Revised Common Lectionary - Ash Wednesday, 5 March 2014

Revised Common Lectionary - Ash Wednesday, 5 March 2014

PRAYER: Thematic

Righteous God,

in humility and repentance

we bring our failures in caring, helping, and loving,

we bring the pain we have caused other,

we bring the injustice in society of which we are a part,

to the transforming power of your grace.

Grant us the courage to accept the healing you offer

and to turn again toward the sunrise of your reign,

that we may walk with you in the promise of peace

you have willed for all the children of the earth,

and have made known to us in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Intercessory

Gracious and merciful God,

you see into the secret places of our hearts,

where we mourn our sins.

As we turn again to your grace, receive our prayers.

Prayers of the People, concluding with:

Look with mercy on our contrite hearts,

wash from us the stain of iniquity,

and create a new and right spirit in us,

that we may declare your praise

and offer an acceptable sacrifice in these Lenten days;

through Christ Jesus, who bore our sins on the cross. Amen.

Scripture

O God, you delight not in pomp and show,

but in a humble and contrite heart.

Overturn our love of worldly possessions

and fix our hearts more firmly on you,

that, having nothing,

we may yet possess everything,

a treasure stored up for us in heaven. Amen.

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion,

    and sound an alarm in my holy mountain!

Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,

    for the day of Yahweh comes,

    for it is close at hand:

2 A day of darkness and gloominess,

    a day of clouds and thick darkness.

As the dawn spreading on the mountains,

    a great and strong people;

    there has never been the like,

    neither will there be any more after them,

    even to the years of many generations.

12 “Yet even now,” says Yahweh, “turn to me with all your heart,

    and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.”

13 Tear your heart, and not your garments,

    and turn to Yahweh, your God;

    for he is gracious and merciful,

    slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness,

    and relents from sending calamity.

14 Who knows? He may turn and relent,

    and leave a blessing behind him,

    even a meal offering and a drink offering to Yahweh, your God.

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion!

    Sanctify a fast.

    Call a solemn assembly.

16 Gather the people.

    Sanctify the assembly.

    Assemble the elders.

    Gather the children, and those who nurse from breasts.

Let the bridegroom go out of his room,

    and the bride out of her room.

17 Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, weep between the porch and the altar,

    and let them say, “Spare your people, Yahweh,

    and don’t give your heritage to reproach,

    that the nations should rule over them.

Why should they say among the peoples,

    ‘Where is their God?’”

Isaiah 58:1 “Cry aloud, don’t spare.

    Lift up your voice like a trumpet.

Declare to my people their disobedience,

    and to the house of Jacob their sins.

2 Yet they seek me daily,

    and delight to know my ways.

As a nation that did righteousness,

    and didn’t forsake the ordinance of their God,

they ask of me righteous judgments.

    They delight to draw near to God.

3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ say they, ‘and you don’t see?

    Why have we afflicted our soul, and you don’t notice?’

“Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure,

    and oppress all your laborers.

4 Behold, you fast for strife and contention,

    and to strike with the fist of wickedness.

    You don’t fast today so as to make your voice to be heard on high.

5 Is this the fast that I have chosen?

    A day for a man to humble his soul?

Is it to bow down his head like a reed,

    and to spread sackcloth and ashes under himself?

Will you call this a fast,

    and an acceptable day to Yahweh?

6 “Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen:

    to release the bonds of wickedness,

    to undo the straps of the yoke,

    to let the oppressed go free,

    and that you break every yoke?

7 Isn’t it to distribute your bread to the hungry,

    and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house?

When you see the naked,

    that you cover him;

    and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh?

8 Then your light will break out as the morning,

    and your healing will appear quickly;

then your righteousness shall go before you;

    and Yahweh’s glory will be your rear guard.

