Pastor Marc Likins
Most Christians are familiar with the template for prayer Jesus gives his disciples in Matthew chapter 6. You may know it as the Lord's Prayer, the Model Prayer, the Our Father, or something else, but you likely know the words. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name….
The second half of the first line reads, "Hallowed be thy name." In recent years, these four words have significantly impacted (and strengthened) my prayer life — it has given me a new line of attack in prayer that previously I did not know I was supposed to take.
Hallowed be thy name
Pronounced ha-gee-odd-zo, the word is typically translated sanctify and is only rendered hallowed in the Lord's Prayer. The adjective form of the word is translated holy in the New Testament, as in Holy Spirit or Be ye holy as I am holy. The term means to acknowledge as venerable — to set apart from the profane. To be pure.
We tend to read "Hallowed be thy name" and conclude the phrase is just part of the address. That is, we believe we are saying: "Our Father in heaven, Your name is holy." However, that is not the format for prayer that Jesus is presenting. "Hallowed be thy name" is not simply an assertion that God's name is holy; rather, it is a petition.
Jesus is not saying, "Father, Your name is holy," but, "Father, may Your name be hallowed."
Let that sink in. Many have come to believe the first part of the Lord's Prayer is a statement of adoration, and therefore, we should begin our prayer time with adoration or praise.
Though beginning your prayer time with adoration and praise is not wrong, we should recognize that Jesus did not instruct us to pray that way. As a matter of fact, Jesus closes (not opens) the Lord's Prayer with praise: "For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen."
If you aren't convinced, I encourage you to look at other prayers in the Bible. A few prayers in Scripture begin with a statement of praise, but they are rare — King Hezekiah's prayer in 2 Kings 19 is a case in point. But most prayers in the Bible end, not begin, with an exclamation of praise. We see it here in Matthew 6. We see it again in Jesus' prayer in John 17. We see it again in the prophet's prayer in Daniel 2 and Ephesians 3 when Paul prays for the Christians at Ephesus. In Scripture, the norm is to begin your prayer by sharing requests and close with expressions of adoration and praise.
It is essential to recognize this template. In Matthew 6, Jesus instructs us to begin times of prayer by asking that God's name be made venerable and sacred.
In many ways, it seems foreign to place so much emphasis on proper treatment of a name. But we all want people to treat our names with proper respect. I confess that it sometimes annoys me when people mispronounce my name (though my name, Marc Likins, is not common).
Do you feel similarly bothered when people mispronounce your name? I suspect you do. Why is that? It's often because it indicates people are not taking you seriously or relating to you with respect. It suggests they don't have enough concern for you as a person to get your name right.
How about your last name? Many of you take great pride in your family tree and are proud of your last name. You want your name treated with due respect — with dignity.
And what if someone slanders your name? That makes you sad or angry, right? Why? Because they are disrespecting or tarnishing your good name.
Do you see the spiritual parallel?
Few in our modern, secular culture treat the name of God with due respect. Let me ask, "Does it bother you when this happens? Do you notice when a television show, podcast, or movie degrades the name of Jesus or God? Showing due respect for the name of God is a foundational biblical precept. The Ten Commandments ordered that people should not take the name of God in vain. The command was a vital component of the Old Covenant Law. About 1450 years later, Jesus called on His disciples to pray they would always regard God's name as holy. Noteworthy is that Jesus highlighted this prayer principle in a Jewish culture where the name of God was revered — reportedly too sacred to speak out loud — expressed as YHWY, an unpronounceable term substituted with the word Jehovah.
Against the cultural backdrop of holding the name of God in high esteem — arguably better than any nation on earth — it is startling that Jesus felt the need to emphasize the importance of honoring the name of God. If the directive was necessary for the Jewish disciples of Jesus' day to hear, how much more crucial is it that we pray that the name of God would be hallowed?
The petition, "Hallowed be Your name," should always be in our hearts and on our lips. And our hearts should break every time we hear the name of God or Jesus casually blasphemed.
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