The Lord’s Prayer and the Temple

By Daniel Kreller

This book explores the relationship between the Lord’s Prayer and the Temple. Jesus frequented the Temple and referred to it as his Father’s house. The prayer addresses God as our Father in heaven and blesses his Name (Yahweh). It petitions him for his kingdom to come on earth, for daily bread, forgiveness of sins, and deliverance from evil. These petitions relate to the artifacts of the Temple.

The petition for the coming of God’s kingdom to earth relates to The Ark of the Covenant, which was regarded as the footstool of God’s throne in the heavens. The petition for daily bread relates to The Table of Showbread. The petition for forgiveness of sins relates to the Altar of Sacrifice. The petition for deliverance from evil relates to the Menorah. The whole prayer relates to the Incense Altar upon which incense was offered at the times of prayer to carry the petitions heavenward.

The Temple was the center of Jewish life in Jesus’ day, and always in the hearts and minds of the devout. Indeed, since Solomon dedicated the First Temple the devout directed their prayers towards this place. Soon after Jesus’ death a crisis befell the Jews. The Second Temple that existed in Jesus’ day was destroyed and has yet to be rebuilt. Jesus predicted its destruction and this may be one reason he taught his disciples this prayer. When they could no longer enter the Temple’s courts, they could imaginatively recreate them following the structure of the prayer. Then, too, Jesus had taught that the day had come when true worshippers would worship God in spirit and in truth. Those who worship in spirit and in truth would effectively become a temple for God’s presence. The locus of God’s presence, therefore, would be in such worshippers, wherever they might be. And since such worshippers are found among the Gentiles that receive the Spirit from the Father as well, just as the Temple was a house of prayer for all peoples, so the prayer is suitable for all true worshippers, whether Jews or Gentiles.

The book is a phrase by phrase commentary upon the Lord’s Prayer, making connections to significant events in the history of Israel and to Jesus’ own ministry. It also shows the connection between the three temptations of Jesus, and the petitions for daily bread, forgiveness of sins, and deliverance from evil. The temptations were tests relating to the three aspects of the human person – the body, the soul, and the spirit.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Daniel Kreller
• Release date: Jul 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463854402

Daniel Kreller

The son of a Baptist minister, I was ordained in the Episcopal Church in 1977. I studied for the ministry at Princeton, General, and Union Seminaries. I served as a parish priest for 40 years. I have a particular interest in the healing ministry and the Jewish roots of Christianity. I am married and have a grown son and daughter.

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The Lord’s Prayer and the Temple

The Rev. Daniel W. Kreller

Published by Daniel W. Kreller at Smashwords

Copyright 2020 Daniel W. Kreller

All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

1. Two Teachers

2. Two Settings

3. The Question and the Answer

4. Jesus and the Temple

5. God’s Presence

6. In the Wilderness

7. Mount Moriah

8. Unity

9. Our Father

10. who art in heaven

11. hallowed be thy Name

12. thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

13. Give us this day our daily bread.

14. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us.

15. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from (the) evil (one).

16. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

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About the Author

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The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from (the) evil (one). For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen (The Book of Common Prayer, page 336).

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1. Two Teachers

I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you (John 14:25, 26).

I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason, I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you (John 16:12-14).

If Jesus was still with us today in the flesh wouldn’t you want to sit at his feet and listen to his teachings? But Jesus is not with us today as he was with the first disciples when he taught and ministered in Galilee and Judea. I have visited some of the places where Jesus taught and ministered. I saw with my own eyes the seas and the hills that he saw, but I did not see him. I was aware of his absence. Yet at the same time, I was aware of another’s presence. I was aware of the presence of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, the one sent from the Father in Jesus’ name. And so, I had another teacher with me on my journey. In fact, this teacher had come with me to Israel for he has been journeying with me for many years, or, rather, I with him. Through those years I learned to incline my ear to hear his voice. He doesn’t speak out loud, so much, as he impresses thoughts upon the heart, or projects images upon the mind through dreams and visions. He is secretive in that way, choosing to be invisible outwardly and reveal things inwardly. He discloses very little about himself for that is not his purpose. Instead, he teaches about Jesus and takes what belongs to Jesus and declares it to us. What belongs to Jesus is knowledge of the Father, and so by glorifying Jesus, reminding us of what he said and disclosing what he left unsaid, the Advocate reveals the Father to us. Knowing the Father, is the goal of all knowledge. The Father isn’t beyond knowing for he has given us two teachers to make himself known, Jesus—the Son, and the Spirit—the Advocate. The Father is beyond fully knowing, at least in this present life, as the Apostle Paul acknowledged when he said, Now I know in part… (l Corinthians 13:12). Nevertheless, if we are teachable, we can learn much by listening to the two teachers. The first teacher, Jesus, has gone back to the Father. But enough of his words are recorded, like the prayer he taught his disciples, to be instructed. The second teacher, the Holy Spirit, has come to be with us. He continues the instruction that Jesus began and expands upon it as he speaks what he hears. O that today you would listen to his voice! (Psalm 95:7b)

