For us know, when we hear the term doxology, many of us
think immediately of the song that gets sung after the offering, and it sort of
has the same purpose. A doxology is a hymn or phrase added to the end of a
psalm, canticle or hymn in praise of God. This has roots in Jewish practice,
and so would have been very familiar to Jesus and the disciples. And for most
of us, hearing the Lord’s Prayer without the doxology just seems rather
strange, and it’s a rather abrupt end. This has led some scholars to speculate
that it probably didn’t originally end this way, that because doxologies were
used in Jewish prayer that the Lord’s Prayer probably included something similar,
even if it wasn’t these exact words, but that his ending wasn’t known to either
Matthew or Luke, or more likely to the source from which they got their
material. And yet, for those of you who were raised Roman Catholic, it doesn’t
sound strange at all because you were used to praying it without the doxology
being there.
And so then the question becomes, if Matthew and Mark didn’t
know these words, or potentially didn’t know them, then where did they come
from and where they originally a part of the prayer? And the answer is we
simply don’t know. The majority of the early church fathers who wrote
commentaries on the Lord’s Prayer, do not have anything about this ending, nor
is it contained in the Vulgate, which is the Latin translation of the Bible.
But, we do know that the doxology was known and can be dated to the early
church because of a book that is known as the Didache, or sometimes also called
the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles. As the second title indicates, it is a
collection of teachings about the early church and it is broken into three
parts. One is on ethics, the second is on the rituals of the church including
baptism and the Eucharist, and the third is on the organization of the church.
There is much debate about the dating of the document, with some speculating
that at least parts of it date to as early as the council of Jerusalem in
49-50, which would make it one of the earliest documents we have. Others date
it towards the end of the 2nd century, with a general consensus of most
scholars now dating it the 1st century, but probably towards the end, or at
least that being when it was compiled. But, the point is, the Didache also contains
a version of the Lord’s Prayer, which it instructs people to pray three times a
day, although the times for the prayer are not given. And the Didache says that
we are to pray thus: “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy
Kingdom come, thy will be done, as in Heaven so also upon earth; give us today
our daily bread, and forgive us our debt as we forgive our debtors, and lead us
not into trial, but deliver us from the Evil One, for thine is the power and
the glory forever."
This passage is important then for several reasons. One is
because even though the doxology is not found in our earliest and best manuscripts
of Matthew and Luke, it is found here, and so we know that it probably dates to
the earliest days of the church. Second, because this version is a little
different than Matthew and Luke’s versions, which are different from each
other, we also know that this prayer was circulating amongst many different
Christian communities, adding credence to its probable origin with Christ
himself. Which leads into the third point which is that we know that this
prayer is not just important to us today, or it didn’t gain in importance over
time, that it was important to the earliest church because the Didache
instructs praying it three times a day. It doesn’t explain why Mark and John
don’t include the prayer, at least not in the form we have it and pray it, but it
clearly shows that the Lord’s Prayer was widely known and important to the
church. And the doxology was also know. In the Orthodox Church, the doxology is
offered just before communion. In the Protestant tradition, Luther included the
doxology in his translation of the New Testament into German, and so he was
obviously aware of it, as did William Tyndale in his English translation, which
I have referred to several times on translation issues of why we pray it the
way we do in English.
But let’s get to the rub of what this means for the prayer and for us, and to do that we return to what we also discussed last week in the petition about temptation and the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. In either the second or third temptation, depending on which gospel we are reading, Jesus is taken up to the highest point in Jerusalem, and in Luke’s version says, “And the devil said to him, ‘To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” And so, what the devil says here are all the kingdoms that could be yours, and we should ask what it means that here the devil says that they are his, and with them comes glory and authority, which I think we could also see as power.
And so we should be seeing again a direct connection here
between the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of the world that we talked about
when we petitioned for God’s Kingdom to come, and also remembering that I said
that one of the reasons I think Reign of God is a better term is because we
instantly think about geographical boundaries when we think Kingdom. That’s
what the devil is offering. But the reign of God is not just about geography,
it’s also about hearts and minds and lives. That we are going to be a part of
the reign of God. We are participating in it through everything that we do; in
seeking to do God’s will and seeking to bring glory to God’s name. And so what
the doxology to this prayer reminds us of is that it’s not about us, or the
Kingdoms of this world, it’s about God. Because it’s about God’s Kingdom and
God’s power and God’s authority, and to know that those are different than the
world.
And that should become clear because of what comes
immediately before this right? Because what have we just prayed for? Bread, and
forgiveness and leadership and delivery from temptations and evil. And again as
we touched on, the kingdoms of the world, and in particular for the first
hearers of this prayer the Kingdom of Rome. And Rome wants you to think they
will do all of these things for you, but who do they bring that about? The same
way that all kingdoms of the world bring it about through violence and
repression. But God’s reign is different, and we are saying that whereas Rome
may promise these things, they don’t and won’t always deliver and some days you
may be on their good side, and some days you may not, and more importantly
their promises are not forever. But God’s promises are forever. And so we read
in 1 Chronicles, which may be where the doxology originated, or is at least
inspired by, which has David proclaiming, “Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of
our ancestor Israel, for ever and ever. Yours, O Lord, are the greatness,
the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the
heavens and on the earth is yours; yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are
exalted as head above all.” (1 Chron
29:10b-11) That is this has been a prayer of celebration for a 1000 years, and
it continues not just in the prayer but we even hear a similar claim in
Revelation.
