Sermon for September 20th, 2015

Luke 11:1-4

1He 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.” 2He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3Give us each day our daily bread. 4And forgive us our sins,for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

Matthew 6:7-13

7When 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. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11Give us this day our daily bread. 12And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.

Teach Us To Pray: Temptation and Evil

A driver, parking her car illegally, tucked a note under her windshield wiper and ran off. The note said "I've circled the block for 20 minutes. I'm late for an appointment, and if I don't park here I'll lose my job. Matthew 6:12. Forgive us our trespasses." Much later, when she returned, she found her note replaced with a parking ticket, upon which was written this note: "I've circled the block for 20 years, and if I don't give you a ticket, I'll lose my job. Matthew 6:13. Lead us not into temptation."

Today we come to the fifth and final part of the Lord's prayer, although not the last sermon in our series. Next week, Michael Simants will wrap things up for us with another fresh perspective on prayer and its place in our lives and our worship.

"Do not bring us to the time of trial," says the gospel of Luke in the NRSV translation. Matthew's version (again in the NRSV) is characteristically longer: "Do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one." And the version that we recite each Sunday in worship is yet even more different: "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

Bring us...lead us...not too much difference there. But while the NRSV is usually a pretty good modern translation, in this case, "the time of trial" is not a very accurate translation. There are other places in the gospels where Jesus refers to a specific καιρῷ πειρασμοῦ or "time of trial" and likely the translators of the NRSV are assuming that's what Jesus means here. But in both Matthew and Luke, the "time" word, καιρός, is absent, and I think that's intentional. Jesus is giving his disciples a model prayer, and so it is general, rather than specific. It applies to all times, not specific ones.

Do not lead us, then, into trial or temptation. πειρασμός can mean both.

Temptation

Evil

Doxology