The scripture verses which we are looking at for this past Sunday, July 24th, 2016 are found in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 11, verses 1 to 13. These are very familiar verses to us as this is one of three writings that contain the "Lord's Prayer". As I have written before the other locations where the Lord's Prayer are found would be the Gospel of Matthew and also in the non-canonical writing known as The Didache or also called The Teaching of the Twelve. Here are the verses as found in Luke:
Luke 11:1-13 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
11 He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 He said to them, “When you pray, say:
Father,[a] hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.[b]
3 Give us each day our daily bread.[c]
4 And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial.”[d]
5 And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ 7 And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
9 “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for[e] a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit[f] to those who ask him!”
Footnotes:
a) Luke 11:2 Other ancient authorities read Our Father in heaven
b) Luke 11:2 A few ancient authorities read Your Holy Spirit come upon us and cleanse us. Other ancient authorities add Your will be done, on earth as in heaven
c) Luke 11:3 Or our bread for tomorrow
d) Luke 11:4 Or us into temptation. Other ancient authorities add but rescue us from the evil one (or from evil)
e) Luke 11:11 Other ancient authorities add bread, will give a stone; or if your child asks for
f) Luke 11:13 Other ancient authorities read the Father give the Holy Spirit from heaven
The "Lord's Prayer is somewhat different as recorded in Matthew and The Didache. Let's first look at Matthew's version:
Matthew 6:9-13 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
9 “Pray then in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.[a]
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not bring us to the time of trial,[b]
but rescue us from the evil one.[c]
Footnotes:
a) Matthew 6:11 Or our bread for tomorrow
b) Matthew 6:13 Or us into temptation
c) Matthew 6:13 Or from evil. Other ancient authorities add, in some form, For the kingdom and the power and the glory are yours forever. Amen.
And now let's read the Lord's Prayer as found in the Didache:
The Didache 8:3-11 (translation by JB Lightfoot)
8:3 Neither pray ye {as the hypocrites,} but as the Lord commanded in His Gospel, {thus pray ye.
8:4 Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name;
8:5 Thy kingdom come;
8:6 Thy will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth;
8:7 give us this day our daily bread;
8:8 and forgive us our debt, as we also forgive our debtors;
8:9 and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one;}
8:10 for Thine is the power and the glory forever and ever.
8:11 Three times in the day pray ye so.
Perhaps the most interesting thing we can gather from a quick reading is that our current recitation of the Lord's Prayer is the most similar to the reading as it's found in the Didache. It is only in the Didache that we find the Doxology of "for Thine is the power and the glory forever and ever". There are manuscripts that have inserted a Doxology at the end of the prayer in the Gospel of Matthew but these manuscripts are not the oldest nor the best and it is almost assuredly an inclusion added by a scribe somewhere along the way. Some scribe who was troubled by the absence of these words which were being recited in their daily prayers. It's interesting that I have no knowledge of an inclusion in the verses found in Luke's Gospel even though his version is by far the most brief and seemingly wanting.
I have preached over the "Lord's Prayer" twice in the past and here is a link to a blog post with the transcript of the first sermon, given at Murray Christian Church:
And here is the video of the second sermon over the Lord's Prayer, this sermon was given at New Life Baptist Chruch in Bellevue, NE.
The primary thing that I want to focus on from these two sermons is the word that is translated as 'daily'. As I state in the transcript linked above:
Epiousios is a very, very interesting word. The only real problem is that we don't actually know what the word means. You see this word exists in exactly three places, it is only found in these three readings of the “Lord's Prayer”. And since for many, many years the Didache was lost, for much of Christian History we have only had two sources for this unknown word, the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Now since we find this prayer in only Matthew and Luke, and not in Mark's Gospel, it is highly likely that it originated in that undiscovered but hypothesized Document known as 'Q' or 'The Source'. (added by Roy: Though it is entirely possible that it actually originated in the Didache if the Didache dates to the time of Christ as some scholars believe)
Just what does Epiousios mean and how did it come to be translated as daily. Well in the fourth century St. Jerome was commissioned by the Pope to translate the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin. This was the first translation of the Bible in its entirety into Latin. When Jerome came to Epiousios he was uncertain just what to do so in Luke he translated it one way as 'Daily' and in Matthew he translated it differently. In our modern Bibles only the translation from Luke the word 'Daily' remains and the meaning assigned by Jerome in Matthew has been largely forgotten.
If we break down the word Epiousios we find that 'epi' means 'above', 'beyond' or 'super', 'ousios' means substance, essence or necessity. We come up with the word that Jerome used when translating the Gospel of Matthew, 'Supersubstantial'. Above substantial, super essential, beyond necessity... these all give us a considerable different meaning than 'daily'.
Now we no longer have 'daily' bread but 'supersubstantial' bread, 'super essential' bread, bread that is 'beyond that what is necessary for mere survival'. When we consider that Christ used bread as a metaphor, we have, well the Eucharist, we have Communion, we have the bread of life, we have Christ himself...
