said, “The Kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here is it is!’ or ‘There it is!’  For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.” 

When we hear the kingdom of God, or kingdom of heaven, some of us tend to think in terms of our narrow human experience of kingdoms and nations and domination.  We think of a nation upon whom God bestows the honor of being keeper of the keys.  We think of a power that controls all things, and keeps the evil people at bay, making the world a safer place, benevolently bestowing good things to those peoples and nations who do the right thing, and holding back good things from nations who are identified as enemy, evil, or unworthy. Kingdom is related to governments and economics in such thinking.  God will bless the good country, and curse the bad. 

When we hear the kingdom of God, or kingdom of heaven, some of us think of a return to Eden, to a perfect state of tranquility and innocence.  There will be God, the one who walks in the garden with us, and Jesus will also be there, shining light on all who are there.  All the bad things and people are shut out of paradise at the gates, which are guarded by cherubim and seraphim.  And we all know that those shut out are all of those who disagree with us. 

When we hear the kingdom of God, or kingdom of heaven, some of us think of an unknown time in the future, when Christ returns and there is a new heaven and a new earth, and all the saints are bowed before the thrown and singing praises.  It’s right out of Revelation.  The good news is that this part of the promise, when the consummation of all things takes place. 

But, the good news that Jesus had to proclaim was that God’s reign was beginning on earth with Jesus’ message.  That reign which began in Jesus’ life, and continues to this day, is what Jesus meant by the kingdom of God. 

So, if we are to pray that God’s kingdom come, what is it that we are really to expect?  When we look at Jesus’ life, we find the answers.  We can know what to look for. 

Jesus came to the world, to incarnate God with us.  Wherever God is, God reigns.  As God was revealed in Jesus, that new age began.  Jesus not only showed his disciples how to live so that the kingdom would come, he taught them that living as he showed them was living in the kingdom. 

So, what does it look like to live in God’s reign? 

Jesus was open to the leading of the Holy Spirit.  He was anointed at his baptism, and let the Spirit in him inform him and shape him.  When he was baptized, the Spirit of God descended upon him like a dove.  After his baptism, the Spirit drove him to the wilderness.  At the announcement of his ministry in Luke, he quoted the prophet Isaiah to claim his authority with the words, “The Spirit of God is upon me…” Jesus showed the disciples that the kingdom of God is near when they allow God’s Spirit to lead them.  The kingdom of God looks like all people allowing God’s Spirit to lead them. 

Jesus brought good news to the poor, to the outcast, to the least and to the lost.  Jesus had a heart for those who no one wanted.  The first thing he did after choosing the first four disciples was an exorcism.  He made people whole.  He completed them.  He healed and cast out evil from people’s lives. 

But, he not only cast out evil, in Luke’s gospel, we read the accounts of Jesus’ ministry to women and gentiles.  Not just any women, but women who were unclean by the standards of the law.  He blessed a woman who dared to touch his cloak for healing when she was bleeding.  He didn’t make her go do the required ritual baths.  He blessed her and called her daughter.  He made her one of his own. 

He also healed a bent over woman who couldn’t stand for 18 years.  And he raised a little girl who had been sick.  In Mark’s gospel, we read of the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law.  And then there’s the story in Luke about Syro-Phonecian woman who sought Jesus out to heal her daughter.  Here was a woman who was of another race and religion.  But Jesus had mercy.  And also the woman at the well, forgiven, and knowing she was acceptable and worthy for the first time in her life, who became one who spread the message of Jesus to her own townspeople. 

Jesus also gave sight to the blind.  In John’s gospel is the account of the man born blind whose sight was restored, but no one around him could see who Jesus was.  Over and over, Jesus showed who he was, yet over and over those who were caught up in the way things are supposed to be couldn’t see.  It was the people who longed for a new way who could see who Jesus really was. 

In our communion liturgy, we summarize Jesus’ ministry that tell us how he showed us to live the kingdom life:  “He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, ate with sinners, and proclaimed good news to the poor.”  Jesus didn’t do all of this so that his followers could write it all down and we could read about it someday.  Jesus did it because he was living the kingdom life.  He was demonstrating, modeling, what it means to live in God’s reign. 

And Jesus died.  He gave himself up so that the world would be saved through him.  Not saved by a show of might and force.  But saved by self-sacrifice.  Saved by offering himself to the authorities of this world, the authority of military power, and the greed of religious zealousness.  By giving himself to these, he demonstrated to his disciples that living in God’s reign is more about doing God’s will than doing the will of any government or religious institution. 

