Votes : 0
Deliverance From Evil: The Lord’s Prayer and Psalm 22
Are those who ask not to be abandoned to temptation thinking of a specific trial? Are they thinking of temptations or the trials of life? Or again of a great evil and the last temptation?[3] Is the request to be delivered from evil different from the request concerning temptation, or is it a more specific form of that petition? What is the evil from which we ask to be delivered? Is it always from the same evil, or does it take different forms, according to times and circumstances, depending on individuals and certain groups? Why would the Lord abandon us or lead us into trials? Rather, should not a good father prevent the temptation, as well as deliver us from all forms of evil, including pandemics and wars?
Temptation and deliverance from evil
The short version of the Lord’s Prayer in Luke’s Gospel, unlike the long version in Matthew’s Gospel, concludes with the request not to be led into temptation, or not to be abandoned to temptation, according to the formulation of this petition in the Italian Bishops Conference’s 2008 Bible translation, now adopted for the new Roman Missal and the communal recitation of the Lord’s Prayer. A similar request recurs in the episode of Gethsemane, when Jesus invites the disciples – who are unable to stay awake with him – to pray “so as not to enter into temptation.”[4] At Gethsemane, moreover, Jesus addresses the Father with the invocation of the short version of the Lord’s Prayer: in Greek, Pater, in Aramaic, Abba, which can be translated as “father.”[5] Jesus asks the Father to set aside the cup of suffering,[6] but he entrusts himself to his will,[7] as is said at the end of the first part of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew’s version.
Jesus, at Gethsemane, prayed in the words of the Lord’s Prayer. The request for deliverance from evil – or from the Evil One, as the genitive ponerou of the Greek text, indicating separation, might be understood and is translated in some versions of the Lord’s Prayer – is not mentioned explicitly either in Jesus’ prayer at Gethsemane or in the short version of the Lord’s Prayer. For Saint Augustine, this request is no different from the petition concerning temptation. This would be the reason Luke omitted the last phrase of the Lord’s Prayer, indicating that it is the same request.[8]
If evil is the focus of the biblical temptation, which is distrust of God’s love,[9] the final request of the long version of the Lord’s Prayer involves liberation from this evil, from the one who causes it and from the ways it presents itself. The specific meaning of deliverance from evil (and from temptation) in the Lord’s Prayer is to be understood in relation to the other words of that prayer. Temptation, evil and the other words of the Lord’s Prayer are best understood both in their biblical context and in the context of the Gospels and the Passion narratives.[10]
Deliverance from evil in Psalm 22
In the Passion narratives of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, Psalm 22 is explicitly mentioned. It also contains prayers for deliverance from the evil involved in “the temptation.” After being crucified and insulted – insults which recall the temptation to save himself[11] – according to these Gospel passages Jesus dies crying out the words of this psalm in Aramaic, which begins with the cry,[12] “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? I am far from my salvation. These are the words of my cry. My God, I cry by day and you do not answer, and by night and there is no peace for me” (Ps 22:2-3).[13]
Jesus dies on the cross crying out the words of this entire psalm, in which the confession of trust is explicit near the end, but alternates with lament throughout the prayer. The answer referred to in v. 3 is mentioned explicitly in v. 22: “And you, Lord, do not turn away. My strength, hasten to my aid. Deliver me from the sword, my life from the power of the dogs. Save me from the mouth of the lions and the horns of the wild oxen. You have answered me…” (Ps 22:20-22).[14]
The mention of the first words of the prayer – “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” – in the Gospels indicates first of all that on the cross Jesus prayed this psalm and fulfilled the Scriptures in prayer, and then that Jesus’ prayer was a further occasion of insult and outrage, and of temptation involving those who witnessed his death. The words of the soldiers – “Let us see if Elijah comes and saves him” – recall, on the one hand, those who addressed Jesus on the cross with expressions similar to those of the tempter, and, on the other, the meaning of the biblical temptations.[15]
Jesus cried out again before releasing his spirit and thus fulfilling the Scriptures.[16] That is, he died praying in the very words of this “cry.” To the temptation of feeling abandonment, of being far from salvation, Jesus responds by praying. By employing only a few words from one verse – “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” – the evangelists intend to say that Jesus prays the whole psalm, which expresses confidence that the Lord delivers from evil and from the temptation to think that salvation is far away, despite the experience of abandonment and despite death.
