Jesus lives in a story where God’s name is at stake, he believes God’s name is holy, but God’s name is not being treated as or recognized as holy, otherwise you wouldn’t need to pray for its holy reputation to be restored. There’s this whole biblical theme of Yahweh’s name, the Elohim above all and through all and in all, reveals a personal name to a particular people. Yahweh is the name given to mark the particular Elohim of Israel. So that when Yahweh chooses Abraham out from the nations and then delivers Israel out from Egypt, repeated over a dozen times in that story, is God is doing all of this to Egypt, so that Egypt will know that I am Yahweh and that Israel will know that I am Yahweh. And then God brings the Israelites Mount Sinai, one of the Ten Commandments is, don’t carry the name of Yahweh in vain, in a futile way.
In vain means, in a way that frustrates the purpose for me attaching my name to you Israelites, I’ve given my name for you to carry, to bear the name, which is another way of what God also says is, you are the Kingdom of priests, a royal priesthood and a holy nation. God has chosen to invest his purpose and reputation in humans, humans fail and then he invests his name and reputation in one particular people group and then they fail, God isn’t recognized for who he is. May the unique and one and only status of who you are Yahweh and your purpose and your story in the world, may that be restored in the eyes of the nations and of Israel to its true place of honor, which presumes that Jesus believes he’s in a moment when the name of and reputation of Yahweh is not in a place of honor, it’s in a place of shame and dishonor.
The restoration from exile and slavery is connected with a new dawning or a new restoration of the holiness of Yahweh’s name. In other words, Jesus grew up on this literature that trained him to look forward to a time when Israel would be restored and when that happens, Yahweh’s name, which is attached to this family, Ezekiel 36, will be restored among the nations. Jesus is claiming to be bringing about the thing that the prophets hoped for or anticipated and that’s what Jesus is praying for right here. The rescue of Israel is itself a subplot of the biblical story of which the main plot is God’s name being holy among all the nations as all humanity represents God as his unique and holy image in the world, Jesus sees himself first responding to the Israel part of that plot conflict and that’s what this prayer is about. For Jesus, there is only one father who is overall and through all and in all, but the nations don’t know that, they don’t live like that’s true and a lot of Israel doesn’t live like that’s true. Jesus takes it upon himself to announce the arrival of God’s reign and purpose in a new way and when that happens you get communities of people who are living in a way that brings honor to the name of the Creator.
May your rule come, the only way you would know God’s rule has arrived is if people are living in a certain way. If you live by someone’s rule, you live the way that they’ve asked you to live. You’re asking for God to do something, but the way you would know that it happened, is by us living a certain way. May your will, may your desire, your purpose be done, may what God wants, be what happens here on the land. God’s desire is to give us life, may what God desires be what happens here on the land and then that woman seeing and desiring, this image of Eve, but my desires can be distorted and motivate actions that are then misaligned with the desire of God, a tale of two desires. The restoration of what God desires is also itself about a healing of my own desires, just like God’s rule arriving implicates how I live a rule, by which I live and then what God desires implicates a healing of my own desires.
This is a prayer for God to act, but inherent within what God does, is what we do. The image of God, this is a story where God’s will and rule are accomplished on the land through his images. What humans do is the way that God’s will is done, but what happens when the ones in whom God has invested his reign and desire develop their own contrary desires. It’s in this conflict that Jesus sees himself, it’s the only way that this prayer makes sense, but Jesus said and acted as if he was here to take a step forward in the resolution of this crisis of desires in two different kingdoms in conflict with each other. When Jesus invites us to participate in it, to see every day as a stage of a contest of desires and a contest of kingdoms and this day will either be a day where a little bit more of Heaven arrives on earth, I could participate in that or it’s going to be a day where there’s more of the contrary kingdom and desire established in the land and I could be a vehicle of that, what’s this day going to be about.
