This is how you are to pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread; 12 and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; 13 and do not subject us to the final test, but deliver us from the evil one. 14 If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.
Our Father in Heaven is one of the ways Jesus addresses God in the Gospel of Matthew. The Lord’s Prayer is similar to a prayer that was used in Jewish synagogue liturgy with an addition from Sirach, “Forgive your neighbor the wrong done to you; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven (Sir. 28:2).” Jewish Christianity was the foundation early Christianity so some of the Synagogue liturgy and Jewish traditions would have been incorporated into early Christianity. It is likely that Matthew added to Luke’s earlier form of the Lord’s Prayer (Lk. 11:2-4).
In the OT God was addressed as Yahweh (YHWH) but in the NT God was more frequently addressed as our Father. Jesus told us “Whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it (Mk. 10:15).” In verse 10, God’s kingdom has not yet come. His will is for peace and Justice (Rom. 14:17) and we are to live as if God’s kingdom is being realized here on earth. In verse 11, reference to daily bread can mean that God will take care of our daily needs (Mt. 6:8). It was also interpreted in early Christianity to mean the Eucharist as a foretaste of the Messianic Banquet. Verse 12 is referring to forgiveness of our sins whereby we would be indebted to God. There is a relationship between us forgiving other’s sins against us and God forgiving our sins. Although God’s mercy knows no bounds, we should try our best to forgive others from the heart. Do not let us be found unworthy at the end-time trial (v. 13) and do not let us submit when we are tempted by evil. Divine forgiveness does not depend on our actions, but it is not effective within us if we do not forgive others as our Father forgives us.
Almighty God, grant us the wisdom not to petition you with the hope of moving you to our way of thinking. Dispose our hearts more favorably to You so that Your Divine Grace will flow more abundantly into our hearts and we can seek what is right and just in Your eyes. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Faculty of the University of Navarre. The Navarre Bible: New Testament Expanded Edition. Expanded Edition, Four Courts / Scepter, 2008.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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