Jesus taught sacrificial living is kingdom living. Jesus’ disciples were to live sacrificially if they were to experience the nearness of the kingdom.  That sacrifice was not so that they could preserve their own lives, but so that others might have life through the message they continued to proclaim when the time came. 

When we pray ‘Your kingdom come’, we are saying that we will commit to living the life that brings us near to the reign of God, living as Jesus showed us through his ministry of rebuking evil, healing, including the unwanted, giving sight to the blind, sharing the good news with the poor, and sacrificing his life for the sake of others.  When we pray that God’s kingdom come, we are committing ourselves to the will of God. 

And that brings us to the rest of today’s prayer:  Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  When you pray for God’s will on earth as it is in heaven, who are you expecting to do God’s will?  Are you thinking of it as something that will just happen at some future point in time?  Or are you aware that when you commit to God’s kingdom come, you are also committing yourself to doing God’s will in the here and now?  God’s will, not our will. 

That’s more difficult. Forgive seventy times seven, or indefinitely; turn the other cheek.  Give to the poor, seeing that they are taken care of.  Fast, or give up those things that get in the way of your relationship with God. 

God’s will.  What is God’s will?  James Mullholland writes in Praying Like Jesus, “…seeking God’s will is always discerning our role in making earth as it is in heaven.”  It’s almost circular.  We pray that God’s kingdom come, and then we pray that God’s will be done.  But, when God’s will is done, God’s kingdom will come.  We might say, “Your kingdom will come when we do your will on earth as it is done in heaven.” 

The beautiful picture of heaven painted by John of Patmos in Revelation, reads, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.  They will be his people, and God will be with them, and be their God.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  Many Christians, obsessed with Christ’s return in the face of the state of the world, express their expectations with, “Well, it won’t be solved until Christ returns.” 

Mulholland goes on:  Jesus must weep whenever he hears those words.  I can almost hear him saying, “You are my body.  You are my hands and my feet and my mouth.  The kingdom of God is within you.  Let it out!” 

The Lord’s Prayer is a call to action.  It isn’t to be said lightly, or as empty words mouthed for Sunday morning rituals.  It is a prayer of power when we pray it as though we truly mean it.  It is a prayer of transformation when we allow it to move us closer to God’s reign on earth.  It is a prayer of submission when we give our will over to God so that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

When we pray for God’s kingdom, when we invoke God’s will, we are giving ourselves over to what God desires, for our own lives, and for the life of the church. 

I believe that the church is where we can be a light to the community.  We can become so committed to doing God’s will, that this will become a place where God’s kingdom, God’s reign is lived.  It will be a place of self giving, joyful sacrifice.  It will be a place of loving relationships, offering mercy to those who seek it, and forgiveness to all who have sinned. 

It will be a place of peace where people are lifted up with dignity and respect.  It will be a place of generosity of spirit and resources.  It will be a place where fear of the unknown is replaced by trust in God’s good will.  The church is where we come near to God’s reign now, so that when that time in the future comes, we have been faithful to bring God’s reign near to the least, the lost and the lowly. 

God’s kingdom come; God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Amen. 

For the first two weeks of lent, we have been looking at the “you” prayers of the Lord’s prayer.  The “you” prayers are the ones that acknowledge and honor God.  We prayed to God, the Father, using the intimate, loving name for God that Jesus used, so that his disciples could understand God as close and intimate also.  And at the same time, acknowledging that whatever name we use for God, it is sacred as God is holy. 

We prayed that God’s kingdom come, realizing that when we pray for God’s kingdom, we are committing ourselves to become a part of God’s answer for making that kingdom a reality for all persons.  And God’s will be done, also a statement of commitment that we submit to doing God’s will, to allowing God to use us, to give ourselves over to the divine will so that God’s kingdom, God’s reign, will be done on earth, as it is done in God’s realm. 

So, today, we come to the “we” prayers, which are the petitions in the Lord’s prayer.  The three petitions are for bread, for the cancellation of debts, and for safety from all evil.  Our prayer focus today is asking God to “give us this day our daily bread.” 

The Prayer of Jesus is a prayer that seeks what God has promised in the future, and also asks that God provide for the here and now.  It is the hoped for end of time consummation of all things in the perfection of God’s love, and the way we ask God to guide us in living God’s love now.  When we ask for our daily bread, we are asking for a future as well as the present needs. 

