Fifty-Seven Words That Change The World: A Journey Through The Lord's Prayer

by Darrell W. Johnson

Surprisingly, the verbs of the Lord’s Prayer, addressed to the Superior of superiors, are in the imperative. They are commands, not requests. Be hallowed! Be come! Be done! All in the command form. To pray the Lord’s Prayer is to command—not to ask—but to command. Not that human beings are to order God around. Not at all! And yet, the verbs are in the imperative. Now remember that it is Jesus himself who teaches us to do this. He is the one who put the verbs in the imperative. It is Jesus who is telling us to speak to the Father so boldly, so forcibly. He is the Son who knows the Father, who knows the Father’s heart and mind. And he, the Son, the only-begotten Son, the Beloved Son with whom the Father is well pleased, tells us to say, “Be hallowed! Your name—Come! Your kingdom—Be done! Your will.”