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"Thy Kingdom Come,
Thy Will Be Done"

Sermon by Dr. Greg Knox Jones
on Matthew 6:9-13
given March 18, 2007

The teachings of Jesus cannot be reduced to a bumper sticker. However, if you want to condense his message to a few memorable lines, the Lord’s Prayer is one of the best summaries you will find in the gospels. Each phrase, and sometimes individual words, point to crucial tenets of the Christian faith. “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” expresses several of these indispensable elements.

For starters, the very first word of the phrase is Thy, not My; and getting that right makes a world of difference. Jesus intends to yank us out of the way we often operate and reorient us. He means to move us out of the “I, me, my” way of thinking so that we can declare that God knows better than we do what is best for the world.

I worry that when we mindlessly rattle off the words of the Lord’s Prayer, we may say “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,” but the way we think and the way we live matches up better with “MY kingdom come, MY will be done.”

Many people think that prayer is a religious ritual designed to ask God for what we want. However, this key phrase of the Lord’s Prayer - “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done” - reminds us that a chief component of prayer is an attempt to see the world through the eyes of God. One of the reasons many have difficulty praying is because it calls into question our self-centeredness. Prayer is intended to move us beyond ourselves; it is supposed to broaden our vision so that we can gaze upon the world from God’s perspective. Prayer reminds me that my perceived self-interest or the perceived best interest of my nation is not really what is best if it is at odds with God’s will. Praying THY, rather than MY is intended to lift us out of our narrow perspective so that we can envision the world from God’s vantage point.

We may wish to avert our eyes from those who are hungry, but Jesus tells us that God expects us to feed the hungry and to care for the poor. We may want to fill our calendars solely with family activities, but God reminds us to sit down with a friend who has recently lost a loved one. I may be enamored with a huge vehicle that gets 12 miles to the gallon, but my responsibility to care for God’s creation reminds me that the way I live has an impact on the health and well being of the earth. Praying THY, rather than MY, is stating our determination to catch a glimpse of the world through God’s eyes.

The next word we encounter is KINGDOM. Central to the mission of Jesus was preaching the good news of the kingdom of God. This term - kingdom of God - is often misunderstood. It implies a place with fixed boundaries. The Greek word that we translate “kingdom” does not mean a kingdom in the sense of a geographical territory. Rather, it signifies “kingly rule” or “kingly reign.” In first century Palestine, the term would call to mind the Roman imperial system of domination and exploitation. When Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God he was offering an alternative vision to the empire of Rome. The kingdom to which Jesus referred is one in which there is no more persecution and oppression. It might be better if we translate the word as God’s “rule” or “reign” or “realm.” (1)

Whatever word we use ought to convey not a specific place, but rather the presence of God’s ideals. God’s rule exists when life is the way God intends it to be. God’s realm is present when people reach out to one another with compassion. God’s realm is present when justice exists. God’s realm is present when people live together in peace.

Thus, it is not something that will be present only one day in the future. We catch glimpses of it whenever compassion, justice and peace appear in our midst. That is why Jesus spoke of God’s kingdom as both present and yet still to come. It is partially present now, but will be fully present one day in the future, when the entire creation is a mirror image of God’s heavenly kingdom.

This brings us to another word in the prayer that can be misunderstood. We not only pray for God’s kingdom or realm to be present, but we pray for God’s WILL to be done. God’s will is what God desires for the world. It is not whatever happens in the world, but rather, what God wants to have happen. God envisions all possible outcomes and God’s will is the best outcome given the situation.

However, God does not force the divine will on us. God does not determine the course of events and then program us to think and act in a prescribed manner so that God’s will unfolds precisely as planned. This is obvious when we look at what is happening in our world. God does not desire death and destruction. God does not ordain the abuse of children. God does not decree a billion starving people. God does not will for there to be war. We have freedom to act as we choose and sometimes we make miserable choices. At times we may wish that we did not have the freedom to cause so much pain and suffering, but the alternative is for us to be programmed puppets. For life to be rich, for life to be meaningful, for life to be exciting and adventuresome, we must have freedom.

When we pray “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” we are acknowledging that life on this planet is not as God intends for it to be. Rather, these words represent a yearning for a better world. They express a passionate plea for the darkness on our planet to be overpowered by the light.

