LENTEN WEDNESDAY 4, 2010 

There is a group called The Jesus Seminar that was founded in 1985. Its 150 or so members from various religious backgrounds are scholars with advanced degrees in biblical studies or religious studies. Over the past 25 years they have dedicated themselves to studying the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to determine if Jesus actually said and did what they report. Twice a year they gather to listen to and discuss papers presented on a teaching or story from the Gospels; then they vote on whether Jesus actually said or did what the Gospel reports. When they considered the Lord’s Prayer, they decided that the only part of it that Jesus taught us to pray was, “Father.” The rest of the prayer was words put in Jesus mouth by the writers of the Gospels. So say the scholars. 

“Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” With this petition Jesus rejects man’s wisdom and calls us to also reject it. This petition is one of the clearest proofs of the Lord’s Prayer being a prayer that God has given, and not one that men came up with. For, here our Lord teaches us to pray against ourselves. “What You want, Lord, and not what I want – may that be done.” Can you imagine saying that to your spouse?! To your boss?! No matter how great our wisdom, no matter how well we think we know things and what the best course of action should be, when it comes to God’s kingdom and what He says and does we must reject our wisdom and put things in His hands. “Thy will, not mine, be done.” 

What is God’s will? For one thing, His will is that we pray “for kings and for all those in authority,” (1 Tim. 2) so that there might be peace and the Gospel might have the opportunity to be spread. Who was king when Paul wrote this? Nero, the murderous despot who burned a large part of Rome and blamed it on the Christians, many of whom he then put to death. This had not happened yet, but Nero’s murderous nature was well known when Paul wrote. Even so, Paul encouraged his followers to pray for him. Why? Because God “wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” He is more concerned with this than He is with a government that accords with our sense of justice. The main thing is that the kingdom of God be spread. And, in Paul’s day and largely because of Paul, that Gospel had spread greatly. Even in Nero’s house were those who bore the name of Jesus! His will was done, despite the opposition of enemies. 

Hold onto this. For, Christ’s kingdom will have enemies. This is especially why we need to pray, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” God alone knows and sees our true enemies. We need to seek His help, then, that we might hallow His name and that His kingdom might come to us and grow among us. It is this that our greatest enemy, Satan, does not want. Martin Luther in the Large Catechism says: 

“No one can believe how the devil opposes and resists these prayers [the first two petitions of the Lord’s Prayer]. He cannot allow anyone to teach or believe rightly. It hurts him beyond measure to have his lies and abominations exposed, which have been honored under the most fancy, sham uses of the divine name. It hurts him when he himself is disgraced, is driven out of the heart, and has to let a breach be made in his kingdom. Therefore, he chafes and rages as a fierce enemy with all his power and might. He marshals all his subjects and, in addition, enlists the world and our own flesh as his allies. For our flesh is in itself lazy and inclined to evil (Rom. 7:18), even though we have accepted and believe God’s Word. The world, however, is perverse and wicked. So he provokes the world against us, fans and stirs the fire, so that he may hinder and drive us back, cause us to fall, and again bring us under his power (2 Cor. 2:11; 1 Tim. 3:6-7). Such is all his will, mind, and thought. He strives for this day and night and never rests a moment. He uses all arts, wiles, ways, and means that he can invent.

If we would be Christians, therefore, we must surely expect and count on having the devil with all his angels and the world as our enemies. They will bring every possible misfortune and grief upon us. For where God’s Word is preached, accepted, or believed and produces fruit, there the holy cross cannot be missing.”

But, with the cross there is life eternal! Keep this in mind and heart when you pray the Lord’s Prayer. 

Jesus teaches us this prayer because He wants people to not only recognize Him as a great man and a healer, but to see that He is doing what God the Father does. "I tell you the truth,” He says, “the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” Their works are one, for they are one. To praise and thank Jesus for doing the Father’s work is to hallow, or honor, Him and the Father as God, as bearing one divine name. And so, when we pray, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” we are asking that God’s name be hallowed and His kingdom come. 

Satan has no problem with Jesus being perceived as a wandering mystic who challenged society, as the theologians of the Jesus Seminar proclaim Him to be. He has no problem with Jesus being looked upon as a teacher of great and deep truths about God, or even as a healer. Just don’t see Him as your Savior. 

But that is what Jesus teaches us to see Him as. By teaching us to pray, “Thy will be done,” He is not simply turning us away from self. He is not giving us no place to go. He is teaching us to look unto and trust in Him. For, He is one with the Father. He is the God whose will we can trust always, for His will is for our eternal salvation. He showed and proved this will on the cross. He makes it our prayer.