Praying to learn, learning to pray: Reading the Lord’s Prayer in context

Abstract

The Lord’s Prayer is often recited and studied apart from its literary context. While the prayer on its own is valuable, studying it in the context of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke reveals further theological insights. This article analyzes the prayer first in the context of Matthew, as part of the Sermon on the Mount. Here, the prayer serves to highlight the connection in Matthew’s Gospel between an inner disposition of faithfulness and outward actions of compassion. Next, the prayer is read in the context of the Gospel of Luke, in which Jesus gives it as a response to the disciples asking him to teach them to pray. Here, the prayer serves to highlight Luke’s focus on prayer as connection to God and the importance of perseverance in one’s prayer life. While the meaning of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew and the meaning of it in Luke are not contradictory, they are distinct, and interpretive riches are lost when readers fail to observe the differences in literary context and emphasis.