Thoughts on the Divine Service
22. The Lord’s Prayer
Dear friends,
I’ve no doubt you know the Lord’s Prayer so very well. It’s a beautiful prayer, the one Jesus gave us when the disciples asked Him to teach them to pray (Luke 11:1-4). It’s also been part of the service of Holy Communion since the earliest days of the New Testament Church. But why? Given how the Lord’s Prayer seems ubiquitous among Christians at church, you’d almost expect there to be a special prayer dedicated to the Lord’s Supper.
Let’s take quick look at the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer. As Luther explains in the Small Catechism, the first three petitions go together because God’s Word and God’s kingdom go together. As we’ve said before, the kingdom of God is where Jesus is, and Jesus is where His Word is proclaimed. In the first two petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, we pray that God would hallow His name among us by preserving His Word, and that God would keep His kingdom among us by sending His Spirit to work by means of that Word. In the third petition, we pray that God would thwart every evil that would rob us of His Word and kingdom, thus robbing us of the Holy Spirit and the Son!
Then comes the fourth petition where we pray for daily bread, asking God to provide all we need for this body and life.
After that, we’re back to three more petitions about grace and salvation. We pray in the fifth petition that God would forgive our trespasses; and in the sixth, we pray that He would protect us from every temptation that would lead into misbelief, despair and sin. We finally pray in the seventh petition that He would deliver us from all evil to everlasting life in heaven.
That’s a great prayer for Christians anytime, anywhere. But look at how much of it is fulfilled and answered in Holy Communion!
Jesus is present with us in, with and under the bread and wine because God preserves His Word (1st Petition)—including Christ’s Words of Institution from the night He is betrayed. To put it another way, the kingdom of God comes there (2nd Petition) because Jesus is there. Thus we pray and act so that neither God’s Word nor Jesus are lost (3rd Petition) from Holy Communion, because then it would no longer be a holy communion.
God gives us daily bread (4th Petition) which importantly includes bread itself, because Jesus chooses to give us His body in that very means. Without bread, there is no Holy Supper because one of Jesus’ specified ingredients is missing. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer during the sacrament, we are calling upon God to provide the bread [and wine] necessary to receive His Son’s body and blood.
And what does Holy Communion deliver to us with Jesus’ body and blood? It is for the forgiveness of sins (5th Petition). It is to strengthen and preserve you in faith (6th Petition) … unto life everlasting (7th Petition) when He finally delivers us from all evil.
In the big scheme of things, the Lord’s Prayer encompasses the entire life of the Christian. Within the context of Holy Communion, the Lord’s Prayer is all about the Lord’s Supper, and it is likewise answered in the Lord’s Supper.
This is normally where I end by writing, “What joy!”, but it seems more appropriate to end by saying, “Amen! Yes, yes it shall be so!”
(And … what joy!)