That’s how this prayer is meant to shape how we see our life, to see every part of your life as the stage of this cosmic conflict, this is how Jesus saw the world. This is the kind of prayer that trains you to see life as a series of opportunities for heaven to invade earth, our father’s Kingdom arrives through suffering and self-giving love. The way in which God’s Kingdom arrives has a particular form that Jesus is trying to paint that picture, humility through generosity, honoring the image of God, even if it is that great inconvenience I and cost myself for my community, the last will be first.
In vain means, in a way that frustrates the purpose for me attaching my name to you Israelites, I’ve given my name for you to carry, to bear the name, which is another way of what God also says is, you are the Kingdom of priests, a royal priesthood and a holy nation. God has chosen to invest his purpose and reputation in humans, humans fail and then he invests his name and reputation in one particular people group and then they fail, God isn’t recognized for who he is. May the unique and one and only status of who you are Yahweh and your purpose and your story in the world, may that be restored in the eyes of the nations and of Israel to its true place of honor, which presumes that Jesus believes he’s in a moment when the name of and reputation of Yahweh is not in a place of honor, it’s in a place of shame and dishonor.
The restoration from exile and slavery is connected with a new dawning or a new restoration of the holiness of Yahweh’s name. In other words, Jesus grew up on this literature that trained him to look forward to a time when Israel would be restored and when that happens, Yahweh’s name, which is attached to this family, Ezekiel 36, will be restored among the nations. Jesus is claiming to be bringing about the thing that the prophets hoped for or anticipated and that’s what Jesus is praying for right here. The rescue of Israel is itself a subplot of the biblical story of which the main plot is God’s name being holy among all the nations as all humanity represents God as his unique and holy image in the world, Jesus sees himself first responding to the Israel part of that plot conflict and that’s what this prayer is about. For Jesus, there is only one father who is overall and through all and in all, but the nations don’t know that, they don’t live like that’s true and a lot of Israel doesn’t live like that’s true. Jesus takes it upon himself to announce the arrival of God’s reign and purpose in a new way and when that happens you get communities of people who are living in a way that brings honor to the name of the Creator.
May your rule come, the only way you would know God’s rule has arrived is if people are living in a certain way. If you live by someone’s rule, you live the way that they’ve asked you to live. You’re asking for God to do something, but the way you would know that it happened, is by us living a certain way. May your will, may your desire, your purpose be done, may what God wants, be what happens here on the land. God’s desire is to give us life, may what God desires be what happens here on the land and then that woman seeing and desiring, this image of Eve, but my desires can be distorted and motivate actions that are then misaligned with the desire of God, a tale of two desires. The restoration of what God desires is also itself about a healing of my own desires, just like God’s rule arriving implicates how I live a rule, by which I live and then what God desires implicates a healing of my own desires.
This is a prayer for God to act, but inherent within what God does, is what we do. The image of God, this is a story where God’s will and rule are accomplished on the land through his images. What humans do is the way that God’s will is done, but what happens when the ones in whom God has invested his reign and desire develop their own contrary desires. It’s in this conflict that Jesus sees himself, it’s the only way that this prayer makes sense, but Jesus said and acted as if he was here to take a step forward in the resolution of this crisis of desires in two different kingdoms in conflict with each other. When Jesus invites us to participate in it, to see every day as a stage of a contest of desires and a contest of kingdoms and this day will either be a day where a little bit more of Heaven arrives on earth, I could participate in that or it’s going to be a day where there’s more of the contrary kingdom and desire established in the land and I could be a vehicle of that, what’s this day going to be about.
That’s how this prayer is meant to shape how we see our life, to see every part of your life as the stage of this cosmic conflict, this is how Jesus saw the world. This is the kind of prayer that trains you to see life as a series of opportunities for heaven to invade earth, our father’s Kingdom arrives through suffering and self-giving love. The way in which God’s Kingdom arrives has a particular form that Jesus is trying to paint that picture, humility through generosity, honoring the image of God, even if it is that great inconvenience I and cost myself for my community, the last will be first.
