The Lord's Prayer: Carlin, Crossan and Jesus

George Carlin had probably thought longer and deeper about The Lord’s Prayer than many who lip sync it each Sunday.

What Carlin found is an inherent discrepancy between different parts of this prayer.  In its beginning, the Lord is so praiseworthy that His name be hallowed and His will be done.  What immediately follows is an all-too-human lapse into desire-driven commands (Give us this…  Forgive us that…), sweetened by some flattery-laden comments (For Thine is…  the Power…  and the Glory…).

Others, too, have been highly dissatisfied with the turns this prayer has taken.  So much so, that they doubt its current usage has much to do with the original intent of Jesus.  According to Mitchell Landsberg of the Los Angeles Times, John Dominic Crossan is one of those others.

Crossan, a co-founder of the Jesus Seminar, has recently written a book titled The Greatest Prayer:  Rediscovering the Revolutionary Message of the Lord’s Prayer.  In it, he contextualizes the prayer’s wording within first-century perspectives.  He thus describes the Lord’s Prayer as “a prayer from the heart of Judaism on the lips of Christianity for the conscience of the world.”

Not many would disagree with this.  However, many do disagree with some of Crossan’s other conclusions.

Crossan states that the Lord’s Prayer is a “revolutionary” plea for “distributive justice.”  For example, his definition of “hallowed” is “a fair distribution for all, the justice of an equitable household.”  Some find this to be “a stretch” from more commonly-accepted interpretations.

At the very least, contextualizing the Lord’s Prayer within its own Biblical passages can be quite thought-provoking.  When it appears in Luke 11, this prayer is couched between the Martha/Mary story of Luke 10 and the “ask and ye shall receive” motif of Luke 11:5-13.  Is it social justice for Mary to be solely focused upon Jesus while Martha is doing all of the dishes?  When we ask and receive, does this include worldly boons for ourselves and others? 

When the Lord’s Prayer appears in Matthew 6, it is accompanied by a set of specific instructions.  Jesus

seems to make it clear that it’s not just what you say, but why and how you say it.  He also makes it clear

that prayer goes hand-in-hand with actions that are based in mutuality.  (Forgive us…  as we also have

forgiven…)

Resources

http://www.mercurynews.com/faith/ci_16639307

http://www.bible-verses.net/lordsprayer.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeSSwKffj9o (Many four-letter words!)