Yielding to temptation is the opposite of trust in the presence of the Lord who saves, while Jesus shares the hope of the psalmist, and on the cross he fulfills the meaning and prophetic aspect of that prayer. With the prayer of Jesus on the cross, the salvation of the Lord – which literally is the meaning of the Hebrew name, Jesus – becomes present in the place of temptation and evil, in the apparent remoteness of salvation, as a revelation of the love that heals and regenerates where there is betrayal, denial and abandonment.
The evil of enmity
Jesus makes his own the words of the psalmist, who in Ps 22 invokes salvation in order to be delivered from the evil produced by enmity, and to this evil he attributes the temptation of believing himself distant from salvation and the saving presence of God. Jesus’ words on the cross do not signify his despair, as one might think if one restricts his prayer to the first words of the psalm quoted in the Gospels. After the cry, in fact, together with an expression of trust – “My God, my God…” – Ps 22:4-6 contains an explicit confession of faith:[17] “And you are holy; you preside over the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted, they trusted and you delivered them (tefalletèmo). They cried out to you and escaped (nimlàtu); in you they trusted and were not shamed” (Ps 22:4-6).
In v. 5, deliverance is described as a “flight” (plt), and in v. 6 with a term, mlt, which has the sense of “escaping.” This is how deliverance from evil is described, and this is how salvation is experienced. It is in a miraculous way, where it seems distant because of hatred, which is presented as an encirclement of enemies.[18] The psalmist describes in detail the distressing situation that he experiences, the evil of enmity surrounding him,[19] and the reasons why he is tempted to feel far from his salvation, and at the same time he confesses that he has been protected by the Lord since his time in his mother’s womb and for always (vv. 10-11).[20] Thus he refers to the salvation experienced by those who trust in God’s word and his promise, even in abandonment, “On you I was cast from the womb. From my mother’s womb you are my God. Do not turn away from me, for distress is near and there is no one to help. Many bulls encircle me. Mighty beasts of Bashan surround me” (Ps 22:11-13).
In Ps 22 there is a connection between the temptation to distrust and a specific evil, caused by enmity and experienced as an effect of the snares of enemies. The real evil, in this psalm and in similar prayers, is distress at the experience of the Lord’s remoteness. The evil of enmity and the temptation of distancing from the Lord and his salvation are connected.
After the repeated description of being surrounded (vv. 13.17), which provokes extreme exhaustion (v. 16a) and the “deposition” in the dust of death (v. 16b), the mention of clothes constitutes a prophetic turning point. “They divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots” (v. 19). In the moment of greatest humiliation, the psalmist experiences salvation. The division of garments could express the erasure of an existence, but this very action becomes a “sign” of communion. This is the experience of salvation (cf. vv. 5-6): a discarded person becomes a cornerstone, as in Ps 118:22, and according to the biblical logic there is a change in fortune.[21]
Ps 22 is in fact a prayer of the feast of Purim,[22] in which the memory of the reversal of fortune is celebrated (cf. Est 9:22), which involves and highlights – despite the change in situation – an unexpected commonality and participation in a shared history.
In the Passion narratives, the presence of this psalm sums up the whole life of Jesus: the humiliations and the gift of his life, to offer participation in his communion with the life of the Father where there is the experience of evil, the temptation to abandonment and the distance from salvation. This is the meaning of the final petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, in the light of the Passion narratives and the biblical texts mentioned in them, explicitly or by allusion. Jesus took evil upon himself, defeating it by the gift of his life and making us sharers in his communion with the Father, who is the source of life and love. In this way he gave life in situations blocked by the temptation to distrust.[23] Although it does not contain overt mention of words and phrases from the Lord’s Prayer, Ps 22 can be an explanation of the evil from which we ask to be delivered by the recitation of this prayer, if the words of Jesus’ prayer are understood in the context of the account of his Passion.
