Seditious? The Lord's Prayer?

Since Jesus instituted the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father) almost 2,000 years ago, it has been recited by billions of people – sadly, often parrot-fashion with few supplicants really having grasped what this prayer means or how courageous early Christians were to adopt it. The Roman Empire which ruled when Christ walked the earth would surely have viewed it as seditious, right from its opening address: 

"Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified.” 

Caesar Augustus, who was in power when Jesus was born, was known as Augusto Patri Patrae, marking his role as Father of the Fatherland and, by extension, the entire Roman Empire including Judea and Jerusalem. Augustus was not his given name but a religious title that set him apart as someone exalted and sacred....’Sanctified’.

Jesus was certainly brave in his choice of language and never held back from speaking the truth. The next thing he asked his followers to pray for was even more contentious: 

“Let your Kingdom come.” 

Rome owned the entire ocean basin of the Mediterranean, known as Mare Nostrum - ‘Our Sea’ - and no one could forget it, largely thanks to the Empire’s incredible road network and an extremely clever propaganda campaign. Travellers couldn’t fail to realise who was responsible for this amazing step forward in human history. 

In the northern part of Rome is a heap of bricks, all that now remains of a golden milestone, erected to mark Point Zero where all roads would lead. Throughout the Empire, every mile of road had a similar marker providing 4 pieces of information: The name of the ruling Caesar; the distance from the last town; the distance to the next town; and the distance from the golden milestone in Rome. These inscriptions reinforced a clear message to allcomers - “We own you now!” 

“Give us our bread for this day.” 

All Christians are familiar with the miraculous feeding of the 5,000, reinforcing God and Jesus' roles as the ultimate providers. Feeding a great crowd from just 5 loaves and 2 fish eclipsed Rome’s initiative for its 55,000 citizens - free bread. Although Ceres was the official goddess of grain, it was the goddess Annona who got the credit, personifying the Emperor’s ability to supply food to the people. The bread was not particularly good - so gritty and sandy that it filed down the teeth of consumers - and there was no fish with it, but a free loaf every day was not to be sneezed at. Every April during seeding, the people showed their gratitude with a feast to the ‘Dole Annona’. 

Not everything ran smoothly, however. Mark Antony and Augustus tried to block the Dole Annona when merchants withheld grain from the emperor to create a shortage and inflate the price. Nothing has changed!

“Forgive us our debts.”

Now this was a real red light for anyone in Rome, especially at the temple of Mars Ultor. Ancient Rome had a pantheon of gods, adopting new foreign deities of captured tribes, yet there were 12 main gods – 6 male, 6 female. In Jesus’ day, Mars was a big wheel, outranked only by Jupiter, the big Daddy of them all. Mars was the father of Romulus, the Father of Rome and he had a planet named after him, because it was red – a colour that suited this angry god of war. From Mars we also get the month of March, martial law, martial arts, Field Marshalls, and the name Mark. In ancient times, Mars was depicted with a helmet/mask that strapped under the chin and sported wings of an eagle, the symbol of Rome – headgear remarkably like that worn by Marvel’s Captain America. Priests from the temple of Mars blessed all the weapons of war – a rite still practiced today.

Ultor means Avenger, an appropriate title, as Romans, far from being forgivers, were vengeful and fierce. In fact, they had a day dedicated to vengeance – the Ides of March (15th).  Not only was this an international day to Mars, but also the first day of debt collection. It was around this time of year, after the Passover, that Jesus introduced his model prayer, which put him in Jerusalem during or just after the Day of Vengeance.  

“Do not bring us into temptation.”

With 150 holy days each year, Romans had many temptations - overeating, over drinking and whatever other indulgences appealed at the time. This made life difficult for early Christians who were viewed as ‘man haters’ for not joining in these idolatrous revelries! 

Whatever resonance the Lord’s Prayer has today, it certainly addressed some of the big issues of the day and highlights Jesus' courage and that of his disciples in making it known.

Many thanks to researcher Jemison Jepson for his help with this article.