Jeff Garrison
Bluemont and Mayberry Churches
October 23, 2022,
The Lord’s Prayer, Part 2
Matthew 6:9-13, 22:1-10
At the beginning of worship:
In his book on the church, Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminds us that we are called by God into the church. This call extends to us before we ever enter the community’s common life. Therefore, we enter “not as demanders, but as thankful recipients.”[1]
Gratitude is a quality all Christians should have, but we live in a fallen state which causes us to create our own idols and to follow the wrong path. Therefore, we need to foster gratitude and one way we do this is to pray like Jesus. The opening of the Lord’s Prayer, as we saw last week and will continue to explore today, begins by reorienting our lives toward God. Prayer is not about us demanding from God what we want; it begins with us responding to God’s gracefulness with gratitude and thanksgiving.
Before reading the Scriptures:
Last week we began our look at the Lord’s Prayer with the Lukan version. This week, we’re going to look at the prayer from Matthew’s gospel, which is a little different. Both prayers are short, but Matthew adds a few more words and petitions to his prayer. Both gospels have the second petition, “your kingdom come.” If you remember from last week, I’m working through each of the petitions of the prayer Jesus taught us to pray.
Kingdom is a political term
Kingdom is a political term. The “United Kingdom” came about with the merger of England and Wales with Scotland. A kingdom is an area under the control of a king or a government. This is true for God’s kingdom, too. Except that God’s kingdom encompasses all earthly kingdoms and the cosmos itself. For God is sovereign over all, including those in rebellion.
But God’s kingdom is different
You know, we got this war going on in Ukraine, where Russia tries to impose its rule. Russia wants to assume power over another nation, bring it under its control. That’s how kingdoms work here on earth. While God already has such power, our God doesn’t work within human constraints. God has this crazy way of making the weak strong, the last being the first, death resurrecting into life. God’s kingdom will be fulfilled, but God’s ways are not our ways. God’s time doesn’t equate to our time. And God’s politics are not our politics. Instead, the old life and the old ways must give way to God’s method.
Leaning into God’s future
Our prayer, “Thy kingdom come,” is our way of leaning into God’s future, of longing for God to fulfill history so that we’re all under the lordship of Jesus Christ. There is an eschatological element in this prayer. While we can prepare ourselves, we can’t bring about God’s kingdom on our own. And if we assume we can do so, we are mistaking our desires for God’s will. This is the problem with Christian nationalism (which in my opinion isn’t Christian). Only God can bring about God’s kingdom.[2]
Today, I am going to read the Lord’s Prayer from the 6th chapter of Matthew’s gospel. In addition, I’ll also read a parable of the kingdom found in Matthew 22.
Read Matthew 6:9-13 and Matthew 22:1-10
Martin Luther addresses the second petition of the prayer with a story about a poor beggar. A rich and mighty emperor invites this beggar to ask for whatever he desires, promising that he was willing to give the beggar great and princely gifts. The beggar being hungry yet foolish, only asks for a bowl of broth. Luther suggests the beggar is rightly considered a rogue and a scoundrel who mocks his imperial majesty’s command and is unworthy to come into his presence. Imagine how we dishonor God when we are invited to ask for such wonderous gifts and only seek something for our stomach.[3] And what more of a blessing can we ask for than experiencing God’s peaceful kingdom?
This prayer is not about us
“Thy kingdom come” reminds us early in the prayer that this is not all about us. Our lives are first about God, who gives us every breath. And we focus our prayer first, not on what we desire or think we need, but on God’s promises.
This morning, we opened with a call to worship taken from Isaiah 65. At the end of Isaiah, God has the prophet proclaim a new peaceful kingdom. Jesus, himself, speaking in the synagogue in Nazareth, interprets Isaiah’s envision kingdom in his own life.[4]But how does this kingdom come about? As N. T. Wright asks in a commentary on this prayer, “How can the Prince of Peace defeat evil if he has to abandon Peace itself in order to do so?”[5]
The coming of God’s kingdom
This request for God’s kingdom to come was answered at Easter. God triumphed over evil. God’s love for the world shined through the wickedness of an empire that put to death an innocent man. As Wright goes on to say, “in the unique life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the whole cosmos has turned the corner from darkness to light.”[6]
How Jesus fulfills prayer
Wright offers two metaphors as ways of thinking of how Jesus fulfils this prayer. He’s a medical genius who invents a wonder drug like penicillin. We are the doctors, who are both healed by this drug and then use it to heal others. The second is that Jesus is a musical genius who writes the greatest musical score of all times. And we are the musicians who perform this work before the world.