9 Then you will call, and Yahweh will answer;

    you will cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’

“If you take away from among you the yoke,

    finger pointing,

    and speaking wickedly;

10 and if you pour out your soul to the hungry,

    and satisfy the afflicted soul:

then your light will rise in darkness,

    and your obscurity will be as the noonday;

11 and Yahweh will guide you continually,

    and satisfy your soul in dry places,

    and make your bones strong;

and you shall be like a watered garden,

    and like a spring of water,

    whose waters don’t fail.

12 Those who shall be of you shall build the old waste places;

    you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;

and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach,

    Restorer of Paths with Dwellings.

Psalm 51: For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

1 Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness.

    According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity.

    Cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions.

    My sin is constantly before me.

4 Against you, and you only, have I sinned,

    and done that which is evil in your sight;

that you may be proved right when you speak,

    and justified when you judge.

5 Behold, I was born in iniquity.

    In sin my mother conceived me.

6 Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts.

    You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean.

    Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness,

    That the bones which you have broken may rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins,

    and blot out all of my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God.

    Renew a right spirit within me.

11 Don’t throw me from your presence,

    and don’t take your holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation.

    Uphold me with a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways.

    Sinners shall be converted to you.

14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation.

    My tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

15 Lord, open my lips.

    My mouth shall declare your praise.

16 For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it.

    You have no pleasure in burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.

    A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

2 Corinthians 5:20 We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

6:1 Working together, we entreat also that you not receive the grace of God in vain, 2 for he says,

“At an acceptable time I listened to you,

in a day of salvation I helped you.”[a]

Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. 3 We give no occasion of stumbling in anything, that our service may not be blamed, 4 but in everything commending ourselves, as servants of God, in great endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, 5 in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in watchings, in fastings; 6 in pureness, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in sincere love, 7 in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, 8 by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

Footnotes:

a. 2 Corinthians 6:2 Isaiah 49:8

Matthew 6:1 “Be careful that you don’t do your charitable giving before men, to be seen by them, or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 2 Therefore when you do merciful deeds, don’t sound a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may get glory from men. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you do merciful deeds, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand does, 4 so that your merciful deeds may be in secret, then your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

5 “When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

16 “Moreover when you fast, don’t be like the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces, that they may be seen by men to be fasting. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face; 18 so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

19 “Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

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John Wesley’s Notes/Commentary:

Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

II A farther description of the desolation of the land, ver. 1-11. An earnest call to repentance, ver. 12-17. A promise of all good things to the penitent, ver. 18-27. A prophecy of the Messiah's kingdom, ver. 28-32.

Verse 1. Blow ye - The prophet continues his exhortation to the priests, who were appointed to summon the solemn assemblies.

Verse 2. A day of darkness - A time of exceeding great troubles and calamities. And this passage may well allude to the day of judgment, and the calamities which precede that day. As the morning - As the morning spreads itself over all the hemisphere and first upon the high mountains, so shall the approaching calamities overspread this people. A great people - This seems more directly to intend the Babylonians.

Verse 13. And repenteth him - He turneth from executing the fierceness of his wrath.

Verse 14. He will return - God doth not move from one place to another; but when he withholds his blessings, he is said to withdraw himself. And so when he gives out his blessing, he is said to return. And leave a blessing behind him - Cause the locusts to depart before they have eaten up all that is in the land.

Verse 16. The children - Though they understand little what is done, yet their cities ascend, and God with pity looks on their tears. These that suck - Their cries and tears may perhaps move the congregation to more earnest supplication to God for mercy. So the Ninevites, Jonah iii, 7, 8. The bridegroom - Let the new married man leave the mirth of the nuptials and afflict himself with the rest.

Verse 17. The porch - That stately porch built by Solomon, 1 Kings vi, 3. The altar - The altar of burnt-offering, which stood at some distance from this porch, and here are the priests commanded to stand, fasting and praying, whence they might be heard and seen by the people in the next court, in which the people were wont to pray. To reproach - Famine, though by locusts is a reproach to this thine heritage; it will be greater reproach to be slaves to the nations signified by the locusts, therefore in mercy deliver us from both one and the other.