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2. Two Settings

One of the things that belongs to Jesus is the prayer that he taught his disciples to pray. Because it belongs to Jesus, in some traditions it is called, The Lord’s Prayer. In other traditions it is simply called, The Our Father, from the opening invocation. Mathew and Luke each record the prayer in their Gospel.

Matthew includes the prayer as part of Jesus’ teaching that has come to be called the Sermon on the Mount. In that sermon Jesus gave instructions about several pious practices—almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. With respect to prayer he said, And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Amen, I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who is in secret will reward you. When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then in this way…, and Jesus goes on to recite the prayer (Matthew 6:5-9a). The word hypocrite originally referred to a stage actor. So, Jesus is warning the pious not to be like actors, playing to an audience and using many words to inform the audience of the plot. When it comes to prayer, the pious are addressing an audience of one, the Father. He is always attentive, for he hears and sees all, and informed, for he already knows the plot. Engage him in a private conversation, Jesus advises, and your prayer will be heard. Matthew’s version of the Lord’s Prayer is close to the version from The Book of Common Prayer printed at the beginning of this writing.

Luke reports that, He (Jesus) was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’ He said to them, ‘When you pray, say…’, and Jesus recited the prayer. Luke’s version of the prayer has some variations from what Matthew records. It reads:

(Our) Father (in heaven), hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, (Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, or Your Holy Spirit come upon us and cleanse us). Give us each day our daily bread (our bread for tomorrow). And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us into temptation (to the time of trial) (but rescue us from the evil one).

The words in parenthesis reflect variations that appear in ancient texts of Luke’s Gospel. Neither Luke, nor Matthew, include the doxology at the end of the prayer, but it appears in very early church texts and came to be widely used.

The geographical setting of Jesus’ teaching differs between Matthew and Luke. Matthew has Jesus teaching in Galilee when he delivered the sermon that includes the prayer. The exact site is not specified, but tradition places it on the hillside along the northern end of the Sea of Galilee. The Roman Church of the Beatitudes, built in 1938, marks this traditional site. From there one has a beautiful view of the whole of the Sea of Galilee. Luke doesn’t specify the place of the teaching either, though in the order of Luke’s narrative, Jesus had just visited Martha and Mary. He says they lived in a certain village, but if these are the same sisters whose brother is Lazarus, as in John’s Gospel, then the village was Bethany in Judea. Bethany is located on the eastern side of the Mount of Olives about 2 miles from Jerusalem. Ascending from Bethany to the top of the Mount of Olives, one is afforded a dramatic view of the Kidron Valley below, and the city of Jerusalem built upon Mounts Moriah and Zion beyond. In Jesus’ day, the Temple, situated upon Mount Moriah, would have been directly in view. It was the most prominent of all the grand buildings in the city. There were many grand buildings in the city for Herod the Great, who ruled as a vassal of the Romans at the time of Jesus’ birth, had undertaken numerous building projects that included enlarging the Temple mount and lavishly refurbishing the Temple. Today on the top of the Mount of Olives are the remains of the Eleona Church, built in the 4th century by the Roman Emperor Constantine, and the remains of a Crusader Church built much later. Constantine built his church over a grotto based upon a tradition that it was the location of the ascension of Jesus. The tradition of the Crusaders holds that this same grotto was the place where Jesus taught his disciples the Lord’s Prayer. A Carmelite convent was built nearby to these remains in the late 19th century. The chapel for the convent is called the Church of the Pater Noster (Our Father). Large glazed ceramic plaques of the Lord’s Prayer in over 100 languages are mounted on the walls of the chapel, the cloister in front of the chapel, and the walls of the partially reconstructed Eleona Church.