And what God is also willing and able to do is to share and
call us to participate in that Kingdom, because what do we receive when the
Spirit comes upon us? Power. The power of the Spirit comes upon us to do God’s
work in the world, to bring God’s kingdom to the world, to do God’s will in the
world, to bring glory to God’s name, by feeding the hungry and giving
forgiveness and seeking to live always in God’s righteousness. And so what
God’s Kingdom and power and authority remind us is that it’s not about us, and
I know that’s really hard for many people to hear and so let me say it again.
It’s not about you, it’s not about me, it’s not about us, it’s about God and
seeing the world the way that God sees it and not just calling for the Kingdom
of God to come, but seeking to bring it about, and we see that in the story of
Pentecost.
Because Jesus has already told the disciples that when the
Spirit comes upon them they will receive what? Power. And so tongues as of fire
come upon them, and this is not destructive fire, this is the fire of life and
the disciples are driven from the room in which they have been locked up in and
go out into the world to preach the good news, to, quoting from the prophet
Joel, dream dreams and see visions and prophesy about God. These are not their
dreams and not their visions and not their words, these are the words of God
that they are proclaiming, inspired by the Spirit and guided by the Spirit and
empowered by the Spirit. And that word for power here is dynamis, from which we
get words like dynamic and dynamite. This is to live into boldness of God. it’s
like having the boldness of a child who has not eaten their dinner but just ten
minutes later comes up and asks if they can have dessert or a snack. That’s
bold. And so this is an engaged and active and explosive thing that we are
called to, to participate in. And so Jesus says, when you receive power when
the Holy Spirit comes upon you, here’s what you are going to do. The power of
the Spirit we have is not for us. It’s for furthering the work of the Kingdom. So
when you receive this power, Jesus says, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
in all of Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
So let’s break that down just a little bit. They are to be
witnesses to the Kingdom and power and authority of God, to proclaim the good
news, first in Jerusalem, and where are the disciples when told this? In
Jerusalem, so witness where you are at the moment. Then be witnesses in Judea,
which is the territory in which Jerusalem is located, so go out to the surrounding
areas, and then comes a harder one. Be witnesses in Samaria. Samaria is to the
north of Judea and south of Galilee, in the in-between, which might be good in
itself, witness in the in-between places. Except Samaritans and Jews hate each
other. And so Jesus is saying go to those people that you don’t like, who don’t
look like you, or think like you or act like you. God and be witnesses amongst
those people. Sure they might be Red Sox fans and therefore have made bad
choices in their lives, but offer them the good news. Offer them bread and
offer them forgiveness and offer them love and offer them the Kingdom. In fact,
offer them the power of the Spirit so that they too can be witnesses and work
beside each other. And then, finally as if to make it even clearer, Jesus then
says and be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. Witness to everyone, because
that’s what the Spirit will give you the power to do.
Many years
ago, someone gave me a poem, and I don’t know who wrote it, not for lack of
trying to find out, but it says:
You cannot
pray the Lord's Prayer and even once say "I."
You cannot pray the Lord's Prayer and even once say "My."
Nor can you pray the Lord's Prayer and not pray for one another,
And when you ask for daily bread, you must include your brother.
For others are included ... in each and every plea,
From the beginning to the end of it, it does not once say "Me."
The Lord’s prayer is not about me or you, it’s about us as
creatures made in the image of God seeking to turn our lives, all that we are
and all that we have, over to God. to humble ourselves before God, in order to
do not what we want, but what God wants, even taking the cup from which Jesus
drinks and the baptism into which Jesus was baptized. It’s about that call to
love God with all that we are and to love our neighbors as ourselves. It’s not
our power, it’s not for our glory and it’s definitely not our Kingdom, because
all those things are God. and to make that very clear, not only do we say those
words, but then we close with Amen, which means something like this is the
truth or may it be so. These are not just words that we day because we are
taught to say them, or because it’s just what we’ve always done. These are the
words of life. These are the words of discipleship.
Who is called to hallow God’s name? We are. Who is called to bring God’s Kingdom here and now? We are. Who is called to do God’s will on earth as it is in heaven? We are. Who is to bring everyone this day their daily bread? We are. Who is to seek forgiveness and give forgiveness? We are. Who is called to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves, our baptismal vows? We are. But we don’t do it alone, because we have the power of the Holy Spirit guiding us and leading us, supporting us and pushing us, lifting us up and calling us to go forth even to the ends of the earth to not just spread the good news but to be the good news. We have heard that passage from Isaiah several times that the Spirit of the Lord is upon him. And the Spirit of the Lord is upon us, for we too have been anointed, and when we accept that Spirit, when we claim that Spirit, when we live in that Spirit, we receive what? Power. The Spirit of the Lord is upon us, and we have been empowered us to be God’s words and hands and feet in Jerusalem, where we are in all, Judea and Samaria, to friends and foes alike, and to the ends of the earth, so that one day every tongue will confess and ever knee shall bow down at the call of our Lord and savior Jesus’ Christ’s name so that God’s Kingdom will indeed come and God’s will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I pray that it will be so my brothers and sisters. Amen.
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