Isaiah 58:1-12

LVIII The hypocrisy of the Jews, in their fasts, ver. 1-5. A true fast described, ver. 6, 7. Promises to Godliness, ver. 8-12. To the keeping of the sabbath, ver. 13, 14.

Verse 2. Yet - They cover all their wickedness with a profession of religion. Delight - There are many men who take some pleasure in knowing God's will and word, and yet do not conform their lives to it. As - As if they were a righteous people. Forsook - As if they were not guilty of any apostacy from God, or disobedience to God's precepts. Ask - As if they resolved to observe them. In approaching - In coming to my temple to hear my word, and to offer sacrifices.

Verse 3. Afflicted - Defrauded our appetites with fasting, of which this phrase is used, Levit xvi, 29. Ye find - Either you indulge yourselves in sensuality, as they did, chap. xxii, 13. But this does not agree with that afflicting of their souls which they now professed, and which God acknowledges; or you pursue and satisfy your own desires: though you abstain from bodily food, you do not mortify your sinful inclinations. Exact - Your money, got by your labour, and lent to others, either for their need or your own advantage, which you require either with usury, or at least with rigor, when either the general law of charity, or God's particular law, commanded the release, or at least the forbearance of them.

Verse 4. Behold - Your fasting days, wherein you ought in a special manner to implore the mercy of God, and to shew compassion to men, you employ in injuring or quarrelling with your brethren, your servants or debtors, or in contriving mischief against them. Heard - In strife and debate. By way of ostentation.

Verse 5. Chosen - Approve of, accept, or delight in, by a metonymy, because we delight in what we freely chuse. For a day - This may be understood, either for a man to take a certain time to afflict his soul in, and that either from even to even, Lev. xxiii, 32, or from morning to evening, or for a little time. Wilt thou call - Canst thou suppose it to be so? A fast - It being such an one as has nothing in it, but the dumb signs of a fast, nothing of deep humiliation appearing in it, or, real reformation proceeding from it. Acceptable day - A day that God will approve of.

Verse 6. The bands - The cruel obligations of usury and oppression.

Verse 7. Cast out - And thereby become wanderers, having no abiding place. To thy house - That thou be hospitable, and make thy house a shelter to them that have none of their own left. Hide not - That seek no occasion to excuse thyself. Thy own flesh - Some confine this to our own kindred; but we can look on no man, but there we contemplate our own flesh, and therefore it is barbarous, not only to tear, but not to love and succor him. Therefore feed him as thou wouldest feed thyself, or be fed; shelter him as thou wouldest shelter thyself, or be sheltered; clothe him as thou wouldest clothe thyself, or be clothed; if in any of these respects thou wert in his circumstances.

Verse 8. Thy light - Happiness and prosperity. Break forth - It shall not only appear, but break forth, dart itself forth, notwithstanding all difficulties, as the sun breaks, and pierces through a cloud. Thy health - Another metaphor to express the same thing. Righteousness - The reward of thy righteousness. Before thee - As the morning-star goes before the sun. The glory - His glorious power and providence. Thy rereward - Thus the angel of his presence secured the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.

Verse 9. Answer - He will give an effectual demonstration, that he hears thee. Here l am - A phrase that notes a person to be ready at hand to help. Take away - From among you. The yoke - All those pressures and grievances before mentioned. Putting forth - Done by way of scoff, or disdainful insulting. Vanity - Any kind of evil words.

Verse 10. Draw out - Or, open, as when we open a store, to satisfy the wants of the needy. Thy soul - Thy affection, thy pity and compassion. Thy darkness - In the very darkness of the affliction itself thou shalt have comfort.

Verse 11. Guide thee - Like a shepherd. And he adds continually to shew that his conduct and blessing shall not be momentary, or of a short continuance, but all along as it was to Israel in the wilderness. Satisfy - Thou shalt have plenty, when others are in scarcity. Make fat - This may be spoken in opposition to the sad effects of famine, whereby the flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen, and the bones that were not seen, stick out. A garden - If thou relieve the poor, thou shalt never be poor, but as a well-watered garden, always flourishing. Fail not - Hebrew. deceive not, a metaphor which farther notes also the continuance of this flourishing state, which will not be like a land-flood, or brooks, that will soon be dried up with drought. Thou shalt be fed with a spring of blessing, that will never fail.

