St. Paul: The Apostle We Love to Hate (Icons)

by Karen Armstrong

The Lord’s Prayer is the prayer of the Kingdom, uttered by people who could only hope to have enough food for one day at a time, who were terrified of falling into debt and being hauled to the tribunal that would confiscate their small holdings: Father—Holy be Your Name!—may your empire come! Give us each day our daily bread; And forgive us our debts, for we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into trial.26

All the great spiritual traditions have insisted that what holds us back from enlightenment is selfishness and egotism; they have also said that a practical concern for everybody (not simply those who belong to your own class or those you find congenial) was the test of true spirituality.

When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem to proclaim the Kingdom and denounced the extortion and injustice of the priestly aristocracy, he was executed as a dissident.

Like Jesus, he would always insist that in the Kingdom of God, everybody must be allowed to eat at the same table.