Ps. 22, the Lord’s Prayer and the Passion of Jesus
Ps 22 is characterized by the combination of mixed genres: lamentation, confession, praise. The invocation – like a lamentation, and at the same time a confession of trust – is followed by the words of the “cry,” which, literally, in v. 2 is a roar (shaagà),[24] “I am far from my salvation: (these) are the words of my cry.” In Hebrew, the cry (qara, v. 3) can be a loud invocation, as in the Aramaic translations (Targumìm) to Gen 22:14. In this text, the verb qara introduces a prayer recited by Abraham, referring, on the one hand, to his unity with Isaac in obedience to the Lord’s decree and, on the other, to the distress of the children of Israel and the remission of sins. These are themes common to the Lord’s Prayer, such as the trial (Hebrew: nissayòn) of Gen 22:1, which corresponds to the biblical meaning of temptation: “You are the Lord God who sees, but is invisible. Everything is manifest and known by you, (including the fact) that there was no division when you said to me: Offer Isaac before me. I rose up at once, early in the morning, and put your command into practice, and observed your decree. Now I implore mercy before you, Lord God. When the sons of Isaac, my son, enter the hour of oppression, you will remember for their sake the binding of their father Isaac, and you will forgive and pardon their sins and deliver them from all distress” (TJII mp Gen 22:14).[25]
The words of Abraham’s prayer, with the invocation of salvation and the reference to the “trial” (in oppression and anguish, which correspond to temptation and evil), repeatedly insist on unity, a theme taken up from the text of the biblical account. At the beginning of the first century A.D., Philo explained that where Gen 22:8 says: “They continued together, both of them [i.e. Abraham and Isaac],” it must be understood that they continued with unity of purpose.[26] The unity of the two patriarchs in obedience to the command of the Lord is like a guarantee (in the evil of temptation) of the (collective) forgiveness and salvation of their descendants, when they will find themselves in the hour of oppression and distress.
On the other hand, in the Lord’s Prayer, forgiveness (received and given) is asked for with deliverance from evil, referring to the prayer – and the fulfillment of the prophecy – of Ps 22:19. This text is quoted and explained by John 19:24 – according to the LXX version, which reproduces the Hebrew text of Ps 22 – in the episode of the soldiers who divide up Jesus’ clothes. With the mention of the lots and the seamless tunic of Jesus,[27] the evangelist refers explicitly to the meaning of Ps 22, and implicitly to the prophecy of Caiaphas and to traditions such as the Targùm in Gen 22.[28] Jesus is “the king of the Jews,” who, at the moment of his elevation on the cross, takes upon himself the fate (and sin) of all,[29] including the abandoned and the desperate, and reveals and makes all share in his communion of love with the Father, which is the manifestation of the kingdom of God. This kingdom – and its peace – has nothing to do with the kingdoms of this world. This is why the Father does not send an army to rescue Jesus at the moment of danger and abandonment.[30]
In the episode following that of the division of the garments, the words of Jesus to his mother and to the beloved disciple are linked to the meaning of the quotation from Ps 22. In both episodes, according to the Fourth Gospel, it is a participation in the life of Jesus, a reversal of and a participation in his fate, and a communion with his life. The soldiers receive Jesus’ garments by lot, the disciple receives his mother, and the mother receives the beloved disciple.[31] Every disciple is “loved” and becomes like Jesus (through the sharing and changing of fortunes): the disciple is converted, healed and transformed by the love of Jesus, participates in his “unity,” through familiarity with his mother.[32] In this way, in the Gospel accounts of the Passion, Jesus liberates from evil and from the Evil One, who in Greek is the slanderer and the divider (ho diabolos) and in Hebrew the accuser (Satàn). The evil of enmity (and the temptation to distrust) is overcome by the love that Jesus revealed with the gift of his life, and by the consequent experience of the presence of salvation in the place of abandonment.
