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Small Catechism Review
The Lord’s Prayer: Amen
This evening we finish up our discussion of the Lord’s Prayer, even as we finish up the Advent season. We end them both with that neat little word that says so much: Amen! (And as we’ve noted before, it can pronounced Aee-men or Ah-men.)
Amen! What does this mean? That I should be certain that these petitions are acceptable to the Father in heaven and are heard by Him; for He Himself has commanded us so to pray and has promised to hear us. Amen, Amen, which means: Yes, yes, it shall be so.
Amen is a word of certainty. It’s a Hebrew word that means, “faithful,” “firm,” “trustworthy,” “true.” Jesus used the word often. Some translations leave it as is, “Amen, Amen, I tell you.” Some say, “truly, truly I tell you.” Some, like the NKJV, say, “Most assuredly I say to you.” The children of Israel were to say, “Amen!” after each of the curses Moses pronounced on those who broke the covenant God had made with them. Each of the four Gospels (in the King James tradition of manuscripts) concludes with the word Amen. St. Paul and St. Peter use it after doxologies and benedictions in their Epistles. And St. John uses it throughout the book of Revelation.
Some of the Greek manuscripts of St. Mattew’s Gospel add the Amen to the Lord’s prayer, along with that famous doxology, “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.” Other manuscripts don’t include it, but it probably does belong there. In any case, it’s a fitting ending to any prayer, but especially to the Lord’s Prayer, because, as Luther points out in the explanation, God Himself has commanded us so to pray and has promised to hear us. So, yes, Amen, we should be certain that these petitions are acceptable to our Father in heaven. And yes, Amen, we should be certain that He will do what we are asking Him to do in each one of the seven petitions.
We add it to the First Petition: Our Father, Hallowed be Thy name! Amen! Yes, yes, it shall be so!
We add it to the Second Petition: Thy kingdom come! Amen! Yes, yes, it shall be so!
We add it to the Third Petition: Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Amen! Yes, yes, it shall be so!
We add it to the Fourth Petition: Give us this day our daily bread. Amen! Yes, yes, it shall be so!
We add it to the Fifth Petition: Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Amen! Yes, yes, it shall be so!
We add it to the Sixth Petition: Lead us not into temptation. Amen! Yes, yes, it shall be so!
And we add it to the Seventh Petition: But deliver us from evil. Amen! Yes, yes, it shall be so! Amen! Faithful, firm, trustworthy, true.
It’s ironic, isn’t it?, that our study of Amen coincides this evening with our observance of St. Thomas’ day. His most famous moment in the Bible is the opposite of an Amen. When the other ten apostles told him, The Lord is risen! We have seen Him! Thomas should have added his Amen, because the Lord Himself had foretold His resurrection on the third day, and the apostles were reliable witnesses. Thomas was anything but certain. Instead, Yes, yes, it must be so!, his reply was, No, no, it cannot be so!
But he became certain, and that’s really the important thing and the thing for which we should remember Thomas and give thanks for Thomas. He became certain after He saw the Lord Jesus and the nail prints in His hands and the spear gash in His side. The Lord told him to stop being unbelieving and to start believing. And Thomas’ answer was as good as an Amen: My Lord and my God! And the martyr’s death he willingly endured at the end of his ministry was like a great Amen to the Gospel he had believed and confessed. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved! Amen, yes, yes, it shall be so!
That’s important for us to understand, because no Christian has a perfect faith that always trusts and never wavers. And many Christians have moments like Thomas, when we should know better than to doubt or disbelieve, and yet our flesh gets the better of us. We all start out as disbelievers, and many people go through long stretches of their lives as unbelievers, unwilling and unable to add their Amen to the Lord’s curses and to the Lord’s promises. But then the Holy Spirit changes their minds through His Word, as He changed Thomas’ mind through His appearance. And they and we are finally able to reply with a full-throated Amen, to the Lord’s Prayer, to the Gospel itself, and to all the promises God has made in His Word.
His promise to come the first time in humility, for redemption, was received by believers in the Old Testament with an Amen, Yes, yes, it shall be so. And their faith was rewarded at Christmas, and on Palm Sunday. The promise of Christ’s first Advent proved faithful, firm, trustworthy, and true. Only one promise remains to be kept: Jesus’ promise to come again, His promise of a second Advent. As we close out this Advent season, we sit and wait in hope for that second Advent, together with the Apostle John, who penned these final words of the Book of Revelation: He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
