Deeper Truths: A study featuring lessons from Kenneth Bailey’s book,
Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes
A 12-week study: This on 5 March 2026
Lesson 2: The Lord’s Prayer (pt 2)
Given on Zoom
Led by Bob Mendelsohn
Preliminaries
Last week we began our study of the six foci of interest to Kenneth Bailey regarding culture and Christianity, and if you will, we got our feet wet in his style of considerations. Today I want to show you a bit more about his style, especially his emphasis or at least his preliminary study tip I labelled structure.
There were a couple of questions that came to us after our session last Thursday, and I will answer those.
From there we will consider more about the Lord’s Prayer itself and what God wants us to know about HIM in these dark and darkening days.
Then finally tonight we will end with time for new Questions and maybe Answers, so while we are learning together, please write down your questions and your own takeaways, which you might share aloud or privately when we are finished.
That’s a lot to get through, so let’s pray.
Prayer
The structure
I mentioned that Bailey loves structure. You might think he’s a Civil engineer, but no, he was a Presbyterian minister, then Canon Theologian of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, and founded the Institute for Middle Eastern New Testament Studies in Beirut.
He died 10 years ago. He spent 40 years teaching in the Middle East, offering unique insights into Jesus' parables and Paul's writings.
Ziggurat
You know of the ancient towers, like we often see representing the Tower of Babel, with a large footprint then floor after floor going up the tower with less and less space assigned. This is what AI made for me as a model of the Babel tower (share screen)
Note the width and length on the base appreciably shrinks with each ascending floor to the top. We know, by the way, from the biblical story that the tower was never completed, but this is an artist’s rendering.
Now I show you this image to help you understand how I see Bailey’s thinking. He often alludes to “prophetic homilies.” He gives three examples of those building blocks of rhetorical style and structure. The second is most like this tower.
First, what many of us know as Hebrew parallelism. That’s where an idea is floated by the author and then, without blinking, repeated either with similarity, with development, or with opposition. For instance, Psalm 24, “The earth is the Lords, and all that is in it.” Or “A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son brings grief to his mother".” That’s antithetical parallelism.
The second device Bailey speaks of is inverted parallelism. This is more like the tower I showed you a moment ago. Ideas are arranged in an ABBA or ABCBA pattern, where the first and last lines correspond, placing the main focus in the middle. My favourite example of that is the last 27 chapters, that is the 2nd half of the prophet Isaiah.
A: God’s Sovereignty (40:1-31) – "Comfort, comfort my people," announcing God's glory, and the insignificance of nations.
B: The Call to Return (41–48) – Focus on Cyrus as an agent of release, the end of Babylonian exile, and the futility of idols.
C: The Servant of the LORD (49:1–57:21) – The centre of the chiasm. Focuses on the Suffering Servant (who takes on the sins of the people. In fact, 52:13-53:12 is the definitive centre of that centre passage. It would be impossible to miss this if you are reading this with humility.
B': The Return and New Covenant (58–65) – Return to Jerusalem, call to righteousness, rebuilding, and the promise of a new heaven and earth.
A': God’s Final Sovereign Judgment (66:1-24) – Final judgment on the wicked and the glory of the new Zion, echoing the initial themes of comfort and divine sovereignty.
I share with you this from a biblical study I recently gave on Matthew 23 and the 7 Woes Yeshua announces. They seem to follow this tower approach.
The third style Bailey sees in the Scripture he calls ‘step parallelism’. It would be labelled with ABC ABC and he mentioned an example from Isaiah 28.
I mention these three structural considerations because as a student of the Bible, you should be aware of literary devices as well as the ‘deeper meanings’ as we often highlight. As I mentioned last week, the rhetoric should not be primary, but it is of interest how the biblical authors have used these literary devices to keep us tuned in.
QUESTIONS from last week:
1) Could you share a few similarities of the traditional synagogue prayers “Tefillah” with The Lord’s Prayer?
The Tefillah, the standard prayers of the Jewish people are ever developing. It is highly unlikely that you would visit a synagogue anywhere in the world in 2026 where a “Prayer for the Soldiers of the IDF” is not prayed on a weekly basis. Certainly they pray that at Magein Avot Synagogue on Waterloo Street in Singapore. And here in Sydney, and in Nashville. But that was unknown until after 1948. I mention that to highlight how ‘standard’ prayers are ever developing. After 9/11 American prayers changed, that is, they were augmented. Similarly after 7 October 2 and a half years ago. And here in Sydney after the Bondi attack in December. People add prayers to the normal prayer service maybe now more than ever.