The gift of Jesus’ life reveals the love of the Father who forgives, heals and regenerates. The unity that flows from this love is not a union of political or military alignment, nor is it a simple coming together and possible agreement on certain religious, philosophical, social or theological ideas, but rather a relational experience, which Jesus explains in John’s Gospel in terms of indwelling: “that they may all be one; just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be (one) in us…” (John 17:21).
Prayer for unity
Jesus in Gethsemane accepts the role of the one who does the will of the Father[33] and takes upon himself evil to free human beings from the temptation of judging God as a distant figure who abandons his children. The Gospel of John anticipates at the Last Supper the prayer that in the synoptic Jesus prays at Gethsemane. It is the same prayer – of trust and for deliverance from evil – expressed in the meaning of the invocation “Father,” as explained in John 17.[34] In this prayer, Jesus, raising his eyes to heaven, asks to be glorified by the Father so that he himself may glorify the Father. The term used for this action that expresses the reciprocity of the love of the Father and the Son is not haghiaz? (sanctify) – which occurs in vv. 17.19 – but doksaz? (glorify),[35] which corresponds to the Hebrew verb kavàd, a term that in the Bible indicates the “consistent” presence of the Lord. Thus the evangelist explains the coming of the Kingdom with the glory of the Father in the mutual love revealed and shared by the life and the gift of life of the Son. In the Fourth Gospel, glorification is the manifestation – at the origin of creation and from the origin of creation – of the communion of mutual love of the Father and the Son and the communication of that love in the gift of the Son’s life. The glorification of the Father – and the sanctification of his name – takes place in the hour of Jesus’ elevation,[36] with his death on the cross.
Before the Passion, Jesus prays that by his glorification the disciples may be delivered from evil and have eternal life (cf. John 17:2), that is that they may know practically and experientially the love of God and the communion between the one true God and the one he sent.[37] Based on textual criticism, the structure of John 17:20-23, and the theology of the Fourth Gospel, Clayton Croy has shown how the long variant of the prayer for the future disciples in John 17:21 (“that they may be one in us”) should be preferred to the short variant (“that they may be in us”). The long variant accords with the theology of unity in the Fourth Gospel, modeled after the unity of the Father and the Son and made possible by that unity (as indicated by the use of the preposition en)[38]: “And I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word. That all may be one: as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be one in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. And the glory you have given me I have given them, that they may be one as we are. One: I in them and you in me, that they may be perfect in one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me” (John 17:20-23).
Jesus gives the disciples the glory he has received from the Father, so that they may be perfect in unity, or, more correctly, “in being one.” The unity of which Jesus speaks several times in the Fourth Gospel is a mutual communion and mutual indwelling.[39] This is the Kingdom, and this is the work of liberation from evil (and temptation) accomplished by Jesus.
Conclusion
In the Lord’s Prayer the petition regarding temptation refers to biblical terminology[40] and is completed by the request for liberation from evil, as indicated by the Greek conjunction alla, translated as “but” in the sense of “instead.” “Do not abandon us to temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Liberation from evil, as explained in the Passion narrative, is the peace that Jesus gave with his life; it forms a new people, without distinction of race and is practiced with forgiveness and celebrated in the liturgy of Pentecost, with the gift of the Spirit, as the fulfillment of the Passover of Jesus.[41] When we say, “Do not abandon us to temptation,” we are asking for the gift of faith to be delivered from evil and from all that can separate us from the love of God revealed and fulfilled through the glorification of Jesus. The temptation of evil and of the Evil One are the forces that oppose the unity and peace of God’s kingdom and love.
There is a connection between the temptation to be forgotten by God in order to want to save ourselves alone, and the evil that results from that temptation, produces it and causes wars and divisions. There is enmity and war where there is no trust in the Father’s love and loving care and acceptance of His word. Indeed, trust in the Father’s love – which involves the practice of forgiveness – even where salvation seems far off, drives away and defeats the evil of enmity and division.
