EXPOSITION. o.ppeared to them-no doubt, os they caught CHAPTER XI. here e.nd there o. word e.nd expression as he Vere. 1-13.-The Lord's teaching on the prayed, perhaps pe.rtly alone, pe.rtly to him- aubject of prayer. Ago.in the scene is for self-as though !\ friend wo.s speaking to a awe.y from Jerusalem; no special note of friend; they would pray like that : would not the Master tea.eh them his beautiful time or place enables us to fix the scene or seoret? In reply, Jesus repeats to them, in date with any exo.ctneas. Somewhere in ratbero.n e.bbreviated form, what, a.t a.u earlier the oou1·se of the last journeyings towo.rds period of bis ministry, he had taught to the Jerusalem, rele.ted especially in this Gospel, multitudes and the twelve. It was very did this scene and its teaching take pl11ce. likely one of the seventy who made this request, who had not been present on tho Ver. 1.-Lord, tee.oh us to pray, as J'ohn first occosiou, when the Lorcl gn.ve his also taught his disciples. It seems as pmyer of prayers to the people. We ba.ve though some of his clisciplos-we know o.t nlreudy rome.rked that at this time the this period many were with him besides tho twelve, who had heard it, were probably twclve-hcarJ. thoir ll-fosto1· prnyiui;. It orton aLscnt on lllUlBion wul'k. It wao " t!OO TIIE GOSl'EL AC~'.ORDINO TO ST. LUlrn. [on. :u. 1-51.
usnn.l pra<1tiC'C 11mong the more f11moue <'lose of this dlspen81\tion, which close, we mhhis to give prnyer-formulll8 t.o thoir believe, ia hiudere,1 by human sin an,! pnpila. We ha..-e no tradition ext11nt of perversity. It ia the prayer for the end, Jolin thr Baptist's prayer bore 111lurled t.o. when there will be no more tears l\nrl part- Vc-r. 2.-And he s11id unto them, When ye ings, no more sorrow and sin. It tells of pre.y, eay. The older authorities leave out the samo feeling which John, 11t the close the clauses cra!led. The prayer, 11s originally of the Roveh,tion\ expressed in "Even so, reported by St. Luke, no doubt stood 11s oome, Lord Jesus.' Instead of these words. follows_ The ore.~erl clauses were filled in Gregory of Nyssa, in his manuscript ot by early eoribos from the longer formula St. Luke, appears to huve read, " Thy HolJ supplied by St. MatthPw, and spoken 11t an Spirit come upon us, e.nd purify us." earlier p<-riod by the Master :- Ver. 8.-Give ua day by day onr daily ., Ow Father wliic!li AR m lleavea, bread. There would need no comment upon Hallowed be thy Ne.me. this-at first sight-quite simple prayer, Thy kingdom oome. but for tho word l..-,o6cr,os, rendered "daily.'' This word, in all Greek literature, ocours ~ WHl-.- 4e&e, - H I - ~ --an only in these two evangelists, in SS. Matthew ~ Give us day by day our daily bread. and Luke's report of the Lord's Prayer. And forgive us our sins; Now, does this strange word mean "daily," for we 11\so forgive every ODIi 118 our tr&nslation gives it; or is it lhe rough the.t is indebted to 11& Greek rendering of some Aramaic word of And lead us not into temptation: a loftier signification? Most probably our hut aeli'l'ar 'Iii! (l'QU, e'l"il. n Lord was speaking Aramaic in this place, far away from the capital, in the heart of It he.8 been BB.id that onr Lord has derived Palestine. Jerome attempts to Latinize from the Te.lmnd the thoughts embodied in literelly the Greek compound word with this prayer. If this could be shown to be 1uper1ubatantialia; hence the Rheims Version the case, it would in no way detre.ot from its renders it "Bllpersnbstantial," and Wickliffe odmitted value and beauty. Indeed, the "over other substance." Generally speak- c:arthly training of Jesus would natnrally ing, the patristic expositors interpret this lend him to make nee of whatever W118 true famoUB word in snch a way that the petition and praotioal in the teaching of the schools prays, not for the common bread of every- of his people. There is no doubt that day life, but for a spiritual food, even the in the New Testament many a gem of ex- Bread from heaven, which giveth life unto quisite beauty could be found, dre.wn from the world. So, with unimportant differences, that strange, weird Telmud, where the interpret Origen, Tertullian, Cyril of Jeru- highest wisdom is mingled with the wildest salem, Athanasius, Ambrose, and Augustine. errors and conceits. But in the matter of Among the modems who adopt the same the " Lord's Prayer," it must be borne in view may be cited Olshausen, Stier, and miud that only a compal"lltively small por- Dean Plumptre. The last-named scholar's tion of its thoughts CIUl be traced to Te.l- words 11re e.n admirable answer to any who 1nudical sources, and there can be no positive would abandon this higher and nobler mean- certainty as to their priority, since the ing, for the sake of preserving the reference 111ishna was not committed to writing before t.o the commonplece of everyday life. " So the second century of the Christian era, taken, the petition . . . raises us to the and the Gernara later still. The Lord'• region of thought in which we leave all that Prayer, in the report of St. Luke, con- concerns our earthly life in the hands of our to.ins five petitions. Two have reference Father, without asking him even for the to the Jove of God, and three to human supply of its simplest wants, seeking only needs. 0nr Father whioh e.rt lil heaven. that he would sustain and perfect the higher It was not now uncommon in Jewish litur- life of our spirit." If, however, the inter- gies and prayers to invoke the Eternal of pretation (on the whole unlikely) of common, J:;rael under the dear name of " Futber." efJeryday bread, be accepted, and the simple •· 'l'Lou, (J Lord, art our Father." Hallowed reference of eh. x. 42 to the necessity for be thy Name. Nut only do we pray that only one dish at table be adopted, then, tLe Ne.we of God urny Le to us a sacred with the charge to the seventy contained preciow thing, not li;;htly used in trivial in eh. L 7, to eat and drink "such things o.d speech, still leBB in Littemesa and anger, they give," e.nd the further instruction to only in holy reverent prayer; but we include "take no thought . . . what ye she.II eu.t" in t!,ese words a prayer, too, that all our ( eh. xii. 22), we have, in this lo.et period of tlwughts of God may be pUIT", lofty, holy. our Lord's public life, clear e,xpressions on Thy kingdom come. No Messianic kingdom, the part of the Mo.et.er of his wish that hi.I in tl,e old Jewi.Bh meaning of the word, is followers should ever content tll<'meelvoe eiguifieu lJ.,re. It is a far onlook to the with the siwple11t humn.u food, avoiding no, cu. xr. l-1i1.] TIIE OOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKR. 301