Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Matthew 6,5-15. Rotate

Sunday, May 17, 2020

Matthew 6,5-15. Rotate

Matthew 6,5-15 3320

Rogate 040

Possidius, Bishop of Calama in Numidia, Tunisia ✠ 430

17. Mai 2020

1. O Christ, our Redeemer, when Satan wars against us bringing up our many sins, remind us You have vanquished this, our ancient foe, so that we are consoled that our sins are forgiven, Death cannot harm us and Hades does not terrify us for You, O Jesus, have rescued us from Satan, Sin, Death and Hades. Amen. (Starck 89 ¶ 2)

2. »And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Pray then like this: Our Father 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 debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.«

3. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia! Last week we heard Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit to His apostles. Today we hear Jesus teach on prayer and that the Father will give us what we ask.

4. Not only does Jesus teach us that the Father hears and gives us what we ask, He also teaches us how to pray and what to ask for from the Father in the Lord’s Prayer. In doing so, Jesus convicts us of 2 sins: 1. We delight in making a public showing of our prayers; we love to draw attention from others so they see how pious and religious we are. 2. We revel in being long-winded with our prayers; we think the more we say to God will increase the importance of our prayers. Jesus tells us that His Father prefers humility and brevity. The Lord’s Prayer is both humble and brief.

5. It takes about 25-30 seconds to pray the Lord’s Prayer, but in that half minute we ask the Father for several important petitions. If you pay close attention to the Collect of the Day, then you will discover that it usually follows a simple outline comprised of 5 parts:

1. Invocation,

2. Divine attribute,

3. Petition,

4. so that and

5. Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer follows a similar outline:

Invocation: Our Father who art in heaven

Petition: Thy kingdom come

Thy will be done

Give us this day our daily bread

Forgive us our trespasses

Lead us not into temptation and

Deliver us from evil

so that: lacking, although deliver us from evil would be considered such.

Amen. Lacking, but implied as it is the affirmation: This is true; I agree.

6. Luther’s Small Catechism unpacks each part of the Lord’s Prayer. To invoke God as Our Father means that with these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our True Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father. God’s Name is certainly holy in itself, for as such it is one of His Divine attributes, but we pray in this petition that His Name may be kept holy among us also. God’s Name is kept holy when the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and we, as the children of God, also live holy lives according to it. Help us to do this, Dear Father in heaven! But anyone who teaches or lives contrary to God’s Word profanes the Name of God among us. Protect us from this, Heavenly Father! Again, the kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also. God’s kingdom comes when our Heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His Holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity. The good and gracious will of God is done even without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may be done among us also. God’s will is done when He breaks and hinders every evil plan and purpose of the Devil, the world and our sinful nature, which do not want us to follow God’s Name or let His kingdom come; when He strengthens and keeps us firm in His Word and faith until we die. This is His good and gracious will.

7. God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God will lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with Thanksgiving. Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faith for rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors and the like. We pray in the petition, forgive our trespasses, that our Father in heaven would not look at our sins, or deny our prayer because of them. We are neither worthy of the things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them, but we ask that He would give them all to us by grace, for a daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment. So we too will sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against us.

8. God attempts no one. We pray in this petition, lead us not into temptation, that God would guard and keep us so that the Devil, the world and our sinful nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair and other great shame and vice. Although we are attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally overcome them and win the victory. We finally pray in this petition, deliver us from evil, that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour arrives, give us a blessed end and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.

9. The Lord’s Prayer as we commonly know it, with the ascription, for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen, is found in a 5. century Greek New Testament and several 9. century Greek New Testaments, W and K L Δ Θ Π, respectively. This suggests that the ascription was composed by the Early Church for a responsive liturgical use of the Lord’s Prayer where the pastor prayed the Lord’s Prayer and the congregation responded with the ascription. This is found in the Divine Service of Holy Communion in The Lutheran Hymnal page 27 and in Divine Service III in Lutheran Service Book page 196. The ascription is taken from Holy Scripture, particularly, 1. Chronicles 29,11-13: »Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is Yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and You are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all. In Your hand are power and might, and in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank You, our God, and praise Your Glorious Name.«

10. Thus the Church concludes the Lord’s Prayer with the Amen; this means that we should be certain that these petitions are pleasing to our Father in heaven, and are heard by Him; for He Himself has commanded us to pray in this way and has promise to hear us. Amen, Amen means „yes, yes, it shall be so.“ The Psalmist speaks what Yahweh has spoken to him: »Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me« (Psalm 50, 15). And so the Church prays this prayer every Sunday, and we often pray it in our home devotions, for we know God hears and answers our prayers.

11. Today we have heard that Jesus taught us that the Father will give us what we ask. Next week we will hear that 40 days after His resurrection, Jesus led the apostles to Bethany, blessed them and ascended into heaven (Mark 16,19; Luke 24,50-51). Amen.

12. Let us pray. O Blessed God, who covers us with Your steadfast love; lead us to remember that Jesus has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon, so that we are comforted by the gospel proclaimed by the apostles that the Holy Spirit uses to create faith in the risen Christ. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Sunday, May 17, 2020

Matthew 6,5-15. Rotate

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