We no longer have feed us for we are hungry, but feed us for we hunger. We hunger for that relationship with God that comes through the celebration of the Lord's Supper, through the ceremonial celebration of communion. This point is particularly poignant to you all as members of the Disciples of Christ Church. The DOC places such great emphasis on the celebration of communion that it is celebrated not once a month as most Christian denominations do but weekly, as you all well know.
It is important that we remember that when Christ taught this prayer to his Disciples, he almost certainly did not teach it to them in Greek. Rather he almost certainly taught it to them in Aramaic. We are left wondering what word or words did he use here that forced the writer of 'Q' to have to create a new word in Greek in order to try and grasp the depth of the meaning. It would seem unlikely that it was a word as mundane as daily. A word which can be rendered by at least 20 different ancient Greek words none of which is epiousios.
So, we find that rather than suddenly focusing at one point in this prayer on our earthly needs, when the remainder of the prayer is about spiritual or global needs, we discover that 'epiousios' leads us to a very large place indeed. No longer are we focused on that small meager portion in front of us, just enough to survive until tomorrow... but, now we have that abundance, that thing that allows us to survive forever. To survive eternally... PRAISE be to GOD!
Before we leave this section of the scripture look back to the first verse, but let's look at it as it's translated in the New King James Version: "Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples". Here in the NKJV the word 'also' is in the line found in the NRSV "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.". Reading this one has to wonder, did this prayer originate from John the Baptist? Was this a prayer taught by John to his disciples... we'll never know but the language seems to leave that possibility open. It's of no real matter to us today, we have received the teaching from Christ.
In verse Five of the Eleventh Chapter of Luke, we shift suddenly from how to pray to a parable about a friend in need. Here we have a story about a man reaching out for help, he has had a friend come to visit him suddenly, and at a late hour, and he has no food to offer him. So, this man has gone to another friend asking for three loaves of bread to place before his unexpected house guest. Initially, the second friend is reluctant to assist because the hour is late and he and his family have already retired for the night. But in verse eight the friend relents and rises to assist his 'persistent' friend. We read in the scripture; "I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs." Which we read to show the fruitfulness of the man's persistence in asking for aid. This determination and unwillingness to accept an outcome has often been heralded as a model for us to utilize in our own prayer life. It seems we need to pester God with at least some of our petitions before we can expect the prayed for outcomes.
But, there's another way to translate this word, and that's "shamelessness". Now, the impetus behind the action is not the persistence of the man asking but rather the "shamelessness" of the man being asked. This correlates with the entire 'hospitality' mindset of the culture at the time of Jesus. We've addressed this high regard for hospitality as well as honor in several recent sermons and here it continues in Luke's eleventh chapter.
God does not answer our prayers because we've bugged him to death but because of his absolute hospitality and perfect honor. God extends His perfect hospitality to us because that is what He is... He is perfect. Let us not forget, though (as I pointed out in the sermon the other day), hospitality is a two-way street. We are offered hospitality, but we must also accept it graciously and thankfully. God is our 'Heavenly Host'... you've all heard this phrase before, He is our perfect and eternal host. Let us be gracious and appreciative for all that our loving Host provides.
Now, we've come to verses nine through thirteen. Here we are told to "ask, and it will be given to you", "for everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds", and "if your child asks for an egg, will you give him a scorpion?", and finally "how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!". Ask and search... and you will receive and find... part of our problem as humans is though that we ask and hunt for that scorpion rather than the egg. Out of our imperfect, impatient, and all too often arrogant nature we see the scorpion as the desired outcome. Should we be surprised when God doesn't see fit to give us that scorpion? No, rather He is a good God, a perfect parent... He'll let us wait until we understand that playing with the scorpion was a decidedly bad idea. Of course, there are those among us who seem to not learn this until we're quite long in the tooth.
It has often been said that there are three answers to our prayers, yes, no and wait... very often the answer is in fact wait. Not an answer us impatient and impractical humans particularly care for...
And it's very well worth noticing what is said in verse thirteen; "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!". We can expect that when we ask God for selfish things such as "PLEASE GOD... just let me win the Powerball... that the answer may well be... no...", but if we ask God for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we can rest assured that the answer is an immediate and resounding... YES!
I'll end this blog post with the prayer I used at Murray Christian Church.
Remember to be a blessing to someone today!
In His grace and love,
Roy
God above, Father, Abba
Holy, Sacred and Revered Lord.
We pledge our hands, our feet, our hearts and our spirits
to you Oh Lord, to fashion this world as you
would desire.
Let us ever be your emissaries of Love,
Charity, Grace and Forgiveness in this world.
Let us follow the model that you have given us, of Jesus who is the Christ, as we pursue your perfect example of grace and love to this broken world.
Allow us Oh Lord to come into communion and relationship with you. Give us the strength of body, mind, and spirit that we require to serve you.
We pray for your protection from those that would oppose and harm us, and from our own sinful and selfish egos.
Oh Lord guide us steadfastly down your path of Forgiveness, Grace, Charity and Love onto this world.
For yours alone, Oh Lord is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory, until the very end of all time.
Amen
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