[AI translation] This last petition of the Lord's Prayer is in fact a continuation, almost an intensification, of the preceding petition. "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" - that is, it expresses the difference in degree between being tempted and falling into temptation. Temptation is not a fall, falling into temptation is. Temptation means that the enemy is sneaking around your heart like a thief, looking for a weak spot to break into. And temptation means that the thief has already entered the house, the fight has begun, and now it is a question of who will come out on top, who will be the victor. Will I still be able to expel him, or will he take over my inner self, tie me up and gain control over me? That's why Jesus teaches us to pray, "lead us not into temptation", but even if we have already fallen into it, even if we are already struggling with it, even if the tempter has already begun his evil work in us, we are not yet lost, there is still a refuge, a help, a great S.O.S. signal, a cry for help, "deliver us from evil"!What is the evil that Jesus is talking about here? It was already mentioned in connection with the previous request, then I said: Satan is not a temptation, but a tempter. He is a mysterious power that is always following us around, haunting us. Including here in the church. Here, Jesus is revealing his face when he says that he is evil. It is not evil, but evil. This name expresses the essence of the tempter. Evil, wicked, destructive, deadly potentate. The complete opposite of good. There is no good in it. Even if it promises good, it is evil. Radically evil, neither able nor willing to do anything but evil, harm. Even in the lowest man there is still something in him that is susceptible to good, here nothing. It is good to know that this evil is behind the whole world of temptations. In all temptations this evil is at work. It has a hand in all the evils of human life. And Jesus is warning: beware, you are dealing with such power! Beg for help, for you cannot resist it in your own strength.
But where does this evil come from in the world? This may be an interesting question, but it is a theoretical one. And the Bible never speculates on the origin of evil, but simply warns that it is there, and it is here, invading the earthly world. When one is threatened with serious danger, one does not philosophise, but acts, defends oneself. If a thief with murderous intent has broken into my home, I do not ponder where he comes from, where he was born, how much he weighs, what his blood cell composition is, what school he went to, but I take the danger into account and do everything in my power to protect myself. This is how Jesus speaks of evil as a threatening power. In fact, he is not actually talking about evil, but about the possibility of getting rid of it. He does not explain who and what kind of power evil is, but says: cry out, "Our Father... deliver us from evil!" Our human existence, especially our Christian existence, is under constant threat from the attacks of the evil one. Someone once said it so beautifully: the powers of light and darkness hover over our heads like two giant magnets, constantly pulling us. We are never alone in this world, we are always surrounded by these two powers, both fighting for us, both wanting to possess us. Whenever anxious, bitter or passionate thoughts arise in a human heart, and a man allows these thoughts to grow, he can be sure that the powers of darkness are attracted to him and are trying to seize his heart, and from there his tongue, his hands, every part of him, so that they can use him as much as possible to their own advantage. The ambassadors of two worlds claim us, and everything depends on which one we surrender ourselves to, that is, whether the spirit of light or the spirit of darkness occupies our hearts. We either win or we become the vanquished.
The secret of the attack of this evil power lies precisely in the fact that we are attackable. We are susceptible, the enemy's bridgeheads, his strongholds are within us, in our hearts, in our blood, in our desires, in the depths of our souls. Jesus once said of himself, "The prince of the world (that is, the evil one) is coming, and I have nothing in me" (John 14:30). But in us there is that certain old man, our corrupt nature, and this old man is the secret agent, the ally of that evil power which from within, as it were, gives signs to the enemy and betrays to him the weak points of the fortress of individuality.
This evil can only be truly known when man seeks it within himself, not somewhere outside himself. In the depths of his own self. We ourselves are the place which that evil can invade, and where the reality of that evil can be recognized in our own evil impulses, desires, thoughts, words and evil deeds, that is, in our own evil. The most evil thing is to seek and see the devil elsewhere, in others, and not in ourselves. Not to speak of evil as a reality within us is evil in itself. Only he who has already recognized the evil that occupies his own inner being, the evil that has become a driving force in himself, really knows what a living reality evil is. He who has already experienced for himself how much evil can take hold of him, how much it can ensnare him, impress him, torment him and paralyze him, can truly cry out, "Deliver us from evil!" Do you know this evil?
