English follows after the Afrikaans
5 “En wanneer julle bid, moet julle nie soos die skynheiliges wees nie, want hulle hou daarvan om in die sinagoges en op die straathoeke te staan en bid, sodat hulle deur die mense gesien kan word. Amen, Ek sê vir julle: Hulle het reeds hulle volle beloning ontvang. 6 Maar jy, wanneer jy bid, gaan na jou binneste kamer, maak jou deur toe en bid tot jou Vader wat in die verborgenheid is, en jou Vader wat in die verborgenheid sien, sal jou beloon. 7 “Wanneer julle bid, moet julle nie soos die heidene ‘n stortvloed woorde gebruik nie, want hulle dink dat hulle op grond van hulle baie woorde verhoor sal word. 8 Moenie soos hulle wees nie, want julle Vader weet wat julle nodig het nog voordat julle Hom vra.”
Agtergrond: Die Onse Vader is die Christendom se bekendste gebed. Dit is ook die Christendom se vreemdste gebed. Alle Christene bid dit, maar dit noem nooit Christus nie. Dit word in alle kerke gebid, maar noem nooit die kerk nie. Ons noem dit die “Lord’s Prayer” in Engels, maar dit is in werklikheid die gebed vir volgelinge van Jesus. Jesus wys Sy volgelinge (en ons) hoe om te bid. Al die belangrike elemente is daar, ons kan bloot die versoeke aanpas om ons behoeftes en omstandighede te reflekteer.
Daar word word gereeld gesê dat gebed is ‘n misterie is. Gebed is een van daardie aspekte van die Christelike lewe wat ons nie heeltemal verstaan nie, tog moedig Jesus ons aan om te bid. Baie gelowiges, insluitende baie predikante, het geleer dat gebed nie maklik is nie en dat ons baiemaal nie verstaan wat dit is of wat dit kan doen nie. In ‘n bekende gedeelte sê Paulus “ons weet nie mooi waarvoor ons behoort te bid nie” en dat ons daarom die Gees nodig het om ons hierin te help (Romeine 8:18-27). Dit mag dalk vernederend klink, maar dit is ook bemoedigend.
Wat ons die Onse Vader noem kom voor in die middel van Jesus se Bergrede – ‘n lang preek oor hoe om as Christen te leef in ‘n bose wêreld. Ons dit dit opgeteken in Matt 6:9-13 en Lukas 11:2-4. Matteus se weergawe word ook in die Didache gevind (einde van 1steeeu). Vae egos van die taal word ook in Jesus se gebed in Johannes 17 gevind.
Praktiese goed: Hoe begin jy bid? Ons is gewoonlik in die een of ander moeilikheid of gemors en ons wil hê dat God ons hiermee moet help. So ons het dringende behoeftes en ons wil hê God moet daarin voorsien. Iewers onthou ons dat daar ‘n groter wêreld daarbuite is, en dan bid ons byvoorbeeld vir vrede in die Midde Ooste, vir voedsel vir die wat honger is en vir diegene wat haweloos is.
Daar is egter nie net ‘n groter wêreld daarbuite nie, daar is ‘n groter God. Hy is nie net die hemelse skoonmaker en uitsorteerder van ons moeilikhede nie. Hy is God. Hy is die lewende God. En Hy is ons Vader. As ons dit onthou kan ons prioriteite dalk saggies omgekeer word. Die Onse Vader wil ons help om ons prioriteite om te keer, nie om die inhoud te verander nie.
Voorstel van NT Wright: Daar is drie praktiese maniere om die Onse Vader Gebed te gebruik. Eerstens, gebruik dit as die raamwerk vir jou daaglikse gebede. Vat die individuele bedes een vir een en bid vir dit wat onder daardie “onderwerp” pas. By “‘Laat u koninkryk kom” kan jy byvoorbeeld bid vir vrede in die wêreld.
Tweedens, bid dit stadig, weer en weer, saam met die ritme van jou asemhaling. So word dit tweede natuur. Mense in besige en stresvolle lewens vind so ‘n gewoonte baie moeilik, maar, dan het hulle dalk juis die kalmerende en helende effek hiervan nodig.