So if you think that Hebrew prayers have always been the same, well, sorry to disappoint you. There are Liberal siddurim (a siddur is a standard prayer book) that include prayers for homosexuals, for and against certain political scenarios, including Israel, etc.
There IS a fairly standard Amidah, the 18 (Shemone Esrei) but that was even changed at the time of the First Century. Last week I mentioned the opening words of the Kaddish prayer. Yitkadal v’yitkadash sh’mei raba. Very similar to the opening of the Lord’s Prayer.
The themes of the Lord’s prayer are relevant and parallel to considerations and themes in the Amidah, for sure. But the 18 takes about 15 minutes to pray, while the Lord’s prayer takes about 45 seconds.
2) Why did Yeshua inaugurate praying in Aramaic thus setting aside a sacred culture & language?
Did Yeshua set aside his culture and language by praying in Aramaic? If I ask you on this zoom call to say a prayer, how many of you would speak Mandarin to the Lord? How many would pray in Hebrew or Aramaic? I imagine, since the standard on this call in our conversation to one another is in English, then we would lift our voice to the Almighty in English. And would it be American English? Or British English? Or perhaps Australian English?
So to answer your question, I shout, ‘NO!” Yeshua did not "set aside" a sacred culture or language in a rebellious sense, but rather brought prayer out of formal, Hebrew-only Temple ritual into the everyday, common language of the people—Aramaic—to emphasize intimacy, immediacy, and accessibility to God. Aramaic was what we might call the lingua franca and the native language of Galilee and Judea during the first century, making it the natural, "heart" language of his ministry. Aramaic-speaking Jews in the first century still used Hebrew for the purpose of prayer, and so Jesus was praying, and teaching his disciples to pray, in their own vernacular (p.95).
You see, the vernacular, the normal switches from age to age and from place to place. The King James Version was not the first Bible in English. And what about German. The orthodox Jewish leadership was scandalized when Moses Mendelssohn inspired and collaborated with David Friedlander in publishing the first Jewish siddur (prayer book) in the German language. Languages change and often increase their reach, not limiting them.
On To our study tonight
The book is made up of six parts, in order: (1) the birth of Jesus, (2) the Beatitudes, (3) the Lord’s Prayer, (4) the dramatic actions of Jesus, (5) Jesus and women, and (6) the parables of Jesus.
Tonight, we turn to his chapters number 9 and 10, The Lord’s Prayer: God’s Kingdom and our Bread and also Our Sins and Evil.
The context of the chapter in Bailey is Matthew’s account of the prayer Yeshua taught the disciples to pray. And that account is within a larger account named The Sermon on the Mount.
He said, pray then in this way, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us, not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
That’s a lot to unpack, but Bailey helps us with subdividing the prayer, and we look at four crucial ideas tonight. The Kingdom of God, Our bread, Our sins, and Evil itself. No small categories to unpack. But remember, each week we are looking at particular ideas and I’m hoping that you will want to learn much more on something, and that you will write that down, commit it to the Lord in prayer, ask Him for help and ideas and study more about that in the week to come.
We learned last week that Prayer is acknowledging that there is a God; and you are not He. It is not silent only.
Thy kingdom come
We jump in on Thy Kingdom come. Bailey calls this the 2nd petition. If God is really king, then why do we have to ask God to be king, and rule? Why did we have to ask God to hallow his name last week? So that we remembered OUR role in sanctifying his name rather than debasing and profaning his name.
So when we ask God to bring his Kingdom, we are assigning ourselves a role in being subjects to the King. We are saying, Lord, you are the boss; I’m not. You are the King; I’m the subject. What you say goes.
Last weekend, I was waiting for the bus outside the station. It was scheduled for 11:04. I began checking my watch at 10:55 to ensure that I would not miss it. Then at 11. Then at 11:05, and 11:10, and I kept waiting for the bus to come. My impatience didn’t make it come. The MRT at Orchard Road has a schedule, but my insistence of its being on time does not make that itinerary stick. It comes when it comes. Usually on time, to be sure, but I’m not in charge.
