Day 8: Hallowed be
Yesterday we learned that this line is more than just a declaration of truth. The phrase "Hallowed be" means to set apart and the root word it stems from means "most holy thing." Jesus was telling His disciples that the very first thing you should ask for in prayer is that God Himself would to help you to see Him as the most holy thing.
This posture asks God to lift our eyes and our loves from our circumstances and ourselves and fix them on the beauty and wonder of Jesus. It's asking for spiritual sight, eyes that see beyond all the earthly things that our culture values, to things of greater worth.
We tend to set apart a lot of things as the most holy thing don't we? My list of things that take that place is long: family, relationships, money, status, mission, goals. It's so easy to give lip service to the idea of hallowing Jesus, but it's difficult to live out in a noisy world that keeps making other loud suggestions. Fun things, comfortable things, good things...things that were never meant to be hallowed. I'm guessing Jesus knew that without his grace forming our loves, we'd always hallow the wrong things. "For we are now so blind and unwise that we never seek God til' He of His goodness, show Himself to us." *
One of my favourite Jesus stories is from Matthew 20. The mother of Jesus' disciples, James and John, kneels at His feet with a request. Jesus says to her, "What do you want me to do for you?" Her request is typical of a mother looking out for her children...she wants Jesus to grant her sons position in His kingdom. Jesus tells her, and her sons, that they don't know what they are asking, and that He's not currently taking resumes. It seems like the story ends there with a good moral lesson on humility, but in my opinion the story continues as Jesus leaves the city to find two blind men sitting by the road. As these men hear Jesus draw near they call out to Him using words that show they believe Him to be the King they've been waiting for. Jesus answers them with the same question he posed to the mother of James and John.
You can skip right over their answer without much notice because it's so obvious, but I wonder if the earlier encounter with James and John gives more weight to the request of the blind men. What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asks. The men reply without hesitation...
"Lord, open our eyes."
They want to see. They want to see! Of course they do...they're blind. But you see, that's just it! So are James and John, so is their mother...and so are we. We come face to face with the Messiah, the coming King and what do we want Him to do for us? We have two options. We can ask Him to give us a better position in life...to do our will, make us successful and comfortable, even in the name of His kingdom.
Or we can ask Him to open our eyes.
Could you do me a favour and read Psalm 99 today? Don't be tempted to skip over this part. The words I have to offer you are nothing in comparison to the living words of Scripture. Look for all the words and phrases that help you understand what it means for God to be holy. How does what you observe help your understanding? Is there anything that challenges your thinking? Anything that encourages? How must this affect your prayers?
Then let's pray to Our Father In Heaven
Talk to God about all that it means for Him to be your Father, and In Heaven. Think about your posture before Him as His child, and why you've found it meaningful that He is "in Heaven."
Hallowed be your name,
Ask God to open your eyes. To help you to see clearly He who is the most holy thing. Ask Him to fill you with the awareness of how special He is, how He is unequalled in beauty, goodness and truth. Sit in the knowledge that He is a treasure of unmatched worth, and let feelings of love toward Him grow and fill your heart.
Your kingdom come.
*Julian of Norwich, Divine Revelations of Love
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