Today’s Scripture Readings

Gospel Reading

NRSV

‘When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. ‘Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your 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 do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

The real God is not impressed by verbosity and leaves us in no doubt that more and more words, or better and better words, don’t interest him. He’s more interested in simple words that come from the heart, as we see in the prayer that Jesus teaches. The words of the Lord’s Prayer are simple, but their echo reaches to the depths and their meaning is inexhaustible. They are also powerful. As the prophet Isaiah says, “My word shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).

In listening to the prayer Jesus teaches, we are listening in on a conversation between the Father and the Son, overhearing the dialogue that goes on eternally in the Trinity. Jesus knows that, left to ourselves, the best we could manage is endless verbosity. The only real prayer we will ever have is the prayer which is his gift. In that sense, Jesus not only teaches us how to pray: he becomes our prayer. We have no prayer of our own, but we are drawn into his prayer, his dialogue with the Father; and the Holy Spirit is the breath that allows us to pray the prayer of Jesus.

The Lord’s Prayer is profoundly Trinitarian. At the heart of this prayer, there is forgiveness, just as it is at the heart of his earthly ministry. This means that, in praying his words, we recognise ourselves as sinners and God as an infinite mercy greater than any sin and all sin.