In the feeding of the 5000, Jesus looked with compassion on the crowds who had gathered to hear him.  They had come to learn, to listen, to be taught a new understanding of what it meant to be God’s people.  But, they hadn’t planned for a long day.  It got late, and the disciples were getting hungry.  They figured that the people in the crowd were getting hungry.  So, the disciples asked Jesus if they should sent the people to get food in the towns. 

Jesus surprised them though.  “You feed them,” he said.  Us?  Feed them?  There’s so many of them.  And we don’t have enough for ourselves.  It would cost two hundred days wages to feed all these people.  When you send us out, you tell us not to take any purse with us, to depend upon them.  How can we feed so many hungry people?

And, then, Jesus says, “Well, what do you have?”  So they gathered together their meager scraps.  Five loaves of bread.  Oh, and here’s two fish, too. 

So, Jesus takes them, lifts them up, blesses them, breaks them, and gives them to the disciples.  And people begin to eat.  And everyone eats.  And everyone is filled.  And twelve baskets of left-overs are collected.

James Mulholland, whose book, “Praying the Prayer of Jesus”, I’ve been reading for this sermon series, tells that he thinks this wasn’t some supernatural event.  He says the miracle is that people who had quit hoarding, and began to share what they had with those who hadn’t thought, or didn’t have anything to bring in the first place.  He says that the miracle is the change in people’s hearts.  What an idea! 

Jesus knew that out of 5000 people, some of them would have brought food.  Some had come some distance on foot to hear him.  But, there was no one beginning to take out what they had.  They may have been thinking, “If I get my lunch out, everyone around me will want some.  Then there won’t be enough for me and my family.” 

They were thinking, “What if that bunch over there who look like they haven’t eaten for days decide to beat me up and take what I have?”  They were thinking, “If they wanted to eat, they should have thought ahead like I did.  Those who bring their lunch deserve it.  Those who are too stupid to think they’ll get hungry deserve to go without.”  They were thinking about themselves, and justifying their selfishness. 

But, Jesus took that little bit that his disciples found among them, and he acted like they were at some great banquet.  And the disciples began to pass that little bit out like it was a great amount.  Those who had hid their bundles of food began to pull them out and pass out their little bit among those around them.  Soon, more and more pulled out their bundles of food. 

And the strangest thing happened.  They began to realize that as they had hoarded what they had, many others had hoarded too.  And in reality, there was more than enough for everyone there.  5000 men, plus women and children ate and were full.  All because Jesus showed them how to take what they had and give it away.  And they received more than they expected. 

Give us this day our daily bread.  Again, it is a prayer of what the reign of God will be like when Jesus comes back.  We’ll all gather around for that great banquet, Jesus will lift, bless, break, and give the bread of life, and there will be enough for all, because we will all live out of God’s love, loving our neighbor as ourselves. 

But, until that day, we have to live in the here and now, where people go hungry, homeless, without adequate clothes, and without the ability to read and write so that they can do for themselves.  Some are poor because they were born to an un-privileged class or race, where they don’t have the advantages that most of us here enjoy.  Some are poor because they know no other way of life.  Some are poor because life has been cruel and they’ve lost jobs, health, or livelihood. 

I wonder how many of us here today have ever been in a situation where we didn’t know if we would have anything to eat for the day, or for the coming days?  Over 25 million Americans are hungry, and depend upon America’s Second Harvest Food Bank Network in order to have anything to eat.  In a 2005 study conducted by Second Harvest, we learn startling facts about people in the wealthiest country in the world.  This figure includes 9 million children and 3 million elderly people. 

How many of us really need to pray “give us this day our daily bread” for ourselves?  I know that I don’t.  I’m attending Weight Watchers to learn to eat less.  I know there are some others who are in programs to learn to eat less.  Maybe we need to pray, “let us share this day our daily bread.” 

I believe that the miracle that Jesus did that day with the crowd of 5000 is waiting to be repeated by the people who follow Jesus now.  I believe that we are called to collect what we have, and to lift, bless, divide, and give to those who have nothing or next to nothing.  I believe that in our sharing what we have, however little it is, we are becoming a part of the answer to the world’s, this country’s, hunger problem. 