So it is with the Kingdom; it comes when it comes, not when I demand it to come.
We have an unusual world with democracies in these days. Certainly different than the world of AD30. Empires and what we call today dictators rule differently. Yeshua is teaching us to pray that God’s Kingdom come at a time and place of his choosing, not of mine. It’s not my vocal activism that brings the Kingdom. It’s not my ‘get out the vote’ postcard or placard which results if God’s governance. Yeshua said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” It’s not from this world.
Bailey stresses the paradox of the kingdom: 1) now and not yet. 2) near yet far off and 3) the unknowability of the timing. So really, those three are one. Yeshua is King and the time and place are up to the Father and not to you or me or all of us together.
Bailey then suggests that the four views on the Kingdom (eschatological, mystical, political and the church) all have a measure of the truth.
Let me say this clearly: Where Yeshua is, there is the Kingdom.
Is that church? Is that your political hero or party? Is that the end times for which you long? Listen, where Yeshua is, there is the Kingdom, and you are his subject. Amen?
Thy will be done on earth
The 3rd petition of the Lord’s prayer is this, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Honestly, I think this is parallelism and is actually Petition 2b. Whatever makes the Kingdom royal and coming, is the same as what makes God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I won’t change the numbers that Bailey uses, but if I rewrote his book, I would make this 2B. Bailey even says, “the king’s desires will be carried out because he is the king.” (page 117)
What is God’s will? The Scriptures teach us the following:
1) Our sanctification (1 Thes. 4.3)
2) Good, acceptable and perfect (Romans 12.2)
3) Give thanks in everything (1 Thes. 5.18)
4) Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God (Micah 5.8)
5) Everyone to come to knowledge of the Truth (1 Tim. 2.4)
I commend to you this website on God’s will with international preacher and author, John Piper: https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/what-is-the-will-of-god-and-how-do-we-know-it
I do have personal problems with Bailey’s conclusion that this also includes ecoglory or maintaining the earth and how some could use this thinking to lead to political greenies, but I won’t at all major on that worry.
My view is that God’s King will have his way and that will not only be in heaven, but also here on earth. If we are members of God’s Kingdom, his will in our lives will be done on earth. Do you want to hear God answer that prayer? Then you get to accomplish his will in your own life. And to that I commit myself as well.
Give us bread
The fourth petition is “Give us this day our daily bread.” Immediately I think of manna in the wilderness. I think of Yeshua’s comments in John chapter 6 where he teaches the multitudes who end up leaving him with the disciples. Manna is a funny word, as it translates to ‘what is it please?’ When I was a child I was taught that whatever we thought the manna was (like chocolate chip cookies or a steak sandwich), that that is what it became. But of course, that’s not what Scipture teaches. We Jews complained in the wilderness about the lack of meat and God swarmed us with quail in overabundance.
Remember the children of Israel received daily bread six days of the week in the wilderness. And on Friday mornings we collected a double amount, since we were not allowed to gather manna on Shabbat.
Bread is the general term to indicate food, and in the Jewish tradition when prayers are made for all kinds of things we include everything under the titlle 'lechem' or bread. Thus breaking bread means 'eating together.'
Bailey has a great excurses on this one-off word used in that prayer and his Arabic backdrop, and Syrian study. The mystery of what the Greek word that lies behind the all-too-familiar English rendering of “daily” bread may mean is elucidated by appeal to the Old Syriac version of the Gospels, which uses the adjective ameno which means “lasting, never ceasing” (p.121). I really like his conclusion. No matter what the word means, we are asking God for his supply in our lives and that’s to his praise. In the same way the people of Israel depended on the Almighty for wilderness supply a singular recognition of our dependence on his supply in all our existence continues to this day.
I know there are folks in the Body of Messiah who worry about what they will eat or drink or with what they will be clothed. In that sermon in which we read the Lord’s prayer, we read, “if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31 Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for ayour heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Friends, ‘fear of God’s supply” is not for the faithful. Seek first God and his Kingdom and his right living… and supply will come. Amen?
Forgive us our sins(debts) as we forgive
The fifth petition in the Lord’s Prayer is that God would forgive us. Now this is a mammoth issue and basic to anyone who knows their own sin. We know our own wrongdoing. We know our need. The psalmist said, “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared. (Ps. 130.3-4)
But here’e the rub; we can’t really demand forgiveness. It’s really a petition, a pleading. Would you please forgive us?
