40 Days, Week Three - Pattern for Prayer

Question: 

Why do you think Jesus taught us to praise God (hollowed be your name) and surrender to God (your kingdom come, your will be done) before we make our requests to God?

Answer: 

The quick answer is because Jesus wanted to give us a more complete perspective on our lives at the beginning of the prayer. We pray because we need it to make sense out of the world. Making sense of the world starts with the big picture of what is really going on.

However, if you want to know what Jesus was really teaching in the Lord's Prayer, read on. 

We may be praising God when we say "hallowed by your name," but this is not what Jesus said in the original Greek. He said "Let it be sanctified, this name of yours." See this article on the Greek. The form is not an statement on our part, but a third-person command addressed to God. This is a command that something should be done. Such commands are usually translated as "let it be done" in the KJV. However, these words are spoken to the Father so we are saying to Him: "let it be sanctified..."

Notice, that what we are asking to be sanctified isn't initially known to his listeners. He makes the requires so his listeners are in suspense. Then he says "this name of yours." Which name? That was in the previous line of the prayer, "Our Father, the One in the skies." This was a very different name for Judeans to use at the time who were used to addressing God as "Master" not "Father". It is also somewhat different than any name we use now because we translated "the skies" as "heaven," which was not what Jesus said and not a concept familiar at the time. Saying that the Father was  "imthe skies" was simply saying that he was above everything and a spirit, not physical. 

Why should  this name be sanctified? Jesus is asking for something for us, that is, for the Father to help us understand him this way.

Similarly, the other two lines in this question, "your kingdom come," and "your will be done" are also third-person commands. See the original Greek verse explained here. In the Greek, both are in the same form as the previous line, the request for an action first, then the object of that request.  In Greek, the statements are, "Let it start, this realm of yours." and "Let it happen, this desire of yours."

What is the desire of his that we are asking for? That ends the verse, "Just as in sky and on earth." The sense is that what is high and spiritual should be brought down to earth.  We

Why does Jesus have us ask for these things? Because, for our own happiness, we should want to see the beginning of the reign of the Divine, in our lives and in our hearts. We ask for this because only if we ask can it happen.

These things come first because they are the most important things we should want in our lives.