Like praying, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” when we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” we’re not only asking God to make sure we have what we need, but we are using the us that includes all people.  The ‘us’ we pray is anyone, anywhere, whose needs aren’t being met.  The prayer we pray is also asking that God will make us a part of the answer for the least of these.

Will the problem be solved in our lifetime?  No. 

But, when we fill our little boxes for the Society of St. Andrew, we will sharing bread with our brothers and sisters.  When we give food for our food pantry and for FISH, we are sharing bread with those in our community.  When we go to St. Paul’s to make and serve breakfast, we are sharing our bread with people of the greater community.  When we pay our World Hunger apportionment, we are sharing our bread with people of the world. 

There are so many people in need.  So many who are hungry.  What if we don’t have enough?  When Jesus broke the bread and fish, and the people saw what he and the disciples did, they opened their food bundles, and did the same. 

If we became an example for how Jesus did it, what would happen to hunger? 

Give us this day our daily bread.  As we long for the coming of God’s kingdom being fully established on earth when Christ comes again, where there will be bread for all, we commit ourselves to being partners with God to provide for the needs of the poor as we share our resources. 

There is no Christianity without proclaiming the gospel.  John Wesley wrote, “There is no gospel but the social gospel.”  People need the Word of God, the bread of life.  But, if they need the very survival needs of food, shelter and clothing, they cannot hear of God’s love. 

In the letter of James, second chapter, he writes, “If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what good is that?  So faith by itself without works is dead.”

We pray for our daily bread.  We pray this prayer asking for enough for all people, regardless of why they now go hungry and are without what they need.  God will provide through those who are called according to his purpose.  Amen. 

Detail of "David's Punishment" by Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld (German artist, 1794-1872), woodcut illustration in Das Buch der Bücher in Bilden.

Yesterday, with the confirmations class, we talked about sin.  I continue to be amazed at how the topics that fall in the curriculum for confirmation seem to go along with what I am preaching.  We talked about sin and forgiveness.  Sin is our separation from God.  Those things we do to hurt one another or to continue the severed relationship with God are the sins that we talk about that hurt others and grieve God. 

I used to think that praying the Lord’s Prayer was easy.  I used to think that to preach the  Lord’s Prayer would be full of grace and a very loving way of preaching.  I used to think that preaching the Lord’s Prayer would be a way of being pastoral to you all. 

That was until I began to really study it and meditate on it, and come to understand that the Lord’s Prayer is actually one of Jesus’ more difficult sayings.  Because to pray the Lord’s Prayer convicts us of our sinfulness, and lays bare our pretense. But, I’ve also come to understand that this prayer is full of grace and is very pastoral.  Praying the Lord’s Prayer brings us closer and into a right relationship with God our Father. 

We are humbled before God when we pray this prayer, and if we really hear what we are saying, we come to see ourselves as unworthy of the forgiveness which we seek.  This is a dangerous prayer to pray and really mean it, because it will convict you, humble you, and change you. 

In the 1980’s, we owned a Chevy Vette.  No, not a Corvette. A Che-vette.  It was a tiny compact car that was just right for the family when we first got it.  We had three daughters, ages 6, 9, and 11, who fit in the back seat perfectly.   The youngest had to sit in the middle, of course, but her legs were short enough so that her feet rested on the hump that divided the floor. 

However, it wasn’t long before she grew, and her sisters did, too.  Soon, we were hearing, “Don’t touch me!”  “Stop pushing me!”  “Mom, she’s touching me!”  I know no one else ever had this problem with their children.  But, we did.  Sometimes, they would take things into their own hands, literally, and there would be an elbow in the side or a shove. 

Sometimes, we would have to pull over to the side of the road and threaten to sit there until they stopped and said to each other that they were sorry.  But, always, they would leave the car angry and mumbling under their breath, and the next family trip ended up with the same kinds of arguments.  That may be why they all drive minivans and SUVs today.  But, it was years before they understood how those disagreements created a division in the family, and made the family outings unpleasant.  They just couldn’t forgive the occasional elbow or touching of a leg in that cramped space. 

When you pray, pray like this, “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.”  We pray that every week.  We seek forgiveness, and we know that we are forgiven.  For God is merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, so says the psalmist, and so we believe.  There’s grace in that petition. 

The petition to forgive comes immediately after the petitions for provision:  Give us bread for the day.  We acknowledge God’s great generosity in giving us our basic needs, and we even commit ourselves to partner with God in providing for those people who are in need.  And then, we seek God’s mercy, while at the same time, we say that we are forgiving others. 