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3. The Question and the Answer

I was reared in a Protestant religious tradition that valued extemporaneous prayers. We did not read prayers from a book when we gathered for worship, or when we prayed in private. We did not recite the Lord’s Prayer either publicly, or privately. Eventually, I was confirmed in the Episcopal Church and ordained first a deacon, and then a priest. I retired after 40 years in the ordained ministry. In my ordained role, I led the congregation in the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer at all Sunday and weekday services, baptisms, weddings, and funerals. When visiting the sick and shut-in, I recited the prayer while praying with them. I have recited the prayer countless times. Though I recited the prayer countless times, I never thought to ask the question that one day, toward the end of my ministry, came to mind.

The question that came to mind was simply this, Where did Jesus get this prayer? As soon as the question came to mind, so did the answer, The Temple.

Then it all made sense to me. If one stood in the court of the Temple, one stood before God, the King of the Universe. He was seated upon his throne in the heavens but his feet rested upon the earth, more precisely upon the footstool of his throne, the Ark of the Covenant in the inner sanctuary of the Temple, the Holy of Holies. A curtain closed off the inner sanctuary, creating an outer sanctuary, called the Holy Place. Near to this curtain, on the right side stood the Table of Showbread (Bread of the Presence) with its 12 loaves. To the left stood the Menorah, the seven branched oil-lamp. Closer to the entrance, in the center of the Holy Place, stood the Altar of Incense. The smoke from it carried the prayers of the priest and people heavenward to the throne of God. Outside the Holy Place, in the courtyard of the Temple, stood the Altar of Burnt Offerings where all of the sacrifices were offered up to God. Only priests and their assistants, the Levites, could enter this courtyard and the Holy Place. Only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and, then, only once a year on the Day of Atonement. Beyond the courtyard, where the Altar of Burnt Offerings stood, was a courtyard for the men of Israel, and beyond that a courtyard for the women of Israel. No Gentiles were permitted to enter these courtyards, though they could enter a designated court outside the Temple proper, but within the larger Temple complex.

Jesus was not a priest or a Levite. He was born into the tribe of Judah, the tribe of King David and the Messiah Son of David. So, when Jesus entered the Temple, he was permitted to stand in the courtyard reserved for the men of Israel. From that vantage point he would be able to see the very large Altar of Burnt Offerings in front of him. Looking beyond that, he would see the entrance to the Temple proper. Its large bronze doors were open during the day. How much more he could see of the furnishing of the Holy Place is uncertain. But he would have been knowledgeable about these from reading the Torah. Explicit instructions for constructing the Tabernacle and its furnishing were given to Moses at Sinai. The Tabernacle, or Tent of Meeting, was a portable structure. The Temple was the permanent structure that replaced the Tabernacle. Jesus would also have known that the Ark, which used to rest in the Holy of Holies, had disappeared at the time of the destruction of the First Temple, Solomon’s Temple, in 586 BCE. Absent the Ark, the rock outcropping of the top of Mount Moriah served as the footstool for God’s throne in the Second Temple. What Jesus could see with his eyes when standing in courtyard of the Temple, and what he knew from the Torah, informed his prayer. The pattern of his prayer was based upon the layout of the Temple.

Jesus addressed his prayer to his Father in heaven, the King of the Universe, who is seated upon his throne. As a loyal subject, he saluted the King with the affirmation, may his rule be as effective on earth as it is in heaven. As a loyal subject, he petitioned the King for three things that sustain life in this world. He asked for bread for our bodily needs, forgiveness of our transgressions for our soul’s sake, and, to be kept in the midst of temptation, and to be enlightened with truth lest we stumble in the darkness of error. These petitions relate to three of the main artifacts of the Temple: the Table of Showbread; the Altar of Burnt Offerings; and the Menorah. The smoke from the Altar of Incense and the Altar of Burnt Offerings carried his petitions upward to the