Thoughts From N.T. Wright

Dear Friends,

Today’s post is by the British New Testament scholar, Pauline theologian, and Anglican bishop, N. T. Wright. It deals with two common Christian prayers – the Lord’s Prayer and the Tax Collector’s Prayer in Luke 18 (sometimes called the ‘Mercy Prayer” or the “Jesus Prayer”). These two excerpts are taken from Wright’s book, “Simply Christian.” It’s a fresh way of looking at two well-known prayers. Enjoy.

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God have mercy on me, a sinner.’”

The Lord’s Prayer isn’t the only prayer that has formed the basis of deep and rich traditions of Christian praying. There are other prayers which have been used in similar ways through the years, either as a pattern or as something to repeat in order to go down deeper into the presence of the God we know in Jesus.

Perhaps the best known of these… is the ‘Jesus Prayer’: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner”… Praying for mercy doesn’t just mean, ‘I’ve done something wrong, so please forgive me.’ It’s a much wider petition, asking that God send his merciful presence and help in a thousand and one situations, despite the fact that we don’t deserve such aid and never could.”

The ‘Lord’s Prayer’ as we call it, grows directly out of what Jesus was doing in Galilee… The prayer is therefore a way of saying to the Father:

‘Jesus has caught me in the net of his good news…
I want to be part of his kingdom-movement.
I find myself drawn into his heaven-on-earth way of living.
I want to be part of his bread-for-the-world agenda…
I need forgiveness for myself – from sin, from debt, and every weight around my neck – and I intend to live with forgiveness in my heart in my own dealings with others…
And because I live in the real world, where evil is still powerful, I need protecting and rescuing. And, in and through it all, I acknowledge and celebrate the Father’s kingdom, power, and glory.”

I cannot say I have prayed the ‘Mercy Prayer’ as many times as the ‘Lord’s Prayer,’ but it’s up there! Hundreds and hundreds of times! “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Eternal God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” There is just something about that prayer that resonates with something in me. In his book, “The Mercy Prayer” Robert Gelinas says that prayer (when prayed in earnest) is “The one prayer Jesus always answers.” Gelinas goes on to suggest that the words that Jesus places on the lips of the tax collector in that parable, “invites each of us to become a student of heavenly compassion and clemency, to immerse ourselves in it, to embrace the responsibility of seeing all life in view of God’s mercy – and to watch this simple but profound cry reshape us and our world… for everyone needs mercy.”

The Lord’s Prayer, though it can be thoughtlessly repeated from the lips of some, is still a powerful prayer for those who focus on what they are saying or petitioning. It’s a constant reminder to us that Jesus wants us to envision God as Abba, Father, intimate, and relationally close to us. But that's not all. To ‘hallow’ his name is to ‘set it apart as being holy’ (in our hearts and minds) and never to use it in a flippant, disrespectful, or profane way. To ask that his kingdom come and will be done on earth as in heaven is to habitually remind ourselves of what our purpose in life is while we are here on earth. In fact, when I read the book of Revelation and see what transpires in those heavenly and worshipful scenes – with no sin or violence or sickness or hatred or pain or tears anymore – this phrase reminds me to seek to make those things a reality here on earth as much as I am able. As Wright puts it, “I find myself drawn into his heaven-on-earth way of living.”

And, of course, it’s not simply about me getting "my" daily bread, it's about us getting "our" daily bread. It's a communal request. In a faith where showing hospitality (“love to the stranger”) is part of our Christian calling, it is assumed that asking for our daily bread includes asking for enough to share. Likewise, asking forgiveness with the condition that we forgive others added to it, keeps me always mindful of my innumerable sins as compared to the few (by comparison) that I ever suffer from others (Mt. 18:21-35). The forgiven forgive.

And it’s only right that the last petition should be one that acknowledges our weakness, dependence on God, and need for his help, assistance, and protection. It also reminds us that it’s not people who are our enemy (not flesh and blood), but “the evil one” from whom we most need to be protected and delivered. Such things Jesus wants us to reflect on often, or he wouldn't have said to us, in Luke 11:2, "When you pray, SAY, Father...

His Through the Gospel, Pastor Jeff