March 23rd, 2026
Monday, March 23
Pray like this:
Our Father who is in heaven,
May your name be honored above all others.
Bring in your kingdom
so that your will is done on earth
as it’s done in heaven.
Give us the bread we need for today.
Forgive us for the ways we have wronged you,
just as we also forgive those
who have wronged us.
And don’t lead us into temptation,
but rescue us from the evil one.
~Matthew 6:9-13
Pray like this:
Our Father who is in heaven,
May your name be honored above all others.
Bring in your kingdom
so that your will is done on earth
as it’s done in heaven.
Give us the bread we need for today.
Forgive us for the ways we have wronged you,
just as we also forgive those
who have wronged us.
And don’t lead us into temptation,
but rescue us from the evil one.
~Matthew 6:9-13
The Lord’s prayer is more than just a religious prayer Christians say during worship. In fact, if that’s what it has become in the minds of people, then I’m afraid something has gone wrong.
In the early Christian world, the Lord’s prayer was probably not a prayer that was said out loud in public. It sounded subversive. You might get a concerned look, or worse, your gathering with other believers shut-down, or a knock on your door from a group of Roman soldiers.
During Jesus' life, Caesar Augustus was conferred as pater patriae That's Latin for: “Father of the fatherland.” Caesar, not the Father of Jesus, was "father" of humanity. It meant that Caesar was the embodied will of God in the world; he was the great benefactor of all; he was the one who provided all needs, stability, peace, and justice to the world. To imagine some other king or God would be in this position would be treason. Punishable by death.
To pray to “Our Father in the heavens” and to offer honor to this Father’s name would have been a political prayer. It would have been heard as dishonoring to the “rightful” ruler of the world. That could bring a Roman centurion (or a few) looking for you.
To pray for another kingdom to come and the will of another “Father” to be done on earth meant dismissing the will of the one who was presumably in charge of the social, political, and economic things of the current life. What’s wrong with Caesar’s will? Careful how you answer that.
To ask this Father to give us our daily sustenance recognizes that Caesar is not in charge and the great benefactor of all good things to the world. Someone else is. Doing this might be seen as calling into question the benevolence of Caesar. Are you questioning that Caesar holds the power and authority to provide by suggesting some other “Father” has such power and that you pray to him instead? Such things should be stopped!
To ask the Father in heaven to forgive meant that the scales of justice and judgment were in someone else’s hands. Caesar was a mere impostor. Be careful saying or suggesting that.
Make no mistake. The Lord’s Prayer was a prayer of prophetic witness. It dared to not only recognize a different “Father” but also petitioned for this Father’s alternative engagement with this world. It’s like going past the manager to the company president, or circumventing the existing system for a result that the current system already thinks it’s achieving. It’s calling out the current order of things as unnecessary.
The Lord’s prayer remains a prayer of prophetic witness, if we let it. If we take it out of the safe confines of private religiosity and let its petitions ring with the same power they were meant for, perhaps if we let it shape our lives and get into our bones, we might live in a new way as the prophetic witnesses Christ calls us to be.
_______________________________________
For reflection:
Prayer: Heavenly father, all things come from you. You are the source of everything in our lives, and your kingdom is the only one worth pursuing. May the words of Jesus’ prayer become our words and shape our desires. Amen.
In the early Christian world, the Lord’s prayer was probably not a prayer that was said out loud in public. It sounded subversive. You might get a concerned look, or worse, your gathering with other believers shut-down, or a knock on your door from a group of Roman soldiers.
During Jesus' life, Caesar Augustus was conferred as pater patriae That's Latin for: “Father of the fatherland.” Caesar, not the Father of Jesus, was "father" of humanity. It meant that Caesar was the embodied will of God in the world; he was the great benefactor of all; he was the one who provided all needs, stability, peace, and justice to the world. To imagine some other king or God would be in this position would be treason. Punishable by death.
To pray to “Our Father in the heavens” and to offer honor to this Father’s name would have been a political prayer. It would have been heard as dishonoring to the “rightful” ruler of the world. That could bring a Roman centurion (or a few) looking for you.
To pray for another kingdom to come and the will of another “Father” to be done on earth meant dismissing the will of the one who was presumably in charge of the social, political, and economic things of the current life. What’s wrong with Caesar’s will? Careful how you answer that.
To ask this Father to give us our daily sustenance recognizes that Caesar is not in charge and the great benefactor of all good things to the world. Someone else is. Doing this might be seen as calling into question the benevolence of Caesar. Are you questioning that Caesar holds the power and authority to provide by suggesting some other “Father” has such power and that you pray to him instead? Such things should be stopped!
To ask the Father in heaven to forgive meant that the scales of justice and judgment were in someone else’s hands. Caesar was a mere impostor. Be careful saying or suggesting that.
Make no mistake. The Lord’s Prayer was a prayer of prophetic witness. It dared to not only recognize a different “Father” but also petitioned for this Father’s alternative engagement with this world. It’s like going past the manager to the company president, or circumventing the existing system for a result that the current system already thinks it’s achieving. It’s calling out the current order of things as unnecessary.
The Lord’s prayer remains a prayer of prophetic witness, if we let it. If we take it out of the safe confines of private religiosity and let its petitions ring with the same power they were meant for, perhaps if we let it shape our lives and get into our bones, we might live in a new way as the prophetic witnesses Christ calls us to be.
_______________________________________
For reflection:
- Read the Lord’s prayer in both gospels: Matthew 6:7-15 and Luke 11:1-4. They are both different, but focus on many of the same things. List each thing the prayer asks of God, and put it into your own words. What would it be like to not just say this prayer, but live according to it?
- Who in our world is like Caesar in Jesus’ world? How does the Lord’s prayer challenge the authority and rule the “Caesar” in our world today?
- For those with kids: Talk about the Lord’s prayer. Maybe discuss how the Lord’s prayer helps us focus on the right things. How does Lord’s prayer point out what Jesus thinks is really important?
Prayer: Heavenly father, all things come from you. You are the source of everything in our lives, and your kingdom is the only one worth pursuing. May the words of Jesus’ prayer become our words and shape our desires. Amen.
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