Verse 12. They shall be of thee - Thy posterity. Waste places - Cities which have lain long waste; that shall continue for many generations to come. The breach - Breach is put for breaches, which was made by God's judgment breaking in upon them in suffering the walls of their towns and cities to be demolished. Paths - Those paths that led from city to city, which being now laid desolate, and uninhabited, were grown over with grass, and weeds. To dwell in - These accommodations being recovered, their ancient cities might be fit to be re-inhabited.

Psalm 51:1-17

PS 51 David prays for pardon, ver. 1, 2. Confesses his sins, ver. 3- 5. Prays for renewing grace, ver. 6-14. Promises unfeigned thankfulness, ver. 15-17. Prays for the whole church, ver, 18, 19. To the chief musician, A psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

Verse 4. Thee only - Which is not to be, understood absolutely, because he had sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah, and many others; but comparatively. So the sense is, though I have sinned against my own conscience, and against others; yet nothing is more grievous to me, than that I have sinned against thee. Thy sight - With gross contempt of thee, whom I knew to be a spectator of my most secret actions. Justified - This will be the fruit of my sin, that whatsoever severities thou shalt use towards me, it will be no blemish to thy righteousness, but thy justice will be glorified by all men. Speakest - Hebrew. in thy words, in all thy threatenings denounced against me. Judgest - When thou dost execute thy sentence upon me.

Verse 5. Behold - Nor is this the only sin which I have reason to bewail before thee; for this filthy stream leads me to a corrupt fountain: and upon a review of my heart, I find, that this heinous crime, was the proper fruit of my vile nature, which, ever was, and still is ready to commit ten thousand sins, as occasion offers.

Verse 6. Truth - Uprightness of heart; and this may be added; as an aggravation of the sinfulness of original corruption, because it is contrary to the holy nature and will of God, which requires rectitude of heart: and, as an aggravation of his actual sin, that it was committed against that knowledge, which God had wrote in his heart.

Verse 7. Hyssop - As lepers, are by thy appointment purified by the use of hyssop and other things, so do thou cleanse me a leprous and polluted creature, by thy grace, and by that blood of Christ, which is signified by those ceremonial usages.

Verse 8. Joy - By thy spirit, seal the pardon of my sins on my conscience, which will fill me with joy. Rejoice - That my heart which hath been sorely wounded may be comforted.

Verse 10. Create - Work in me an holy frame of heart, whereby my inward filth may be purged away. Right - Hebrew. firm or constant, that my resolution may be fixed and unmoveable. Spirit - Temper or disposition of soul.

Verse 12. The joy - The comfortable sense of thy saving grace, promised and vouchsafed to me, both for my present and everlasting salvation. Free - Or, ingenuous, or liberal, or princely. Which he seems to oppose to his own base and illiberal and disingenuous and servile spirit, which he had discovered in his wicked practices: a spirit, which may free me from the bondage of sin, and enable me chearfully to run the way of God's precepts.

Verse 14. Thy righteousness - Thy clemency and goodness.

Verse 15. My lips - Which are shut with shame and grief.

Verse 16. Not sacrifice - This is not to be understood absolutely, with respect to David's crimes, which were not to be expiated by any sacrifice.

Verse 17. A broken spirit - This is of more value than many sacrifices.

2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10

Verse 20. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ-we beseech you in Christ's stead - Herein the apostle might appear to some "transported beyond himself." In general he uses a more calm, sedate kind of exhortation, as in the beginning of the next chapter. What unparalleled condescension and divinely tender mercies are displayed in this verse! Did the judge ever beseech a condemned criminal to accept of pardon? Does the creditor ever beseech a ruined debtor to receive an acquittance in full? Yet our almighty Lord, and our eternal Judge, not only vouchsafes to offer these blessings, but invites us, entreats us, and, with the most tender importunity, solicits us, not to reject them.

