マタイによる福音書6:9-13 Matthew 6:9-13,

This is the last sermon on the Lord’s Prayer. It is about the prayer, “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.” The word “thine” means ‘yours,” so it refers to God. That is, the prayer means, “For the kingdom, the power and the glory belong to God forever.” When you read today’s Bible verse, some of you may think, “What?” Unlike previous prayers, there are no words for this prayer. Yes, we are praying a prayer with words that are not in the original Lord’s Prayer taught by Jesus.

Why then do we add the words “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever”? This can be understood if we consider what the Lord’s Prayer is a prayer for. The Lord’s Prayer is a prayer that asks, “May God’s name be hallowed,” “May God’s kingdom come,” “May God’s will be done,” “Give us today our daily bread we need,” “Forgive us our debts,” “Save us from the evil one.” Are these things what we human beings can achieve on our own? We human beings have sin in our hearts against God. Therefore, in real life we do the opposite of what we hope for in the Lord’s Prayer. We do bad things that do not honour God’s name, we do things that oppose the realisation of God’s kingdom, and we do things that grieve or offend God’s heart. Moreover, we wish I had food that only I needed, we do not forgive others, and we give in to the temptations of the devil. How contradictory we human beings are, that in real life we do the opposite of what we hope for in the Lord’s Prayer!

But what man cannot do, God can do. God gradually changes us to become people who can live like the Lord’s Prayer. God is the one who rules over us human beings, because he is the one who has unlimited power. And if we human beings can live like the Lord’s Prayer, it is not by our human power but by God’s power, so the glory is not to us but to God. That is why at the end of the Lord’s Prayer, we say: “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever,” with the belief that “We can pray and live like this because God has the kingdom and power. And may the glory of God, not us, be praised!”

The Lord’s Prayer has one more short word at the end. It is the word “Amen.” “Amen” means “truly” and “surely.” The Lord’s Prayer is a prayer that Jesus, the Son of God, taught us, so it is a prayer that can be heard by God the Father in Heaven “truly” and “surely.” Therefore, after we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we conclude our prayer by saying “Amen.” But we say “Amen” not only to the Lord’s Prayer, but also when we pray in our own words. The prayer we say in our own words is not a complete prayer like the Lord’s Prayer. On the one hand, sometimes we may not have enough words for God to hear us. On the other hand, sometimes we may even say things that we should not say. At the end of such prayers of ours, can we say “Amen” in the same way as in the Lord’s Prayer? It is okay! Because our prayers are prayers that we pray in Jesus’ name. The prayers we pray reach God the Father through Jesus. Therefore, when we pray too little, Jesus will make up for it. When we pray too much, Jesus cuts what needs to be cut. So when we pray and when others pray, we can say “Amen” at the end without worry.

This August we learned the meaning of the Lord’s Prayer. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we want to pray it with all our hearts, remembering the meaning we have learned. The Lord’s Prayer allows us to pray with one mind. It is wonderful!