What does this mean?
[Robert E. Smith translation, 1994]
Of course, God's name is holy in and of itself, but by this request, we pray that God will make it holy among us, too.
How does this take place?
[Robert E. Smith translation, 1994]
When God's Word is taught clearly and purely, and when we live holy lives as God's children based upon it. Help us, Heavenly Father, to do this! But anyone who teaches and lives by something other than God's Word defiles God's name among us. Protect us from this, Heavenly Father!
Prayer
Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love, show us how to serve the neighbors we have from you. Amen.
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For Christians the holiness of God is, as Luther suggested, honored when the Word is taught clearly and purely. But what might that mean. Our first thought could be, well, that means all those pious rules, the “dos” and especially the “do nots”. If we just follow the rules, why then, we will be moving closer to a holy life.
Wait! While good behavior certainly helps the world be a decent place, true holiness is not the rules, but is the human form of holiness, Jesus Christ! When Christ is taught, presented, loved and honored among us, then God’s name is holy among us.
Jesus is the Living Word; Jesus is the sign of what holiness is. Now our aim, goal, purpose takes shape in the flesh! Beyond the rules (which usually only draw attention to ourselves and our performance) is the servant life of Jesus. And the attention is now drawn to the needs of the neighbor for a Christ in his or her life. And that would be our calling. “Be a little Christ”. Aiming for that, we will not defile God’s [living] Word, and we will in fact be living well as God’s children.
Or, to put it another way: “God doesn’t need our good works! Our neighbor does! “ True holiness is living as though that is one of the greatest truths in life.