Lectionary Commentaries for August 21, 2016
Preaching Series on the Lord's Prayer

from WorkingPreacher.org


Narrative Lectionary

Commentary on Luke 11:2-4

Meda Stamper

[This is Week 2 of a 4-week preaching series on the Lord’s Prayer]

Week Two: The Holiness

With the first petition, we recognize God as the source of holiness and express a desire to approach God with the joyful reverence of love. Mary says something similar at the beginning of her poetic praise (Luke 1:49). The Greek word translated “hallowed” is elsewhere translated “sanctified.” God makes us holy with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and when we receive that gift, we find in ourselves the beginning of the answer to this petition, the beauty of holiness at work in our lives in a way that makes God feel at home. We witness a brilliant display of the work of the Spirit in Luke 1-2 and can imagine what this breath of holiness might create in us: joy, wisdom, impossible newness, life. Embracing the gift of the Spirit in our lives hallows God’s name, drawing attention for us and those around us to the fullness of God’s holiness present in the created world.