The prayer that Jesus taught his disciples has a communal aspect. Although we may relate its words to our particular needs, the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer originally have a biblical significance and are best understood in connection with the other petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, which summarize the whole life and teaching of Jesus, including his Passion. The temptation to lack of faith involves the evil of division. Indeed, faith in the care and love that the heavenly Father has for all his sons and daughters, revealed by Jesus’ gift of life, drives away the evils of division, hatred, enmity and wars.
The Lord’s Prayer is a prayer for the coming of the Kingdom and presupposes the Passion of Jesus, with which, according to the Gospels, the Kingdom of God comes. In both cases – in the Lord’s Prayer and in the Passion – Jesus “explains” the Father, reveals the sanctification of his name and the Kingdom that comes with the acceptance of his Word, with the liberation from evil and from the temptation to think of God as distant and uninterested in the good of his children. The kingdom of God and the sanctification of the Father’s name are associated with the practice of Jesus’ teaching, which is “daily” like the manna of Exod 16:4 and, like the manna, symbolizes the word of God and the promise of God’s word, that is, forgiveness given and received as a gift.[42]
DOI: La Civiltà Cattolica, En. Ed. Vol. 6, no.8 art. 4, 0822: 10.32009/22072446.0822.4
[1]. Cf. Jas 1:13. The rephrasing of the wording regarding temptation, in addition to pastoral reasons, is perhaps due to embarrassment about the meaning of the term “lead” in the previous translation from Latin (ne nos inducas). In some languages – for example, in English and German – one continues to pray not to be led into temptation, according to the literal sense of the phrase in Greek (m? eisenenk?s ?mas eis peirasmon). Cf. P. Bovati, “‘Do not put us to the test’ Reflections on a difficult petition in the Lord’s Prayer”, in Civ. Catt. English Ed., April 2018.
[2]. Cf. Luke 11:1-4 and Matt 6:9-13 with Matt 5:1-2.
[3]. Cf. R. E. Brown, “The Pater Noster as an Eschatological Prayer”, in Theological Studies 22 (1961) 175-208.
[4]. Matt 26:36 par.
[5]. Mark 14:36.
[6]. Cf. Luke 22:41.
[7]. Cf. Matt 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42.
[8]. Cf. Augustine of Hippo, Enchiridion ad Laurentium de fide, spe et charitate, 30, 116.
[9]. Cf. Deut 8:1-5.
[10]. In the Hebrew prayers which have similarities to the prayer of Jesus, the themes common to the Lord’s Prayer are linked together. Cf. P. Di Luccio, Il Padre dei piccoli e la pace del suo Regno. Sette studi sul «Padre Nostro» con un lessico di termini ebraici ed aramaici, Naples, Editoriale Scientifica, 2021.
[11]. Cf. Matt 27:39-44 with Matt 4:1-11.
[12]. Cf. Matt 27:46; Mark 15:34.
[13]. My translations. According to F.-L. Hossfeld – E. Zenger, Die Psalmen. Psalm 1-50, Würzburg, Echter Verlag, 1993, 146, in v. 2 we should read shaua (cry) instead of yeshua, and translate: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me, are you far from my cry, from the word of my lament?”
[14]. For Ps 22:22c the École Biblique’s Jerusalem Bible, with the translation of the LXX and the Vulgate, chooses aniyyati instead of anitani. Instead of “you have answered me,” it translates: “my poor life.”
[15]. Cf. Matt 27:49 par with Matt 4:1-11 par.
[16]. Cf. Matt 27:50; John 19:30.
[17]. Cf. Ps 118:1.
[18]. “But I am a worm, and not human, scorned by others and despised by the people. All who see me mock me, twist their lips, shake their heads. Turn to the Lord. Free him. Save him, for he loves him” (Ps 22:7-9). The psalmist’s humiliation, like that described in Ps 118:10-13, refers back to Isa 52:14.
[19]. Cf. Ps 118:11,12 and Ps 23:9 with Wis 2:18-20. In Ps 22:12 the terminology of Ps 118:5 (metzar, cf. Ps 120:1) and Ps 118:7 (ozer, cf. Ps 121:1-2) recurs. Instead of the bulls and beasts (the mighty beasts) of Ps 22:13, in Ps 118:12 the enemies are compared to bees.