Wright concludes his thoughts on these metaphors writing: “The kingdom did indeed come with Jesus; but it will fully come when the world is healed, when the whole creation finally joins in the song. But it must be Jesus’ medicine; it must be Jesus’ music. And the only way to be sure is to pray his prayer.”[7]
So, when we pray, “Thy kingdom come,” we not only want God’s kingdom to be fully realized, but we also imply we’ll do our part.
Parable of the Kingdom: The Wedding Banquet
The parable of the wedding banquet in Matthew 22, which I read, speaks of God’s coming kingdom. The banquet is for the wedding of the son, whom we can identify as Jesus. In fact, the wedding imagery plays out through scripture, with Christ being the bridegroom, as earth and heaven are brought together in a marriage union.[8] In this parable, the king’s friends offend him by refusing to honor his son. In response, the king opens this banquet up to those normally not invited to such functions. Come, and enjoy the party, he says to us. Or, if we’re already in, God sends us out to invite others.
The Kingdom of God is a party in which unlikely people, those like us who don’t belong, are invited out of divine generosity. Jesus makes it possible for us to attend. As one commentor noted, this is why the church can be a real pain. Jesus invites all kinds of reprobates to the party.[9] The church consists of those called by Jesus, not chosen by us. Instead of looking around and complaining, we should be honored and thankful we’re included.
We don’t wait idly for the kingdom
While only God can bring about his kingdom, and we’re to wait and have patience, we don’t idly wait on the sidelines. God’s kingdom is not just something in our hearts. It involves a reversal of the way things work in the world. Yet, we still have our own internal work we can be doing. John Calvin writes that “God sets up his Kingdom by humbling the world, but in different ways.” Some of us he tames, others he breaks our pride.[10]
While God’s kingdom for which we long is communal, it also involves our internal work. We should invite God to help us examine ourselves so that we make daily progress in becoming more Christ-like and worthy of the Kingdom. We must draw back from worldly corruption and visions of kingdoms that reflect our values and not God’s.
Conclusion
So, we pray for God’s kingdom, and we strive to be worthy of it. We do this knowing we’re like the bystanders invited into the wedding party. We are not worthy of inclusion on our own, but only because of the graciousness of our Savior Jesus Christ. May his name be forever praised and may we truly long for God’s kingdom to come upon a healed earth. Amen.
[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: A Discussion of Christian Fellowship, John W. Doberstein, translator (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1954), 28.
[2] For an understanding of Christian Nationalism and its dangers check out “The Resilient Pastor” podcast with Russell Moore on Christian Nationalism and Public Theology: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/11-russell-moore-on-christian-nationalism-public-theology/id1607415483?i=1000579340759 The discussion on Christian Nationalism begins around 23 minutes.
[3] Martin Luther, “Larger Catechism,” The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959), 426.
[4] Luke 4:16-21.
[5] N. T. Wright, The Lord and His Prayer (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1996), 15.
[6] Wright, 17.
[7] Wright, 18.
[8] See Revelation 19:7-9, 21:1-2.
[9] William H. Willimon and Stanley Hauerwas, Lord, Teach Us: The Lord’s Prayer & the Christian Life (Nashville; Abingdon, 1996), 59.
[10] John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion (Battle’s translation, 1559 edition), III.xx.42.
Wonderful message, Jeff. If only we have the eyes to see and ears to hear.
The hickory tree leaves are lovely. I hope you have a great week.
I kept agreeing with you all the way through! We need to hear this message.
I like those two metaphors from N.T. Wright.
I certainly believe in healing the earth, whatever terminology we would want to use to make it happen.
Happy Sunday!