Verse 21. He made him a sin offering, who knew no sin - A commendation peculiar to Christ. For us - Who knew no righteousness, who were inwardly and outwardly nothing but sin; who must have been consumed by the divine justice, had not this atonement been made for our sins. That we might be made the righteousness of God through him - Might through him be invested with that righteousness, first imputed to us, then implanted in us, which is in every sense the righteousness of God.

1. We then not only beseech, but as fellow-labourers with you, who are working out your own salvation, do also exhort you, not to receive the grace of God - Which we have been now describing. In vain - We receive it by faith; and not in vain, if we add to this, persevering holiness.

Verse 2. For he saith - The sense is, As of old there was a particular time wherein God was pleased to pour out his peculiar blessing, so there is now. And this is the particular time: this is a time of peculiar blessing. Isaiah xlix, 8.

Verse 3. Giving, as far as in us lies, no offense, that the ministry be not blamed on our account.

4. But approving ourselves as the ministers of God - Such as his ministers ought to be. In much patience - Shown,

Verse 1. In afflictions, necessities, distresses - All which are general terms.

Verse 2. In stripes, imprisonments, tumults - Which are particular sorts of affliction, necessity, distress

Verse 3. In labours, watchings, fastings - Voluntarily endured. All these are expressed in the plural number, to denote a variety of them. In afflictions, several ways to escape may appear, though none without difficulty in necessities, one only, and that a difficult one; in distresses, none at all appears.

Verse 5. In tumults - The Greek word implies such attacks as a man cannot stand against, but which bear him hither and thither by violence.

Verse 6. By prudence - Spiritual divine; not what the world terms so. Worldly prudence is the practical use of worldly wisdom: divine prudence is the due exercise of grace, making spiritual understanding go as far as possible. By love unfeigned - The chief fruit of the Spirit.

Verse 7. By the convincing and converting power of God - Accompanying his word; and also attesting it by divers miracles. By the armour of righteousness on the right hand and the left - That is, on all sides; the panoply or whole armour of God.

Verse 8. By honour and dishonour - When we are present. By evil report and good report - When we are absent. Who could bear honour and good report, were it not balanced by dishonour? As deceivers - Artful, designing men. So the world represents all true ministers of Christ. Yet true - Upright, sincere, in the sight of God.

Verse 9. As unknown - For the world knoweth us not, as it knew him not. Yet well known - To God, and to those who are the seals of our ministry. As dying, yet behold - Suddenly, unexpectedly, God interposes, and we live.

Verse 10. As sorrowing - For our own manifold imperfections, and for the sins and sufferings of our brethren. Yet always rejoicing - In present peace, love, power, and a sure hope of future glory. As having nothing, yet possessing all things - For all things are ours, if we are Christ's. What a magnificence of thought is this!

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

1. In the foregoing chapter our Lord particularly described the nature of inward holiness. In this he describes that purity of intention without which none of our outward actions are holy. This chapter contains four parts,

1. The right intention and manner of giving alms, ver. 1-4.

2. The right intention, manner, form, and prerequisites of prayer, ver. 5-15.

3. The right intention, and manner of fasting, ver. 16-18.

4. The necessity of a pure intention in all things, unmixed either with the desire of riches, or worldly care, and fear of want, ver. 19-34. This verse is a general caution against vain glory, in any of our good works: All these are here summed up together, in the comprehensive word righteousness. This general caution our Lord applies in the sequel to the three principal branches of it, relating to our neighbour, ver. 2-iv, to God, ver. 5, vi, and to ourselves, ver. 16-18. To be seen - Barely the being seen, while we are doing any of these things, is a circumstance purely indifferent. But the doing them with this view, to be seen and admired, this is what our Lord condemns.

Verse 2. As the hypocrites do - Many of the scribes and Pharisees did this, under a pretense of calling the poor together. They have their reward - All they will have; for they shall have none from God.

