Hallowed by thy Name and thy Kingdom Come

The first priority of prayer that Jesus puts on the lips of His disciples is the holiness of God’s Name.  This word “hallow” is strange to our vocabulary.  It is not something that we say in our every day conversations.  We recognize it in the word “Halloween,” which is short for “all hallows eve,” all saints eve, the eve of all holy ones.  What is holy is set apart, it belongs to God.

What is at stake in this petition is not the integrity of God’s Name.  Gold is gold, and worth the same, whether it’s worn by a prince or a prostitute.  What’s at stake is what happens with God’s Name on our lips and in our lives.

God’s Name is the revelation of who He is.  His Name reveals God as merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love.  God’s Name reveals God-with-us, Immanuel, seeking the, saving the damned, raising the dead.

Where God locates His name, there He reveals the Mystery of Christ: In the burning bush.  In the tabernacle-tent in the wilderness.  In the pillar of cloud and fire.  In the temple.  In the flesh of Jesus Christ, who is the incarnation and the revelation of God’s name.  In the Word and sacraments around which He gathers his people.  In the church, even as few as two or three gathered in his Name.  There God shows the signs of His grace, there we can be sure He’s by our side upon the plain.

God has marked us with his Name in Holy Baptism.  We belong to him, people of His pasture, sheep of his hand.  We bear God’s Name in the world.  His name is etched indelibly on our foreheads and upon our hearts, our minds and our wills belong to him.  We are billboards for His Name, visible sacramental signs of His presence.  We are his.  His Name is ours.  His Name is holy.  And by His Name we are holy.  And so here we pray that God’s Name would be kept holy among us. 

God’s Name is hallowed by holy words and holy deeds, by what’s on our lips and in our lives, by right teaching and right actions.  The opposite of keeping God’s Name holy is to profane his Name, to make it a common thing, to drag it through the dirt, to sully it with our lives, deceit, blasphemy and broken promises. 

To fail to teach true doctrine also profanes God’s name among us.  When pastors do not warn their people of the dangers of false teaching, even at the risk of hurting someone’s feelings or making someone angry, God’s name is profaned among us.  When parents leave it to their children to decide what they will believe when they grow up, instead of raising them in the fear and faith of the Lord, God’s Name is profaned among us. 

Jesus teaches us to pray daily, Our Father, hallowed by thy name.”  Those are dangerous words.  Don’t pray them thoughtlessly. They are an open invitation for God to interfere with our lives, to kill Adam in us and raise up Christ.  It will turn you life upside-down, or more accurately, it will turn you inside-out, away from your self to live in Christ by faith and in those around you by love.  In short God’s name is kept holy when sinners are forgiven in the name of Jesus, and when they speak and live in the freedom of forgiveness as the children of God.  This is what it means to pray, “Our Father, hallowed by thy name.”

Thy Kingdom come.

The Kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also.  God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.

The second priority of prayer is God’s kingdom.  And again, God’s kingdom needs no assistance from us and our prayers.  The kingdom of God simply comes, has come and does come.  Where Christ is, there is the kingdom, whether we like it or not, pray for it or not.  We pray in this petition that the kingdom of God would come among us, that He would lord the death and resurrection of Jesus over us so that we might live under Him in his kingdom both now and forever.

Like the word “hallow,” the word “kingdom” also is strange to our ears.  We don’t deal well with such medieval ideas as kings and kingdoms.  We live in a culture where the individual is sovereign, where each person is their own king.  We want government off our back and out of our lives.  We want the church off our back and out of our lives too.  And God.  The crowds that clamored for Jesus’ crucifixion cried out, “We have no king but Caesar.”  Today’s crowds shout, “I have no king but me.”

The kingdom of God is the gracious rule of God established in the King who was enthroned on the cross for our salvation.  It is the reign of Jesus as he Lords His death over sinners from the right hand of the Father.  The kingdom of God is the execution of God’s will to save sinners by sending His son into the world to redeem and deliver them from the power of the devil, to give them a new citizenship in His kingdom, to bring them to Himself and to rule over them as a gracious king of righteousness, life and salvation, over and against their sin, death, hell and evil conscience.  The kingdom of God comes among when God sends His Holy Spirit who works faith in our hearts by means of the proclaimed Word and who renews us in the forgiveness of sins so that we lead godly and forgiven lives now and forever.

God’s Name and His kingdom go together.  Where God has revealed his Name, there He has His kingdom, there the kingdom treasures of forgiveness, life, and salvation are being given out.  Where the Spirit causes the saving death of Jesus to be proclaimed in the water of Baptism, in the spoken Word, in the bread and wine of the Supper, there God’s kingdom is revealed, made known, manifested, shown for the sake of sinners, that we may know our King.

Jesus teaches us to pray for nothing less than the kingdom of God.  “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” says Jesus, and then He promises that “all these things, whatever these things may be that you nee, will be given you as well.”  If the Father has promised you nothing less than the kingdom, don’t you believe he will give you everything else?  To say, “thy kingdom come” is to pray for everything all at once.”

Were a wealthy man to come to us and say, “Ask anything of me and I will donate it as a gift,” and all we asked for was a cup of soup or a crust of bread, he would be insulted.  And so is God, when we ask for anything less than His kingdom.  We come into God’s presence seeking little blessings, and He says to us, “Here.  Receive the kingdom I have prepared for you since the foundation of the world.”

What do we do with such riches?  We tell others.  Thy kingdom come.  This is a prayer for missions.  Not my kingdom come.  It is the Church’s task to proclaim the kingdom as a done deal in Jesus.  The Church is the salt; the earth is God’s dish.  The Church is the light, but Jesus Christ is the light of the world, the Savior of the world, the Redeemer of the world, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Thy kingdom come.  Make us signs of the kingdom in our Baptism and in the Supper.  The world has and King - whether it likes it or not, wants it or not, believes it or not.  His Name is Jesus.  Trust Him and no other.

What remains is for the kingdom of God to be revealed on the Last Day, at the visible coming of Jesus.  Then the kingdom will be seen as the King is seen.  Toward that Day and in that confidence we pray, “Our Father, Thy kingdom come.”