Last week we looked at how Matthew likes to use nested parallels (a chiasmus) to write about Jesus. The person who wrote Matthew’s gospel was not an eyewitness of Jesus but, like the author of Luke, pulled together a number of sources about Jesus’ life and teachings. While the Sermon on the Mount is an authentic collection of Jesus’ teachings, the way we have it in the gospel is most likely an arrangement made by Matthew. Jesus himself probably never gave such a sermon.
Given the way Matthew likes to use the chiasmus structure, it’s no surprise he uses it for the Sermon on the Mount. When a writer creates a chiasmus the most important point is put at the center. In the center of the Sermon on the Mount we find the Lord’s Prayer. As the center the Lord’s Prayer gives us a lense to view the whole sermons, and actually Matthew’s entire gospel.
We’ll look at the prayer from that perspective, but before we do let’s notice the other teachings that surround the Lord’s Prayer.
We are the point in the sermon where Jesus has moved into how you practice your piety. Three things are brought up in particular: almsgiving (or financial giving), prayer, and fasting.
Each of these three things could easily be done in a way to attract attention to yourself. But that raises a question – why are you doing it? Are you doing it for praise and approval of others? Are you doing it so that others say, “Do you see how much he’s giving to the work of God?” Or, “They are such a religious family. Look at how well behaved they all are and how faithfully they live.” Or, are you doing these pious acts for a very different reason? Ultimately, where is your heart?
I think we’ve all done subtle things to make ourselves look good. You see an attractive person you want to impress and so you put on your best face. How many boys and girls have decided to like or dislike something solely for the purpose of appearing attractive to some other girl or boy? People put on a “dating face” when they start a relationship they hope will have promise.
It’s more than just trying to make favorable impressions. A couple years ago when I was shopping for a new minivan I realized how much of a chameleon the salesman had to be. He certainly he had his own taste in cars. He knew what he liked and what he didn’t like. He knew what was a wise purchase and what was foolish. But he kept all that inside. Instead he changed to suit whatever his customer wanted.
For example, say someone like me shows up. I’ve made an appointment and I walk in with a few sheets of paper in hand from the online inventory at the dealership. Almost the first words out of my mouth were that I wanted to look at these vehicles and nothing more. And I said the terms that I would buy under: I wasn’t going to tolerate talking about rust protection, or extended warranties, or any other special deals. I was a potential buyer who knew what he wanted. I had sat down with a calculator before arriving to figure out the lowest cost vehicle that would suit my needs. On the whole, I’m sure I was a very boring customer. The salesman was gracious and did exactly what I asked.
But I’m sure this same salesman also knew how to sell a fancy four-wheel-drive truck to a guy who would probably never take it off a paved surface. He knew how to sell a luxury car to a woman who only cared about how it made her look. And he certainly knew how to sell a simple sedan to a poor college student who just needed a cheap way to get from point A to point B. He could sell to them all, changing himself to have whatever priority his customer had. That’s salesmanship. That’s not, however, how Jesus intends faith to work.
What is Jesus saying about piety – almsgiving, praying, fasting? Don’t do it for the image it creates. Do it as an expression of your faith relationship with God. Don’t worry what other people think – whether it’s positive or negative. Ultimately it is your relationship with God that is important.
I’ve come across sermons that say in Jesus’ day wealthy people would have processions with trumpets to announce particularly big charitable gifts. I suppose it would be akin to a donor banquet thrown by a charity where major givers are celebrated. I’ve also come across sermons where the pastor ways put on airs when they were fasting or doing other religious disciplines. But in truth there is no evidence of anything like that actually taking place. There are no reports of people literally disfiguring their faces when fasting. There are no reports of trumpets being blown ahead of major givers, or people making loud prayers in the synagogues or street corners. Remember, Jesus often taught using parables and extreme exaggerations to make her point. I think he’s doing the same thing here.
When it comes to how you practice your faith it is to be done first and foremost with your relationship with God in mind. Don’t worry about how it makes you look before others, either good or bad.
That takes us to the Lord’s Prayer and its central place.
The prayer starts off with a very simple line, “Our Father…” Jesus does not make prayer an individual thing between you and God. You do not say, “My Father.” No, it’s a communal thing, “Our Father.”
The prayer starts off with this crucial relationship. Jesus says to address God as a Father. The Greek word used here is “Pater”. In Aramaic, the language Jesus actually spoke, it would be Abba – dad or daddy. It shows respect yet is still familial. Jesus does not say address God as: master, as if we are slaves; or king, as if we were subjects; or even Lord. But Father. And a recognition of hallowing, or honoring God’s name.
Moving farther into the prayer remember Matthew’s overall theme of a conflict of kingdoms – the kingdom of God (or heaven) vs. the kingdom of this world (or evil).
“Your kingdom come.” Who’s kingdom? The worldly kingdom? No, God’s kingdom.
“Your will be done.” Again, whose will are we committing to do?
And the next line is very important, “on earth as it is in heaven.”
It is essential when reading Matthew’s gospel, and really much of Jesus’ teachings, that we do NOT get the idea of suffer now to be rewarded later. (Indeed, St. Paul did write about the sufferings of this age being insignificant to the glory that God has in store. His writings are true, but that is not the thrust of the Bible’s teachings for our lives.)
All too often people think life is a test to see if you are worthy enough to go to heaven. That is not, absolutely not, what the Bible teaches. God loves us. All of us! God wants all of us. And God wants us to live in his kingdom – his ways – here on earth. Life is not a test to see if you are good enough.
The Lord’s Prayer is about bringing God’s kingdom to real flesh and blood life for people here and now.
Notice it continues, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Notice two things. One, it is turning to God for daily needs. Daily needs include food, clothing, emotional support, friendship, etc. We turn to God and not the world, not other people, not institutions, or bank accounts, or governments, or anything else. We ask for God’s nurture and nourishment in very real ways here and now for us and for others. God’s kingdom is our life.
The next line takes us central to how our relationship with God and each other is built, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” This does not mean to let yourself be walked all over by everyone. But it does put grace at the center of our relationship with God and each other.
“Do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.” Use these verses and look both forward and backward in Matthew’s gospel. What happens before Jesus’ begins his public ministry? Forty days in the wilderness – a trial. This is asking God not to try us. Jesus survives that trial.
Look also to the end of the gospel reading. Jesus is in an even deeper trial. Will he go through with it? Will he again stay obedient to God no matter what the cost? Will he allow himself to be arrested and humiliated and beaten and executed?
How do the disciples fair under the same circumstances? What does Jesus say to them at after the Last Supper when he is with them in Gethsemane? “Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial.” Of course they do fall asleep! They all forsake him. They do fail in the face of trial.
When you look across Matthew’s gospel you see how the Lord’s Prayer, central here, is being lived out. The whole gospel can be faithfully interpreted through the prayer. And the prayer can be faithfully interpreted by the rest of the gospel.
Matthew presents us with the Lord’s Prayer as a simple measure to use for all of life. When you don’t know what to do, consider the Lord’s Prayer. When you don’t know what to pray, use the Lord’s Prayer. It is our relationship with God in a nutshell!
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