N. T. Wright is the Bishop of Durham in the Church of England and a leading New Testament scholar. He says that he used to take the phrase “Thy will be done” as a declaration of passive resignation. In other words, it does not matter much what we do, we are simply calling on God to do what God thinks is best. But now, he writes, “That might do if God were a remote, detached, God, but it won’t do for the God of Jesus and it won’t do for those who break bread and drink wine and pray for the kingdom.” “No,” Wright says, “this is the risky, crazy prayer of submission and commission, or if you like, the prayer of subversion and conversion. It is the way we sign on for the work of the kingdom.” (2)

When we pray “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done” we are not asking God to snap to it and straighten out the mess we have made of this world. We are praying that our wills may be brought into harmony with God’s will. We are praying for a change within that will create a change in the way we live.

Throughout his ministry, Jesus instructed his followers that they are not to wait passively for God to bring about the needed changes in our world, but rather to become active partners with God in transforming the world. Indeed, one of the accusations made against the earliest Christians was that they were trying to turn the world upside down.

Wouldn’t it be marvelous if that same accusation were hurled at us? Wouldn’t it be earth-shattering if news reports started declaring “These blasted Christians are trying to disrupt the status quo! They won’t leave well enough alone. They keep complaining about the treatment of the poor, they keep trying to force us to conserve energy, they keep wanting to meddle in our nation’s foreign policy, they try to meddle in other nation’s policies, they do not understand the benefits of war!”

Wouldn’t it be something if we Christians did not compartmentalize our religious faith as simply one facet of our lives, but instead claimed it as the driving force of our lives that determines our thoughts, words and deeds? Wouldn’t it be something if all of us took these words of Jesus seriously and prayed with all of our heart, mind and soul: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,” and then we rolled up our sleeves and made it our number one priority to advance the kingdom of God?

A few years ago, Jim Wallis, the author of God’s Politics, visited Holy Trinity Church in South London. This is the church that William Wilberforce belonged to in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Wilberforce was a member of the British parliament and his faith inspired him to make mighty changes in Great Britain. He and a group of fellow Christian parliamentarians became known as “the saints” because they were the driving force behind many social reforms that swept through England.

When Wallis walked through the church, the vicar pointed out an old, well-worn table and said, “This is the table upon which Wilberforce wrote the anti-slavery act.” And then added, “We use this table every Sunday for the Lord’s Supper.”

Wallis was struck by the dramatic symbol of the sacred and the secular brought together. And then he wondered, “Why have they become so separated today? What became of the Christian faith that believed its duty was to change society on behalf of justice?”

These days, the movie, “Amazing Grace” is playing in theaters around the country. It tells the story of John Newton who worked in the slave trade for several years before becoming a minister. Newton realized that having slaves was immoral and he worked to outlaw slavery.

John Newton was the mentor for Wilberforce. The two had a series of conversations in 1785-86, that resulted in Wilberforce becoming more passionate about his faith. At the conclusion of the conversations, Newton told Wilberforce: “The Lord has raised you up for the good of the church and the good of the nation.” Two years later, Wilberforce introduced his first anti-slave trade motion in Parliament. It was defeated, but Wilberforce did not give up. He continued working on the legislation and encouraging others to support it. He brought it up again. It was defeated again. He brought it up again, and it was defeated again. Over the course of 19 years, his legislation was defeated ten times. But then, in 1807, it passed. It was an historic and moral victory, but Wilberforce would not be satisfied until slavery was abolished altogether. Year after year, he continued to work toward that goal. Finally, in 1833, the House of Commons passed a bill abolishing slavery. Three days later, his work complete, Wilberforce died. His life stands as a testament to the power of a passionate faith that strives to make God’s will present on earth. (3)

It is fairly easy for us to simply mutter the familiar lines of the Lord’s Prayer and not take seriously its radical claim on our lives. However, if we take the words to heart and allow them to work their wonder in our lives, we just might accelerate the advance of God’s kingdom and, from God’s perspective, turn this world right side up.

NOTES

1. Either The New Interpreters Bible Commentary: Matthew or Matthew and the Margins

2. N. T. Wright, The Lord and His Prayer, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996), p.32.

3. Jim Wallis, “Hearts and Minds: Revival for Justice,” Sojourners magazine, March 2007, p.5.

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