Cranky Reverend (CR) is trying to find some sanity in this world of accusations, fake news, hate thy neighbor television and cancerous conversations….whatever happened to civility and my mother’s advice “If you have nothing nice to say, then stuff a doughnut in your mouth.”
“HEY CRANKY REVEREND, why do they want to CHANGE the Lord’s Prayer?”
CR has been staying inside reading a lot lately — what else does a Cranky pastor do when the outside temperature feels like the inside of a brick oven. Anyway, something interesting is happening in the Catholic Church — by interesting CR means maddening because we all know how well change is accepted in the church — in fact how well change is accepted anywhere in our lives. So, CR is not so sure the change will be received with open arms — but since it is the Catholic Church, once the Pope says “Make it so”, then it is so. But not so much in the Lutheran church — golly private Pyle it took us thirty years to get people to accept passing the peace without blanching as if their hair was just set on fire.
CR has discovered this “problem” has been studied for the last sixteen years or so — and it has to do with the Lord’s Prayer — in particular one line in the Lord’s Prayer. That particular sentence reads something like this:
“Lead us not into temptation.” That is it. “Lead us not into temptation”, or “Do not lead us into the time of trial”.
The Pope and his scholars have decided that this line should be changed to:
“Let us not Fall into temptation.”
And the Catholic Church is now preparing to change the line — thus changing the Lord’s Prayer. Can CR ask you a question? Doesn’t the Catholic Church have more pressing things to address — oh, I don’t know, that whole clergy abuse business that has been continually swept under the Vatican’s rug?
CR wants to let you know what you already may know — and if you do not know this than you should be in the know — because the more we know, the more it will be known that we all know something: the Lutherans already have two versions of the Lord’s Prayer — one that is well-known and one that is, well, not so well-known. The traditional version begins: “Our Father, who art in Heaven”…and includes the phrase “forgive us our trespasses”. The other begins: “Our Father in Heaven”….and includes the phrase “forgive us our sins”
So, we already have enough confusion surrounding this ancient prayer, we do not need changes that will make it even more awkward when we enter a church and all of a sudden, when it comes time to pray the Lord’s Prayer, we sound more like the Tower of Babel when we should be hearing a nice, ancient, corporate prayer.
But CR wants to deal more with the reason the Catholic Church wants to change the line to “Let us not fall into temptation” — because CR is not so sure CR agrees. Why? Well, first, as a representative of “Cranky Nation”, any change makes CR blanch. Second, CR does not believe that G-d tempts anyone — that G-d tries to entice anyone to sin. However, CR does believe that G-d will and does “lead us” into conflicts with evil (just like Jesus is led into the wilderness to be tempted and suffer trials from the devil). Every day, every day CR believes we face conflicts with evil which we call temptation — and that fact is not debateable. And yes, CR believes G-d allows us to be tempted — but, that also means G-d allows us the freewill to grow as people and grow as Christians by:
1. Getting to know ourselves better through such trials
2. Getting to know G-d better by leaning more upon G-d when we face such trials.
Within the biblical canon, there exists two versions of the Lord’s Prayer — one in Matthew, and one in Luke. The version in Matthew is longer than the one in Luke. The particular Greek language is just slightly different from one version to the other. But no matter, in the line for which we have the disputed sentence, the verb is in the same mood — it is in the subjunctive mood, aorist tense— it is a mood that expresses various states of action that have not yet occurred. It is a mood of potentiality with the aorist tense indicating that it will continue into the future.
For example, a sentence such as:
“I suggest that you be careful.” — the verb “be” is in the subjunctive mood.
“Do not lead us into temptation” — the verb “lead” is in the subjunctive mood.
In both instances, nothing has happened yet, but in both instances there is a potential for something to happen that just may lead to sin, confrontation, unholy thoughts and irreverent comments — which, as G-d is CR’s witness, is the story of CR’s life every day. Every day CR wakes up, there is the potential that even before CR’s feet hit the floor CR has already sinned. Thoughts about CR’s bad night of sleep — the five cats in CR’s house jumping on his head, sticking their butts in CR’s face all night long — the dog down the street that barked all night — the loud truck down the street that idles for twenty minutes before the lovely owner decides to leave for work — all things for which CR sees the potential for sinful thoughts and comments. Sometimes CR leads himself into temptation, sometimes others lead CR into temptation, and still other times, G-d presents CR with situations CR must address — for ill or for good — which might make CR’s head explode.
