Becoming Like God

Gospel: Matthew 6: 7-15

In our first parents' fall from paradise, the serpent tempted them by saying they would become like gods if they ate of the fruit, having knowledge of good and evil.  The sin was not in becoming like God but in the particular attributes of God we seek.  The desire for omnipotence and omniscience are what we desire and it leads to our ruin.  

But our life is indeed to become like God, and if God is love then our becoming like God is to love as God has loved us.  The point of our prayer life is precisely this. In giving us a prayer to say Jesus repeats and emphasizes its core message: to be merciful as God has been merciful to us.  This is how we are to be like God - by extending his mercy outward to others in the world, by forgiving others and providing others with the material works of mercy that is our judgment day charge.  

If we are honest with ourselves, our emphasis in the Lord's prayer is in God giving us daily bread and leading us not into temptation - God doing things for us.  But that is not the emphasis Jesus puts on the prayer.  In this season of mercy given to us we recommit ourselves to this way of selfless love that Jesus provides and is.