Verse 3. Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth - A proverbial expression for doing a thing secretly. Do it as secretly as is consistent,

Verse 1. With the doing it at all.

2. With the doing it in the most effectual manner.

5. The synagogues - These were properly the places where the people assembled for public prayer, and hearing the Scriptures read and expounded. They were in every city from the time of the Babylonish captivity, and had service in them thrice a day on three days in the week. In every synagogue was a council of grave and wise persons, over whom was a president, called the ruler of the synagogue. But the word here, as well as in many other texts, signifies any place of public concourse.

Verse 6. Enter into thy closet - That is, do it with as much secrecy as thou canst.

Verse 1. Hallowed be thy name - Mayest thou, O Father, he truly known by all intelligent beings, and with affections suitable to that knowledge: mayest thou be duly honoured, loved, feared, by all in heaven and in earth, by all angels and all men.

Verse 2. Thy kingdom come - May thy kingdom of grace come quickly, and swallow up all the kingdoms of the earth: may all mankind, receiving thee, O Christ, for their king, truly believing in thy name, be filled with righteousness, and peace, and joy; with holiness and happiness, till they are removed hence into thy kingdom of glory, to reign with thee for ever and ever.

Verse 3. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven - May all the inhabitants of the earth do thy will as willingly as the holy angels: may these do it continually even as they, without any interruption of their willing service; yea, and perfectly as they: mayest thou, O Spirit of grace, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make them perfect in every good work to do thy will, and work in them all that is well pleasing in thy sight.

Verse 4. Give us - O Father (for we claim nothing of right, but only of thy free mercy) this day - (for we take no thought for the morrow) our daily bread - All things needful for our souls and bodies: not only the meat that perisheth, but the sacramental bread, and thy grace, the food which endureth to everlasting life.

Verse 5. And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors - Give us, O Lord, redemption in thy blood, even the forgiveness of sins: as thou enablest us freely and fully to forgive every man, so do thou forgive all our trespasses.

Verse 6. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil - Whenever we are tempted, O thou that helpest our infirmities, suffer us not to enter into temptation; to be overcome or suffer loss thereby; but make a way for us to escape, so that we may be more than conquerors, through thy love, over sin and all the consequences of it. Now the principal desire of a Christian's heart being the glory of God, (ver. 9, 10, ) and all he wants for himself or his brethren being the daily bread of soul and body, (or the support of life, animal and spiritual, ) pardon of sin, and deliverance from the power of it and of the devil, (ver. 11, 12, 13, ) there is nothing beside that a Christian can wish for; therefore this prayer comprehends all his desires. Eternal life is the certain consequence, or rather completion of holiness.

III. For thine is the kingdom - The sovereign right of all things that are or ever were created: The power - the executive power, whereby thou governest all things in thy everlasting kingdom: And the glory - The praise due from every creature, for thy power, and all thy wondrous works, and the mightiness of thy kingdom, which endureth through all ages, even for ever and ever. It is observable, that though the doxology, as well as the petitions of this prayer, is threefold, and is directed to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost distinctly, yet is the whole fully applicable both to every person, and to the ever - blessed and undivided trinity. Luke xi, 2.

16. When ye fast? - Our Lord does not enjoin either fasting, alms- deeds, or prayer: all these being duties which were before fully established in the Church of God. Disfigure - By the dust and ashes which they put upon their heads, as was usual at the times of solemn humiliation.

Verse 17. Anoint thy head - So the Jews frequently did. Dress thyself as usual.

Verse 19. Lay not up for yourselves - Our Lord here makes a transition from religious to common actions, and warns us of another snare, the love of money, as inconsistent with purity of intention as the love of praise. Where rust and moth consume - Where all things are perishable and transient. He may likewise have a farther view in these words, even to guard us against making any thing on earth our treasure. For then a thing properly becomes our treasure, when we set our affections upon it. Luke xii, 33.

Verse 21. Luke xi, 34.

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