Since we have been studying this prayer, as a church and community God has given us many opportunities to live it out in very practical ways. When we got to the line, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, we were in the midst of the Sandusky verdict which forced us to not be too quick to pass judgment on someone else because we are all sinners who stand in need of God’s grace. And then this past week we have had the opportunity for God to lead us in our response to the church break-in. According to the Lord’s Prayer, we have asked God to lead us away from the temptation to seek revenge and think instead about what real justice tempered with mercy looks like, but we also asked God to lead us away from the temptation to think that certain people or situations just can’t change. God has led us away from hard and cynical hearts so that we have remained open to the power of his transforming love and grace. Our study of the Lord’s Prayer has been timely and relevant and it has been a prayer that has led us and shaped us as a church over these past 6 weeks. I don’t know about you, but I have found it a fascinating and humbling experience.
Today, as we come to the end of the prayer, we find a phrase that we don’t think was included when Jesus first taught his disciples. The Lord’s Prayer is recorded in both Luke 11 and Matthew 6 and in neither place do we find this final phrase, which is really a doxology or a prayer which gives glory, In Latin doxo means to give praise so doxology is to give praise to God. So where did this part of the prayer come from? In most Bibles, when you look at Matthew 6:13 you will find a footnote which says, other ancient manuscripts add, in some form, “for the kingdom, and the power, and the glory are yours forever. Amen.”
To understand what is happening here we need to understand how the Bible got to us. When the Bible was first printed in 1611 the most ancient manuscripts scholars had to use as source material for the gospel of Matthew were from the 4th and 5th century. These writings included the doxology for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, AMEN, so it was included in those early Bibles and therefore became part of the tradition of the church when they said and taught the Lord’s Prayer. As earlier manuscripts of Matthew’s gospel were discovered and studied they found that they didn’t include this doxology but just ended with the line, deliver us from evil. So in later translations of the Bible, like the ones we have today, the line was omitted from the text and placed in a footnote.
What some people think happened is that as scribes were copying the every early manuscripts they may have added the doxology as a comment on the prayer into the margins of the scrolls, and then later scribes simply added the words into the text itself. So we think that the earliest gospels of Matthew didn’t have this doxology, which would seem to go along with how the prayer is recorded in Luke which doesn’t have it at all. But just because this line may not have been part of Jesus teaching at this moment, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pray it.
First of all, it’s important for us to remember that Jesus never told us to repeat this prayer in its exact form; he gave us the prayer as a model of how we should pray in general. In Matthew 6:9a Jesus says, This then is how you should pray. Jesus never says repeat these exact words. What Jesus wanted to give his disciples was an authentic, humble pattern for prayer that reflected the most important things. Jesus wanted to us acknowledge who God is, what God does for us and what our response to God and others should be. So it’s ok to add our own voice to the prayer as long as it maintains the integrity of Jesus message, and in many ways this doxology does just that.
In fact, there are many who believe that Jesus would have used this very doxology – or a form of it – himself because it is based on a doxology that comes from the lips of King David. Look at 1 Chronicles 29:10-11. David prays this near the end of his life and it would make sense that Jesus, a leader in the line of David, would have been familiar with this prayer and perhaps even prayed it himself. Did you hear the last line of our Lord’s Prayer tucked into this prayer? Listen again, Praise be to you, Lord, the God of our father Israel, forever and ever. Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. It’s clear that the doxology of the Lord’s Prayer is similar to the doxology used by King David near the end of his life that would have been known to and most likely used by Jesus. So it makes complete sense for us to keep this powerful ending of the prayer right where it is and to use it as our own prayer of praise to God.
But there is another important reason for us to keep this doxology where it is and pray it every time we pray this prayer and that is because it helps us understand every other part of the Lord’s prayer. You see, the only reason the rest of the prayer makes any sense is because the kingdom, power and glory all belong to God. The reason we call God Our Father is because we are children living in his kingdom. The reason we can ask God for bread is because God is the one who has the power to give bread and feed the world. The reason we ask God to forgive us and help us forgive others is because God is the only one who has the power to forgive and the reason we ask God to lead us and deliver us from evil is because God is the only one who has the power to lead us into life. So the only reason the rest of the prayer makes any sense is because the kingdom and the power and the glory belong to God, forever.
