Your kingdom come.
Let Your glorious rule
Cover the earth
And banish all injustice,
Cast out all corruption
And right all wrongs.
Set Your people free from oppression
And let Your reign begin in us.
Bible passages for study: Psalm 62:1-12; Luke 10:1-12
Psalm 62:1-12
1 Truly my soul finds rest in God;
my salvation comes from him.
2 Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken
3 How long will you assault me?
Would all of you throw me down—
this leaning wall, this tottering fence?
4 Surely they intend to topple me from my lofty place;
they take delight in lies.
With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse.
5 Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
my hope comes from him.
6 Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
7 My salvation and my honour depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
8 Trust in him at all times, you people;
pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
9 Surely the lowborn are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie.
If weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath.
10 Do not trust in extortion or put vain hope in stolen goods;
though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them.
11 One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard:
“Power belongs to you, God,
12 and with you, Lord, is unfailing love”;
and, “You reward everyone according to what they have done.”
Luke 10:1-12
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.
2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.
3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
5 “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’
6 If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you.
7 Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.
8 “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you.
9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’
10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say,
11 ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’
12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
Notes:
1. This petition in the Lord’s Prayer acknowledges that God is the King who rules his creation. Creation was designed for God’s rule. The entrance of sin defies God’s rule and defiles God’s order of righteousness and justice. In our daily prayer we recognize the need of God’s rule even in this fallen world and pray that God will establish his rule on earth now.
2. Jesus teaches the disciples to pray for God’s Kingdom to be instituted on earth. The Gospels confirm Jesus began his ministry on earth by announcing the arrival of God’s Kingdom (Matthew 4:23-25). The disciples were aware that the work of Jesus and their own work was to do with the Kingdom of God’s presence and activity in the world.
3. The Kingdom of God on earth is the fulfillment of God’s purpose for the world. It is God’s rule that manifests justice, righteousness, mercy, grace and truth. It is God’s rule that rights all the wrongs that dominate human life: the injustice against powerless people, the corruption of those in power, human greed, oppression and violence. God’s rule not only sets the standards for our life on earth but also restores God’s purposes on earth.
4. Jesus invited people to enter God’s Kingdom, to become those in whose lives God’s rule operates and is visible. So even as Christians pray for God’s rule to be manifested on earth they are seeking God’s rule within their lives and the community of God’s people. The Church must not only pray for God’s rule to come on earth but also demonstrate God’s rule in its own life.
5. This petition is also a plea that God’s rule must be clearly evident among God’s people who make the petition. It is a plea for empowerment by God’s Spirit to make God’s people, the Church, to show God’s rule in their lives now, even as they wait for its fulfillment in Christ’s return.
Questions for reflection:
1. How is God’s rule expressed in our world now? How do we identify its presence in our world?
2. Think about how local churches, or any other local group of Christians, can become instruments of God’s rule on earth.