We seek forgiveness “as we forgive those who have sinned against us.”  Now really, how many of us truly forgive others what they do to us?  If we’re honest, most of us are like those children in the back seat.  We resent what someone else has done that made us uncomfortable or how they hurt us.  We dig our heels in and cross our arms, and we refuse to forgive, because we’re right and they’re wrong. 

We pray that we seek forgiveness as we forgive others.  That can be taken a couple different ways: 

First, As we forgive others could mean that we want God to forgive us at the same level of forgiveness that we offer others.  Often we offer forgiveness in degrees.  Someone we love and want to keep near us will be given a generous amount of our forgiveness for doing something that hurts us.  Someone whom we question, or whom we don’t fully agree with will be given a lesser amount of our forgiveness. 

For instance, parents forgive their children over and over for breaking the rules of the household.  It doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences.  It’s just that we parents love our children, and we are willing to forgive them.  Even when they go places we tell them not to.  Even when they hang out with people we disapprove of.  Even when they don’t do their homework.  Even when they are rude and talk back.  We love them.  And we will forgive them, because they are our children. 

However, when we encounter someone else’s child who is rude or doesn’t obey their parents, we are much less forgiving.  Someone, we say, needs to set that child straight.  They become those whom we don’t want ours to hang with.  We are much slower to forgive other kids.  So we offer degrees of forgiveness, and even conditional forgiveness.  If they clean up their act, we can forgive them, and allow our children to hang with them again. 

But, the things that confront us to forgive become much more complex.  People who have been through difficult divorces find it next to impossible to forgive.  People who have been traumatized by abuse find it impossible to forgive the abuser.  People whose reputations have been destroyed by vicious gossip find it very hard to forgive.  People who have had a loved one murdered find forgiveness a foreign concept. 

Some things are beyond our capacity to forgive.  So we pray, Forgive us our sins,  and help my unforgivingness. 

As we forgive others can also mean in the way we forgive.  We are judgmental people.  I don’t know if that’s a cultural issue or a human issue.  I believe it may be human to put ourselves in the seat of judgment, because the original sin was the desire to be like God, and God is the ultimate judge.  So, we, in our inflated sense of who we are tend to pass judgment.  However, scripture tells us that we will be judged by the same judgments with which we judge others. 

When we judge someone unworthy of our forgiveness, what happens to the forgiveness we seek from God?  Jesus told the parable of the unforgiving servant. 

A king called in a servant who owed him a great amount.  The servant fell on his face before the king and begged mercy.  “Have mercy on me, for I am not able to repay the debt I owe you.  The king took pity, and told him to stand up.  His debt was forgiven, and he didn’t have to pay anything back. 

As the servant was leaving, he met another servant who owed him a debt.  The forgiven servant said to the second, “Where is the payment of the debt you owe me?”  The second one fell to the ground and begged mercy.  “Have mercy on me, for I am unable to repay you right now.”  The one who had been forgiven had the second servant sent to the jail. 

When the king heard of this, he called the first servant back to him and told him, You unforgiving servant.  I forgave you all of your debt.  Could you not have forgiven your brother in return?  Therefore, you will go to debtors prison until the debt is fully paid.” 

When we pray forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us, and we have been unable to forgive another, fortunately, God has already forgiven us by grace.  It’s an unforgiving heart, though, that will continue to suffer the consequences from the bitterness and separation that goes with not forgiving.  But, God’s grace and mercy is greater than our desires to hold on to the anger, hatred and distrust that comes from not forgiving. 

When we pray for God to forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us, we are saying that we have already forgiven those who owe us, who have hurt us in some way. 

When we pray forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us, we are acknowledging that we have sinned and are in need of forgiveness.  The condition of divine forgiveness is the forgiving spirit in us. 

A few years ago, one of my daughters called me on the phone.  She said, “Mom, for all those times I told you no or yelled, I am sorry.  I said, “You are forgiven.”

And then, I told her to forgive her sisters for all the times they yelled at her.  To my joy, she told me that she already had.  Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.  Amen.

Sermon Copyright © 2006 Ruth Solo.  All Rights Reserved.

Sermon for April 2, 2006
Teach Us to Pray: "Lead Us Not Into Temptation ..."

