The Essence of Prayer

Gospel: Matthew 6: 7-15

Volumes have been written that parse every word of the Lord's Prayer.  Treatises on the Christian life and the life of prayer fill warehouses.  But the essence of the Lord's Prayer, the essence of the Christian life was summed up by the Lord Jesus himself in this passage: if you forgive others, God will forgive you.  If you do not forgive others, God will not forgive you.  It is a fairly simple message that somehow we have once again sought to make more complex.

The entire ministry of Jesus was the extension of God's mercy to the world.  In forgiving people of their sins, in healing them of their infirmities, in liberating them from their demons, in nourishing them at table Jesus brings the mercy of God to people in the situations of their everyday lives.  We do not have to search the vast areas of the Temple or some remote cave.  Jesus comes out to people in their villages - where they live and where they work.

In being disciples of the Lord Jesus we must extend mercy to others.  We must go out in the midst of the world and be in the midst of people's lives caring for them in their need.  We cannot claim to be Christian if we are not willing to forgive others, if we are not willing to be people of mercy.  Mercy is the single foundation of the entire Christian life and our entire life of prayer.