[20]. Cf. Ps 131:2.
[21]. Cf. Gen 37-50.
[22]. Cf. Est 3:7.
[23]. In the Byzantine liturgy of Holy Week, Jesus’ victory over death and sin is proclaimed repeatedly in the words of this trope: “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling death underfoot, and giving life to those in the tombs.”
[24]. Cf. Ez 19:7; Job 4:10; Isa 5:29.
[25]. Targùm Fragmentary to the Pentateuch. Paris Manuscript. Cf. M. L. Klein (ed), The Fragment-Targums of the Pentateuch. According to their Extant Sources, 2 vols., Rome, Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1980.
[26]. Philo of Alexandria, De Abrahamo, 172. The Targùm further specifies the meaning of this “unity”: the one to sacrifice and the other to be sacrificed.
[27]. Cf. John 19:23-24. The tunic, in Greek chit?n – corresponding to the term which in Hebrew describes the High Priest’s robe – was an intimate garment, worn directly over the skin. Cf. Exod 39:22-23; Lev 16:4. The detail of Jesus’ robe may contain a reference to the story of Joseph. For the Midràsh (Gen R 84:20) the mention of the tunic in Gen 37:1 represents the garment of the High Priest and indicates the change and the sharing of destinies that unites the characters in the biblical stories. Cf. A. Shinan, “Kutonèt weTzeìf, begadìm usimlòt baMidrashìm al Sippurèy Yosèf”, in Dappìm leMechqàr beSifrùt 16-17 (2008-2009) 16-25.
[28]. Cf. John 11:51-52.
[29]. Cf. Heb 9:11-14.
[30]. Cf. John 19:36.
[31]. Cf. John 2:4.
[32]. “Every man who has become perfect no longer lives, but it is Christ who lives in him, and since Christ lives in him, it is said of him to Mary: Behold your son, Christ” (Origen, Commentarium in Iohannem, 1, 6).
[33]. Cf. Luke 22:42b.
[34]. John 17 is considered by many New Testament critics to be a Midràsh of the Lord’s Prayer. Cf. W. O. Walker Jr, “The Lord’s Prayer in Matthew and John”, in New Testament Studies 28 (1982) 237-256.
[35]. Cf. John 1:14; 2:11; 11:4.40.
[36]. Cf. John 12:23b-33.
[37]. “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you preserve them from the evil one. They are not from the world as I am not from the world. Sanctify them in truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:15-18). In John 17 the words of the Lord’s Prayer are not explained in succession, but together, to indicate that the petitions of prayer are linked: the sanctification of God’s name and His Kingdom, the word of truth – which is the “daily” bread – and deliverance from evil and the Evil One.
[38]. Cf. N. Clayton Croy, “‘That They Also Might Be [One] in Us’. Establishing and Interpreting the Text of John 17:21”, in Novum Testamentum 64 (2022/2) 229-248.
[39]. Cf. John 6:56; 10:30-38; 14:10.11.20; 15:4.5; 17:11.26.
[40]. Cf. Gen 22; Deut 8:1-5; Matt 4:1 par.
[41]. The believer who recites the words of the Lord’s Prayer asks not to be led into temptation (or abandoned to temptation), according to Jesus’ invitation in the Gethsemane account, and asks to be delivered from evil (which causes the temptation of faith) through Jesus’ intercession: he or she asks to be delivered from the evil of sin, which has been forgiven by the blood of Jesus, and therefore asks not to be led, and abandoned, into the temptation of faith, which Jesus faced and endured, freeing all from the evil of division, sin and death. Cf. Matt 27:39-44 par; Rom 3:21-26; Heb 5:7-10.
[42]. The coming of the Kingdom is the fulfillment of God’s will, as expressed in a brief prayer of praise of Jesus in Matt 11:24-25 and Luke 10:21-22. In this prayer Jesus points out the humility – of those who are discarded – as the way to unity, that is, to communion with the life and love of the heavenly Father.
tags :
Without comments 