Temptation on the Mount by Duccio di Buoninsegna (Frick Collection, New York)

I look up on the top of the refrigerator.  Boxes of Girl Scout cookies are sitting in the wire basket staring down at me.  “Take one of us” they seem to be shouting in their colorful packaging with smiling girl scouts on the pictures.  “But, one isn’t enough,” I think to myself.

Temptation.  It sits in front of me.  “Lead me not into temptation,” I think.  I go sit down.  I return to the kitchen.  I reach up and take down a box.  I put it back.  I take down another.  And I count out three cookies, so sit on the couch and eat.

Then I feel guilty as I open my weight loss program journal and write down the cookies and the points they cost me.  My confession of hurting myself.  Then I really pray, “Lead me not into temptation…” But, it wasn’t God who led me to the temptation.

I led myself.

We struggle with this petition of the Lord’s prayer.  We have problems with the idea that God would lead us into situations where we would be tempted to sin — against God, against others, or against ourselves.

But, God doesn’t get in the way of those struggles in life that will make us stronger, and help us to depend upon our faith for life.

In today’s lesson from the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus was teaching a prayer petition that was relevant for Jesus’ time with his disciples, that was meaningful for the end of time, and that held promise and hope for the here and now for us.

For Jesus and the disciples, time was running short.  Although in Matthew, his ministry was still very new, the entire ministry, as we understand it, lasted only three years.  Not much time to teach a group of people everything they needed to know about God’s kingdom and how to live in it.

The prayer looked at the time when the disciples would be put to the test by the religious and government authorities.  It looked to the dangers of being a disciple of Jesus.  It looked to the possibility that one or more of them could betray, that they might deny knowing Jesus, that they could run the other way when the going got tuff.  The petition was to teach the disciples to pray that their new faith didn’t fail when their time with Jesus would end.

He taught them to ask God to lead them in the right way to go when the day would come that their faith in Jesus would be tested.  So, Jesus taught them to pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” as a way of seeking God’s presence and guidance in days to come when being a disciple of Jesus could mean persecution and even death.

The prayer also looked to the time after Jesus’ death, when the church would become established.  The prayer as we know it was close to what Jesus taught, but had changes made that reflected the struggles of early Christians.  When Matthew wrote the prayer into his gospel, the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem had taken place, or was close.  Persecution of Jews had already begun, and many were dying for being followers of Jesus. 

The prayer looked to the end of time as they knew it, and in a sense, the end of all time, when great tribulation was expected in which one’s faith may falter.  The persecutions that were foreseen could cause faithful followers to deny the very faith they had begun to confess as new followers of Jesus.

And, the prayer is a petition for us to pray when we feel we’ve been tested by life to the limits, when evil seems to surround us, and we feel we’re sinking into the temptation of sin.

William Barclay offers various explanations for what the petition has meant throughout the centuries by examining different translations of the Greek manuscripts.  But, in the end, he concludes that the best interpretation is the one that say it is a petition that God will stay with us and help us to conquer temptation and trials, which are a sure part of being human.

Martin Luther explained it this way:  We cannot help being exposed to the assaults, but we pray that we may not fall and perish under them.  In her book, Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope, (Wm B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2003, p. 39) Sister Joan Chittister writes about struggle:  “’There can be no growth with out resistance’ the Chinese proverb teaches us…Struggle is a fact of life.  What we struggle against, what we struggle for, what we struggle with, all test and hone us… The great choice with which struggle confronts us, then, is not whether to accept it—struggle comes unbidden.  It doesn’t matter whether we accept it. The choice is whether to crumble under it, or to brave it.”

I believe that when we pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” or “Do not lead us into the time of trial,” we are asking God to walk this life journey with us, to guide our paths, and to keep us safe from harm.  We’re acknowledging that God has entered life’s struggles and the ensuing temptations along side us.

But, when we do encounter those situations and events that threaten our well-being because of our own weakness, like my purchasing Girl Scout cookies and leaving them out while I was trying to loose weight….

Or when we encounter those situations that tempt us to turn from others because we don’t like the kind of person they are, or we have a desire to lash out and blame them when things go wrong, or they aren’t like us…

Or when we encounter the greater evils of the world, like the temptation to ignore millions of people who are starving and blame them for their plight, while we grow fatter, or deny healthcare to the poorest and most vulnerable in budget cutting schemes…

When we encounter such struggles and temptations, then this petition is the blessed assurance that God is with us, and we are not alone.  God will lead us in the paths of faithful witness and service for the sake of God’s reign.  Amen.