The Lord’s Prayer: Our Focus
Luke 11:1-4

First century A.D. Palestine was part of the Roman empire. As the name suggests, the empire was ruled by the emperor, but he exercised his dominion through governors. Governors administered the provinces of the empire. Pontus Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea. Interestingly, Roman rule allowed for regional kings, and so Herod was the king of Galilee.

Rule by emperors or kings has been the norm throughout most of human history. Even today, there are over forty kingdoms ruled by crowned kings or queens. The best-known kingdom to us is England. The monarchy has devolved into a beloved figurehead for the British people, but Queen Elizabeth still has considerable sway over the hearts and minds of her subjects.

The idea of a monarchy with a crowned king or queen and a succession of royal heirs is foreign to us as Americans. After all, our nation was born out of rebellion against the divine right of kings and their often-tyrannical rule. But for first century Jews, kingdoms and kingship were the norm, and not just in secular affairs.

Their theology was profoundly molded by the understanding that YAHWEH was the king of all the earth. Furthermore, Yahweh exercised his governance through the kings of Israel. They were his anointed ones.

By the first century A.D. the Jewish monarchy had degenerated into a petty fiefdom. King Herod had no real autonomy or power apart from Rome, and he certainly had little or no connection to the LORD. But the Jewish people never lost their belief in the LORD as the king of kings. Their longing for an earthly monarch was largely transferred to the promise of the coming messiah.

It is in the context of this historical and theological world that Jesus teaches his disciples to pray the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer. “Thy kingdom come.”

But what did Jesus envision when he used the word “kingdom”? Another New Testament phrase can help us understand what Jesus had in mind. “The kingdom of God” is a frequent phrase in the New Testament. When we hear the phrase, we tend to equate it with a place, namely heaven, but that is not what Jesus intended. Bear with me for a moment while we dive into Greek grammar! The phrase, “the kingdom of God” is a subjective genitive in Greek. This means that the genitive phrase “of God” is the subject of the verbal idea hidden in the noun “kingdom.” God is the subject. Reigning is the verbal idea. We can dynamically render the phrase as a sentence. “God is reigning.” Jesus is not thinking of a place. Instead, he is thinking about God exercising his dominion in the world.

Like the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Hallowed be thy name,” the second petition is also a passive imperative. Again, imperatives are commandments, but we are not really commanding God. We are begging God to act. We are praying, “Cause your reign to begin now.” Just as our longing is for God to honor himself in all the earth (to hallow himself), our focus is the dawning of God’s dominion on earth.

But how does God’s kingdom come? It began to break into history in Jesus Christ. In his ministry, Jesus healed the sick, cast out demons, and even raised the dead. He fought against the darkness of this world. In his passion, Jesus paid the price for human sin; by his resurrection, Jesus conquered death, our last enemy. The kingdom of God was among us in Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection, but it was still largely hidden. Jesus likens the kingdom to yeast hidden in dough or a seed hidden in the ground. The fullness of God’s reign is still in the future.

All the earth will honor God’s name when Jesus comes again. God’s rule will be the only law of the land on the great and terrible day of the LORD. As the book of Revelation describes it, “The kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever” (Rev. 11:15).

This is what we are asking for when we pray, “Thy kingdom come.” We are entreating God to cause his kingdom to come, for his unchallenged reign to begin now.

Only God can cause the citizens of earth to honor him. Only God can inaugurate his reign on earth. This biblical truth has not sat well with many Christians in the modern world. Beginning with the Social Gospel movement of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries and continuing to the present with the Social Justice movement, some Christians have baulked at the notion that we cannot build the kingdom of God on earth.

Robert McAfee Brown was a twentieth- century Presbyterian minister, theologian, and social activist who taught at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He strongly disagreed with limiting the coming of the kingdom to God’s action. Brown made a parody of the old hymn “Rise Up, O Men of God.” He wrote, “Sit down, O men of God. His kingdom He will bring, just as and when and where he will. You cannot do a thing.” Brown’s parody was a caricature of biblical truth.

We cannot inaugurate the kingdom of God on earth, but we can be salt and light in this fallen world. We can invite those who sit in darkness to honor God and to align their lives with God’s coming kingdom. We cannot usher in the reign of God on earth because we are fallen creatures, and any utopia we can imagine or attempt will be horribly tainted by sin and evil. This is a good thing to remember as the presidential election draws nearer and nearer. God must act. There is no other lasting remedy.

Others in Christendom have taken exception to the language of kingship and kingdoms. They characterize “kings” and “kingdoms” as male-oriented, patriarchal, imperialistic, inherently violent and oppressive words. They believe that instead of focusing on “the kingdom,” we should focus on the “kin-dom,” the community. The focus is not on the coming of God in our day but on the formation of a community. The focus is not on God’s activity but on human activity. In some churches, they have altered the Lord’s Prayer to reflect these convictions. Instead of praying, “Thy kingdom come,” they pray “Thy kin-dom come,” or “Thy community come.”

Proponents of this understanding argue that “kin-dom” better reflects the kind of society Jesus envisioned. They say that what Jesus had in mind was a shared community of equals who serve each other, but that is what the church is. To conflate “kingdom” and “kin-dom” is a grave mistake. The local church is just an outpost of the kingdom. The kingdom of God is something much greater than a loving community of the committed.

Finally, when we pray, “Thy kingdom come,” we are engaged in a profoundly subversive activity. We are asking God to set up his reign on earth and to end all the kingdoms of the world. This is truly revolutionary. You can see why totalitarian regimes have repressed Christianity through the ages, beginning with Rome. Jesus’ kingship as God’s messiah and God’s coming reign pose a fundamental threat to them and to any other government, power, authority, or nation, even our own.

When we pray, “Thy kingdom come,” we are praying for the end of the world as we know it. The troubled times we find ourselves in serve as an impetus to pray the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer with renewed fervency.

Brothers and sisters, the reign of God began to dawn in history in the person of Jesus Christ. The reign of God will be fully actualized in history when Christ comes again. Our lives are lived in the space between the dawning of the kingdom and its realization.

When we pray, “Cause your kingdom to begin now,” we include our lives too. We are asking God to bring the totality of our existence, all that we do, say, think, and have, under his rule. We do this individually and in community with the body of Christ, and we let the little light of our lives shine for all the world to see so that men, women, and children may see our good works and give glory to God. We invite all who will listen to honor God and align their lives with his coming kingdom.

So, whenever you pray say, “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.”

To God the Father, Son, and Holy Sprit be the glory forever and ever. Amen.