Our engagement with scripture is highly dependent on our own context as well as the context of the scriptures themselves.
Jesus starts his discussion of prayer by addressing some of that context. He is not speaking into a blank slate, but rather into a context where assumptions have already been made and wrong understandings are already in place. First, he attacks public piety, prayer done in public to increase our own reputation and prestige. Today, we aren’t likely standing outside the church praying loudly, but we certainly do the equivalent on social media, bolstering our own “personal brand”. When we do that, Jesus says we’ve already gotten our own rewards. But we can trust God to hear us and take care of us.
The second lie Jesus takes on is the idea that we need to pray in a particular way to get through to God. The Hellenistic influence is clear here, as the pagan practice of long rambling prayers to distracted, fickle deities was apparently being copied by the Jewish community. But God is not distant, He is near and already knows what we need before we open our mouths.
Then Jesus walks us through step by step how to pray. He starts off simply – we pray to our Father in heaven. Not Caesar or Zeus, not the gods of the stock market or political power. Now, you may argue that we don’t do that – but what if every tab refresh is its own little prayer? Who are we really seeking?
Next, “hallowed be your name.” This is a weird thing to say in English – we never say things like this except in this prayer. The closest we come is Halloween or the “Deathly Hallows” – maybe it would be better known as “let your name be known as holy.”
Next, “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Put another way, “God please show up!” We want to see God work His will in our lives, in our struggles, in our relationships.
From there “give us today our daily bread.” It’s a simple prayer, asking for just enough, calling back to the days in Exodus when God sent manna daily, but only for the day. It’s entirely counter-cultural and was in Jesus’ time as well. Why ask for so little from a God who is so rich? But by asking for only what we need, perhaps God works in us to give us more than we know.
Next, “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” This is a prayer about obligations and relationships. Relationships themselves are a network of obligations between people – and God’s covenants with his people are mutual obligations. We fail to meet these obligations all the time, and others fail to meet theirs to us. This prayer extends the grace of God to both ourselves and to others.
Finally, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” We will be tempted to deviate from the Jesus Way, from the instructions Jesus has been giving during the Sermon on the Mount. And we will be assailed by the real spiritual forces of evil that seek to keep us from relationship with God.
And then instead of what we expect, the doxological “for yours is the kingdom, etc” Jesus ends in a way that is perhaps unexpected. He goes back to these questions of obligations and the inevitable hurt that comes with living in relationships the way Jesus is calling. If we forgive those hurts, then we too will be forgiven. If we refuse to forgive, though, we will find our own forgiveness hard to come by.
It comes back to relationships – with God and others. Prayer is not a mechanism for building our reputation or fire seeking material gain, but for entering into relationship with God and seeking to tools to engage in Holy relationships with others.
— Sermon Notes, Tim Hsieh, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, June 1, 2025