Now, it is clear that the Bible does confirm that G-d frequently tests or tempts certain followers. Take for example:
Job — who loses everything because of a “silly” bet between G-d and the “Temptor” — and when Job loses everything, he is tempted by his wife to “curse G-d and die”
Abraham — who G-d tells to sacrifice his only son, Isaac
Jesus — who the spirit leads into the wilderness to be tempted and tested.
In the recent press release of June 2019, the Pope reported that for sixteen (16) years “Experts” have looked at the translation — especially the usage of the verb “Eiseneykes” and its translation into English. The Pope believes the new version, “Let Us not Fall into Temptation”, is better because the traditional translation implies that God leads people into temptation, and that makes the Pope’s Mitre implode.
“A father doesn’t do that”, the Pope reportedly said. “A father helps you to get up immediately,” Pope Francis said of the line in question. “It’s Satan who leads us into temptation, that’s his department.”
Look Pope Francis, as CR reads the story of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness, it is the Holy Spirit who leads him there. As CR reads the story of Abraham and his son Isaac, already referenced, it is G-d who tells him to sacrifice his son.
What else is life about if it does not present us with situations where we are challenged to decide — will we follow evil, or will we fight evil? G-d doesn’t force us to drink — but G-d will lead us toward water. G-d doesn’t force us to sin, but there is no where to turn where we are not confronted by sinful thoughts and desires.
Lead us not into temptation — let us not fall into temptation.
How about this — instead of arguing over whether we are led to sin, or might possibly fall into sin, why don’t we take more time to ponder things like “What are we going to do about all of the sinning that continues to go on in and through our lives and yet very few people seem to give a d***?” Sinning that has no boundaries — sinning that runs rampant through the very top of our governmental structures, and continues to wreak havoc in our churches, our communities, and in our relationships. There are too many people who could give a d*** about those who are dying trying to beat their addiction; people who are dying trying to find a new life in this country; people who are forced to live on the streets because of inadequate mental health services. What about the sin of apathy about our creation, people who are wreaking havoc on our planet by destroying the rain forrest, or denying climate change. Finally, there is plenty of sinning that involves people who care only about themselves, or people and companies who hoard so much of the resources and finances in this world while so many people can’t find a job or put food on their tables.
Look, this Cranky Reverend has no beef with the Pope — nor the Catholic Church. I just think that when we begin to parse out translations so that the Gospel message sounds more “acceptable” — more “palatable” — easier to “endure” — well that doesn’t really benefit us in the end. The Word of G-d is a two-edged sword that convicts us, and ultimately saves us. However, what the Pope has given CR the chance to talk about, besides sin, is the issue of prayer — how important all aspects of prayer is in our lives — individual prayer — corporate prayer — group prayer — silent prayer — out-loud prayer — intercessory prayer — healing prayer — prayer in worship — all prayer is important.
How do we pray? We pray requests — we pray to give thanks to G-d — we pray for the benefit of others — we pray in worship — we pray for creation — we pray for particular interests and concerns as individuals, in small groups, in worship, and even via the internet. Why do we pray? Well, we often pray because, yes, sometimes life………..sucks. But this is where our personal and collective faith comes into play — as well as our prayers. You see, once we establish lives that include frequent prayer, we have to move beyond our praying and allow those prayers to move us to lead lives of “Prayerful-sign acts”. In other words, our lives need to be living prayer — active prayer. In isolation, the Devil can wear us down. Together, we can face down all kinds of trials, temptations, and struggles — through faith — and through our personal and “collective” lives of prayer. CR fervently believes that prayer is both powerful and effective — but so is spiritual lethargy.
Let us not fall into temptation? How about “Let us not continue to fall into spiritual apathy?”
Cranky Reverend…………is really in a cranky “subjunctive” mood
The "Frowning Glory" 