マタイによる福音書6:9-13 Matthew 6:9-13,

Today I will preach about the prayer Jesus taught us to pray for our needs in the Lord’s Prayer. First, “Give us this day our daily bread.” The word “daily” means that we need it every day. And “bread” means food. We humans need food to live, don’t we? Of course, we need not only food but also drink. Is that all? We cannot live naked, so we need something to wear. We need shelter from the rain and wind, so we need a house to live. Food, drink, clothes and house are all given by God.

Some people may think that food, drink, clothes and house are not “given by God” but something we get by earning our own money. But think about it. Health and strength to work come from God. Even if you have health and strength, you cannot earn money without work. And even if you have money, you cannot buy things with money if there is no proper order in society. Furthermore, even if social order is maintained, if the natural environment is destroyed and plants and animals do not grow, there will be no food for people. It is God who gives people work and protects the social order and the natural environment. Even though people think they have worked and gotten the things they need to live, in fact, God has given them everything.

The next prayer is “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” In today’s Bible passage, however, the prayer is a little different: in verse 12, it says: “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” What is “debt?” Originally, “debt” is something or money you owe to another person. In Matthew 18:23-35, there is a parable of a servant who owed huge amount of money to his master, but had it written off. However, this servant was harshly judged by his master for severely collecting money from his friend who owed him money. “Debt” represents sin. And this parable shows that we human beings have been forgiven so many sins by God, but when someone sins against us, we tend not to forgive even the smallest thing and blame the other person. If you don’t forgive the other person, you will not be able to receive forgiveness from God for your own sins! This is a harsh lesson. We human beings cannot live without God’s forgiveness of sins. Just as our bodies become weak if we don’t eat food, our hearts become weak if we don’t receive forgiveness of sins.

Lastly, the prayer, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” In today’s Bible passage, verse 13 is the same. And “evil” means “the evil one,” i.e., the devil. So it is a prayer to save us from the temptation of the devil. Jesus knew very well that human beings are vulnerable to temptation by the devil. That is why he taught his disciples to pray, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” The devil is invisible. But he is always after us. He tries to tempt us to be self-centred, to make us not believe in God, and to make us his servants. Unlike Jesus, we cannot overcome the devil’s temptations in our own strength. We will lose. But if we know that we are weak and always live with God’s help, we can be delivered from the temptations of the devil.