But as we pray this and think about God’s kingdom and power and glory, we need to remember that these things are not what we might think they are. When we think of kingdom and power and glory we usually think of wealth and fame and physical strength – but this is not what these things look like for God. In fact, Jesus rejected this kind of power and glory and he rejected the kingdoms of this world at the very beginning of his ministry. After Jesus’ baptism he was led into the wilderness where he was tempted by the Evil One. Look at Matthew 4:1-10.
The first temptation Jesus faced was to use his power to turn stones to bread and feed himself as well as the rest of the world. Jesus had the power to do this, to use his power for his own benefit in this world, but he refused. The second temptation was to throw himself off the highest point in the city of Jerusalem and allow God’s angels to rescue him – this would reveal to the world the glory of God in a spectacular fashion – but Jesus rejected this kind of earthy glory and willingly embraced God’s glory which came through sacrificial love and the cross. And then the last temptation was for Jesus to take hold of all the kingdoms of this world and receive their wealth and power and glory, but he refused.
Jesus understood that the kingdoms of this world and all they have to offer are nothing compared to the kingdom and power and glory of God. Everything in this world is weak and ineffective and if we trust in the power and glory of this world, we will be let down and disappointed every time. This world doesn’t have bread that satisfies the hunger of our hearts and souls. This world can’t offer a forgiveness that frees us and sets us in a right relationship with God and others, and this world can’t lead us in the ways of God and deliver us from evil because evil is and always will be a part of this world until Christ returns. During his own time of temptation Jesus understood that he couldn’t take hold of the kingdom and power and glory of this world – he had to trust God, and so do we.
When we pray this last line of the Lord’s Prayer, we aren’t just saying that we know all power and glory are God’s, we are also saying that we won’t trust in the kingdom of this world and the power and glory it offers, but that we will trust in God alone. That’s what Jesus did when he was tempted, he looked to God. He trusted God. His response to Satan was that we need to live by the word of God and follow the will of God and worship and serve only God. With every temptation – Jesus looked to God and in every prayer we prayer and in every choice we make we need to look to God – why? Because the kingdom and the power and the glory are God’s forever and ever. AMEN?
AMEN. So we come to the last word, but it doesn’t mean the end. AMEN means, so be it. It means this is what we believe and this is what we trust and this is what we will give ourselves to. When we pray AMEN at the end of the Lord’s Prayer, it shouldn’t be a whisper – it should be a shout - a shout of praise, a shout of commitment and a shout of witness to the world letting them know that this prayer defines who we are and will guide how we live. The AMEN needs to bold and confident not because we can follow this prayer on our own, but because the kingdom and the power and the glory are God’s forever and ever. AMEN?
AMEN
Once again, let us pray together this timeless and powerful prayer, trust in God to help us live it out.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. AMEN
Next Steps:
For Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever. AMEN
1. Reread the story of Jesus’ temptation in Matthew 4:1-10.
In what ways was Jesus tempted to take hold of this world’s kingdoms and power and glory both in the wilderness and throughout his ministry? What would have happened if he did?
In what ways are we tempted to take hold of this kingdom’s power and glory instead of God? What happens when we do?
2. When you are feeling weak in body, mind or spirit – where do you seek power? Are they from things in this kingdom or the power of God?
What can you do this week to draw upon God’s power more than your own power or the power of the world?
3. If glorify means seeking fame, recognition or good standing, in what ways do you seek to glorify yourself?
• At home?
• At work?
• In the community?
What would it mean to glorify God instead?
4. Use the Lord’s Prayer everyday as a means of trusting in God’s kingdom and power and glory more than the worlds.
