Wrestling with Angels
So, Who Hallows God's Name?
We can only guess at all he endured in the garden, but we know for certain that when one of his friends sliced off a soldier's ear, Jesus put it back on. "You can't hallow my name," the gesture seems to say, "if you're associating it with something I would never do." Thanks be to God, many of his disciples have altered the course of human history with the good done in his name. And yet, 2,000 years later, we still have a propensity to wield our swords—rhetorical and otherwise—on his behalf.
In light of all this, the Lord's Prayer takes on new urgency. None of the six petitions Jesus taught—for God's name, kingdom, will, bread, forgiveness, and deliverance—are things we can obtain on our own. In fact, all the verbs are passive. This means that the first request is not really, "Let us hallow your name." It's more, "Father, do what we can't—make your name holy in all the earth."
Only God can reveal himself to the world. But if we pray as he taught us, our reverence and care for his name will grow. That's when we'll begin to exchange our cheap instruments of self-interest and power for the costly cross of Christ—the only instrument worthy of our Master's name.
Wrestling with Angels
Carolyn Arends
Singer/songwriter and author Carolyn Arends has written and released 9 albums and penned 2 books, including Wrestling With Angels (Harvest House/Conversantlife.com). She is a regular reviewer for Christianity Today Movies and a list of her blogs can be found at CarolynArends.com. Her bimonthly "Wrestling With Angels" column has appeared in Christianity Today since 2008.
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David Mueller
Dear friends, I think you are mostly missing her point. *We* don't/can't hallow God's name. Jesus does it for us. That is the point of the Incarnation--He does *everything* for us, for in our sinfulness, we can do nothing Good at all. The Prayer itself makes that clear--"Let Your Name be hallowed!" Or to quote someone, "God's name is indeed holy in itself. But we pray in this petition that it may be kept holy among us also." We are praying that He would work His holy name in us. And the beginning of *our* hallowing of His name is Christ for us. He is, after all, the Beginner and Completer/Perfector of *our* faith. Why do we always want to jump immediately to what *we* do "for" God? Re-read your posts, and see who is the grammatical subject of most of your sentences.
audrey ruth
I noticed not long ago that the word "be" in the phrase "Hallowed be thy Name" in the Lord's prayer is italicized in my Bibles; it was not in the original manuscripts. It seems to me that Jesus was saying there is that God's Name IS hallowed. Immediately after that phrase, He said, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." IMHO, this means that He wants us to hallow God's Name on earth as it is hallowed in heaven. As for the scenario from the movie, that is interesting. Re: "In the shadow of the Cross, did Jesus observe all the wrong -- catastrophic and petty -- we'd credit to him?" This reminds me of people insisting that God created them to do something He Himself declared is an abomination and will prevent them from entering heaven. But we know from His Word that this is not true: He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
BRADFORD ROSENQUIST D D
Dear Ms. Arends: I realize that our positions on things, even spiritual things, that are fundamental to a person that is a Born Again believer, can often be prompted by a particular situation. I certainly would appreciate authors of articles on such matters as that which relates so much to prayer, a key to Christian discipleship and intimacy with God our Father, would go out of their way to tie that article more closely to what prompted it. I realize that you did some of that. But, the way you presented it, it was as if you were saying that your insight was original to you and your prompting event. In 2000 years nearly of Christianity and countless commentary on such topics of hallowing God's name, I remain baffled at your point. We cannot do anything to God. We can give him our heart, our obedience and acts of love and faith. He is sovereign and eternal. Because I take issue with a person choosing to violate God's new covenant with homosexual lifestyle does not disrespect God