In a previous parish, a woman asked me, “Why do they keep changing the Lord’s Prayer?” I explained that the Lord’s Prayer that we use is a translation of the words Jesus would have said. Jesus spoke Aramaic, the ordinary language of his people. The earliest texts we have are in Greek, the international language of the early church. Our English versions are translations of the Greek. Since language changes, a translation has to change if it is going to mean the same thing. If we wanted to be sure we were using the prayer that Jesus taught, we would have to say it in Aramaic. She said, disapprovingly, “You’ve got an answer for everything!”

When you pray

The disciples have seen Jesus at prayer. They want to know how it is done. It’s what you’d expect from a religious teacher – some guidance on prayer – as John the Baptist taught his disciples.

Jesus gives them some words. “When you pray, say…” We know that Jesus was against simply reciting words; what he calls ‘vain repetition’ or babbling on and on (Matthew 6:7). Sometimes people seem to think that we can wear God down by simply going on and on until he gives in.

At the heart of Jesus’ prayer is not a formula, a device, a trick. At its heart, Jesus’ prayer is relationship with God. The words, the language, are a part of that. But without relationship, words have no meaning. Like telling someone you don’t care about to ‘have a nice day’.

And yet Jesus gives us words and we call them the Lord’s Prayer. Whole sermon series have been preached on those words. Many of us are so familiar with them that we can recite them without ever engaging with them. We are in danger of that ‘vain repetition’ Jesus warns against.

But if we slow down enough to notice what Jesus has given us we will be given a glimpse into his heart of prayer. Luke’s version is simpler and shorter than Matthew’s (Matthew 6:9-13) and they are recorded in different contexts – Luke shows Jesus giving the prayer in response to a request from one of his disciples, in Matthew it’s part of Jesus’ teaching in what we call the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). We are probably more familiar with Matthew’s text from liturgical use. The fact that there are two different versions of the prayer in the gospels suggests that Jesus may have given words for prayer on more than one occasion, not a script to be learned by rote.

Father

Jesus tells that we can address God as ‘Father’, ‘Pater’ in the Greek of Luke 11:2. Behind that is probably the Aramaic ‘Abba‘ (Cf Mark 14:6), Jesus’ most distinctive way of addressing God. The idea of God as ‘Father’ was not new. He was ‘father of the universe’, ‘father of the nation’. The king, representing the nation, could claim God as ‘father’. But Jesus uses the familiar word. ‘abba’. It is intimate, but not childish. The first word in his prayer, ‘Father’, tells us that relationship – intimate and dependent – is at the heart of his prayer.

But we are not to overstep the bounds. The Father we address is, in Matthew’s version, our Father in heaven (‘in the heavens’). Not a sugar-daddy, an easy touch. Not someone to take advantage of. The Father’s name is to be hallowed, not taken in vain (Exodus 20:7). It’s still God we are talking about and to. Like Prince Charles addressing his mother at her birthday celebration – “Your majesty – mummy!”

Praying the Kingdom

Our prayer is not simply a self-indulgent list of demands. We pray that God’s kingdom will come. As part of that we are able to ask for the things we need – daily bread, the forgiveness of sins and freedom from being tested. Given that we are to love God and our neighbour, our being forgiven is linked with our willingness to forgive others.

“It is taken for granted that all who are disciples of Christ pray. You may as soon find a living man that does not breathe, as a living Christian that does not pray.” (Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary.)