But the great thing is that, whatever the power, we are not helplessly at its mercy. If it were not for the deliverance from this terrible power of evil, there would not be in our Lord's Prayer this petition: "deliver us from evil"! And, most importantly, it is Jesus who taught us to pray in this way, whose death and resurrection is the decisive victory over the power of evil. It was precisely on Calvary that the Father threw the One He loved most, the Son, the second person of the Trinity, this precious part of Himself, into the struggle against evil. He almost gave Him up to evil. And the evil one took all his anger out on Jesus, almost vented his wrath on him, but Jesus tolerated it all, let it rage on him, humbled him, and in doing so, he corrupted and broke the power of evil. What can be done with the One who tolerates everything: scolding, humiliation, injustice, torture, humiliation, physical and mental torment, even death? This divine love embodied in Jesus endured everything. And by that very fact he triumphed! Absolute good is opposed to absolute evil, and evil is broken by good. It is to this victory that we cling, like a drowning man to a life-belt, when we pray, "Deliver us from evil"! With this prayer we embrace the cross, the eternal sign of victory over evil. In hoc signo vinces, we are encouraged: in this sign you will be victorious.
As the passage says in one place: 'Therefore if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed' (John 8:36). Not in the sense that we will now have nothing more to do with the power of evil, and indeed, as long as we live, we will never be outside the sphere of its influence here on earth. The power of darkness will always rise again, but let us not forget that it is already a vanquished enemy for us! Jesus has already won. Go ahead and punch that evil in the eye, which is the last thing it likes to hear: You are a defeated enemy, you are a defeated power, I am not afraid of you! That is why the apostle James can say in his letter, "resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7).
This petition of the Lord's Prayer, like all the others, is in the plural first person. So Jesus also includes in this petition the petition for the whole created world. It is precisely the man who already knows Jesus' victory over evil who is unable to look with indifference on any misery, trouble or anguish in the world as having nothing to do with it. But it is the very sight of evil that makes him plead: 'Lord, deliver us, men, from evil! When we see evil in the world, we should not complain and lament, but ask for help against it from where deliverance is ready for us. Whoever has come to know Jesus as the One to whom "all authority in heaven and on earth has been given" (Mt 28,18), that is, also over evil, can no longer bargain with any of the evils of this world: poverty, sickness, tears, pain, injustice, war. He cannot resign himself to the fact that all this is an inevitable fate, but knows that he can do one thing in any case in the face of the misery of this world, he can beg: 'Deliver us from evil'!
Whoever has once tasted the saving grace of Jesus in his own life can no longer escape from hungering and thirsting for what is better, what God has promised to the whole created world: the ultimate victory. A new heaven and a new earth in which God's righteousness will dwell, that is, the complete and final elimination of evil. It is also for this final consummation of redemption that Jesus teaches us to pray and cry out in the last petition of the Lord's Prayer. And always remember, when you thus extend this supplication for the whole human world, that you are not praying it alone, but that many millions of followers of Jesus are standing with you before God and asking the same thing every day that you do, that the Lord may deliver this world from evil.
Finally, this great prayer turns into a prayer, "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever". Here the praying man arrives at the summit where the soul contemplates only the greatness, the power, the glory of God. All that we ask in this prayer, we can ask with full assurance, for the kingdom, the power and the glory are God's for ever. When a person so truly gives his life to God, he is always strengthened in the certainty that Jesus is truly alive in him, for he experiences that behold, he is at work through him. The words he speaks, the influences that flow from him, the results he achieves through his ministry, do not come from him, but from someone else working in him and through him: the living God himself. This is the happiest assurance of the living reality of God. So to feel that I am used by God makes my life a blessing to others. If only we could go on living our whole Christian life with such unshakeable assurance that our Saviour, though invisible, is alive in tangible ways.
This whole concluding section is really just an extension of the word "amen". The "amen" - which originally means certainly, truly, so - is not something like the period at the end of the sentence, but is itself a profession of faith. It's not said to people as a sign that the prayer is now over, but to God, as if to say, I believe in his promise, I believe in his faithfulness, I believe in the answer to my prayer. When one says "amen" in true faith, he rises from prayer in a different way than when he began. Something has changed in the meantime. Peace and serenity come into his heart. He may have begun with fears and anxieties, but the more he became aware that he was talking to his heavenly Father, the more he became at peace. And by the time he gets to the end and says "amen", he knows that there all his requests, all his prayers, are before the supreme loving power. Perhaps he does not yet see the result, perhaps he has to wait, perhaps the hearing comes in a different way than he had hoped, but one thing is certain: God has heard him. This assurance of faith is expressed in the word 'amen'. Let us bear witness to this together:
He who hesitates in his request,
He who hesitates will receive from you an empty answer,
But we, by the merit of Christ
Being of a calm heart about it,
That thou hast given, we have asked something,
We bind our request with an amen.
(Canto 483, verse 18)
Amen
Date: 29 June 1969.
Lesson
Mk 5,1-20