Derdens, Dalk kan jy die bedes een vir een vat – een per dag. Bid byvoorbeeld Sondag oor “Ons Vader wat in die hemele is, Maandag oor “laat u Naam geheilig word, Dinsdag “Laat U koninkryk kom”, Woensdag “gee ons vandag ons daaglikse brood”, Donderdag “vergeef ons ons oortredings”, ens.
- Wat kan jy vandag met jou saamneem?
Bibliography:
Connelly, D. (2003) The Lord’s Prayer: 8 Studies for Individuals or Groups: With Notes for Leaders. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Connect: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press (A LifeGuide Bible Study).
Crossan, John Dominic. The Greatest Prayer: Rediscovering the Revolutionary Message of the Lord’s Prayer. HarperCollins.
Houlden, J.L. (1992) “Lord’s Prayer,” The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary. Edited by D.N. Freedman. New York: Doubleday.
Wright, N. T.. The Lord and His Prayer. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co..
Afrikaans hierbo. English below.
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
Some background: The Lord’s Prayer is Christianity’s greatest prayer. It is also Christianity’s strangest prayer. It is prayed by all Christians, but it never mentions Christ. It is prayed in all churches, but it never mentions church. It is called the “Lord’s Prayer,” but it never mentions “Lord.” We call it the Lord’s Prayer, but really it is the Disciples’ Prayer. Jesus was showing his followers (including us) how to pray. The essential elements are all included. Our prayers simply adapt the requests to fit our own needs and circumstances.
Prayer is, of course, a mystery. It’s become quite commonplace to say this. Prayer is one of those aspects of the Christian life that we don’t fully understand, and yet Jesus enthusiastically invites us to pray. Many Christians, including many clergy, have come to accept that they don’t find prayer easy, that they don’t really understand what it does or can do. Paul, in a famous passage, says that ‘we don’t know how to pray, or what to pray for, as we ought’, and says that we therefore depend on God’s spirit to help us, even though we don’t really understand what’s happening (Romans 8.18-27). That may be humbling, but it should also be encouraging.
What we have come to call the Lord’s Prayer was spoken in the middle of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount—a long talk Jesus gave about how to live distinctively as a Christian in an evil world. We find it in Matt 6:9–13 and Luke 11:2–4. The Matthean form of the prayer is reproduced in the Didache (end of 1st century), and faint echoes of its language can be detected in the prayer of Jesus in John 17.
Practical stuff: How do you set about praying? From our point of view, we’re usually in some sort of mess, and we want God to get us out of it. Then we’ve usually got some fairly pressing needs, and we want God to supply them. It may strike us at that point that there’s a larger world out there. Again, we probably move from mess to wants: please sort out the Middle East, please feed the hungry, please house the homeless.
But there’s not just a larger world out there; there’s a larger God out there. He’s not just a celestial cleaner-up and sorter-out of our messes and wants. He is God. He is the living God. And he is our Father. If we linger here, we may find our priorities quietly turned inside out. The Lord’s Prayer is designed to help us make a change of priority, not a change of content.
Suggestion from NT Wright: Three practical ways to use the Lord’s Prayer. First, the Lord’s Prayer as the framework for regular daily praying. Take each clause at a time, and call into the front of your mind the particular things you want to pray for, as it were, under that heading. Under the clause ‘Thy Kingdom Come’, for example, it would be surprising if you didn’t want to include the peace of the world,
Second, repeat it slowly, again and again, in the rhythm of your breathing, so that it becomes, as we say, second nature. Those of us who live busy or stressful lives may find a discipline like that very difficult; but, again, it may be precisely people like that who need the calming and nourishing medicine of this prayer.
Third, you might like, for a while, to take the clauses of the prayer one by one and make each in turn your ‘prayer for the day’. Sunday: Our Father. Monday: Hallowed be thy Name. Tuesday: Thy Kingdom Come. Wednesday: Give us this day. Thursday: Forgive us our trespasses. Etc.
- What can you take with you today?
Bibliography:
Connelly, D. (2003) The Lord’s Prayer: 8 Studies for Individuals or Groups: With Notes for Leaders. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Connect: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press (A LifeGuide Bible Study).
Crossan, John Dominic. The Greatest Prayer: Rediscovering the Revolutionary Message of the Lord’s Prayer. HarperCollins.
Houlden, J.L. (1992) “Lord’s Prayer,” The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary. Edited by D.N. Freedman. New York: Doubleday.
Wright, N. T.. The Lord and His Prayer. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co..
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