The s’lach lanu prayer in the 18, the Amidah, we read
“Forgive us our Father for we have sinned, pardon us our King for we have wilfully transgressed, for You pardon and forgive. Blessed are You, O Lord, Who is gracious and ever willing to forgive.”
Of note as Bailey tells us, there is no mention of others, no mention of making right with others in this prayer. But Yeshua makes it clear, if you don’t forgive others, you won’t be forgiven. (Matt. 6.15)
Sociologists make it clear that when someone has offended us, and they move on or even die, that doesn’t immediately clear the slate. In fact, if we have unforgiveness it only affects US.
In addition to making impressive contributions to scholarship and our understanding of the New Testament, Bailey wrestles with difficult aspects of the application of the text, such as the relationship between the call to Christians to forgive and the need to identify and stand against injustice (pp.126-127). This is such a great petition. He emphasizes that ‘forgiveness’ is not saying, ‘never mind’ (page 126). Don’t miss how he emphasizes justice in this section.
Remember Yeshua’s words from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” (Luke 23.34) Bailey says, “this is not the cry of the weak, but the awesome voice of the strong.” (page 125) God’s heart is to forgive. God’s idea is to forgive. Is it our idea?
In other words, if God intends to forgive, who am I to stand in God’s way or in the way of the freedom that forgiveness. In light of that, Yeshua’s story of the unforgiving steward is substantial. A man owes a lot of money and the owner of the debt forgives him. Think that the debt is a million dollars. Then the forgiven man finds someone who owes him 20 bucks and he throws him in debtor’s prison. Listen to what Yeshua says, in Matthew 18.
“Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.” (18.31-34)
Unforgiveness will result in our own headaches, our own loss, honest-to-goodness torment. The author of Hebrews says, “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled.” (12.15)
Dear sisters and brothers, release people of their debts; forgive and you will be forgiven. There is life. God loved the world so much that he gave. Won’t you do the same?
Deliver us from evil
The sixth and final petition is about deliverance. There is great conversation about God tempting us (which he does not- James 1.13) vs God testing us (which he does- Genesis 22 [The Akedah]). I like to pause after the beginning clause, “And lead us”, then continue, “not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” This is actually a cry of a child, or a man without a GPS, asking for help in life, for guidance. Again James helps us here.
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect 2result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and 1without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting.” (James 1.2-6)
God knows what he is doing in this prayer. He’s teaching us to trust him. You know there are 31,102 verses in the Bible. Do you know the middle one? It’s Psalm 118.8
ט֗וֹב לַחֲס֥וֹת בַּיהוָ֑ה מִ֝בְּטֹ֗חַ בָּאָדָֽם
It is better to trust Yahweh than to put any confidence in man. Wow, if that’s not the whole story, I don’t know of a better one.
God will lead, will you let him?
I remember our first family vacation in Europe in 2003, and we were in Vienna. My son and older daughter wanted to attend a band while my wife and I wanted to take the younger daughter to a special Austrian folk festival. We got in the car and we had a map, yes, paper and turned pages. My son was guiding us. We approached an intersection and he told me to turn right. I thought, and said out loud, no I think it’s straight. He said, “You can go straight, but you will be wrong.”
He taught me and all of us an important lesson that day. A guide is only as good as our faith or trust in him. Sure enough, my son was right; I was wrong and we almost missed our folk festival. Lesson learned? Maybe I should say, “I’m still learning.”
What about you? Can you say, “Lead us, not into temptation”? And the parallel idea, “But deliver us from evil.” That’s confidence. That’s the fulcrum of the Bible. That’s my hope. Tonight and tomorrow and from now on.
Five Final Summary Thoughts from tonight:
1) The King will rule over us when we surrender our lordship of our lives and live as his subject
2) Where Yeshua is, there is the Kingdom
3) God will supply; will you trust him in all matters?
4) God will forgive, in proportion to the forgiveness we extend to others.
5) Faith is the assurance of things hoped for that are not yet apparent. Without faith it’s impossible to please God. With faith, you can move mountains of doubt, of fear, of resentment, and share faith, with one another.
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Questions that have come since I wrote this:
1) Why are Jews known as Messianic Jews when they receive Jesus as their personal Savior. Are they not known as Christians? For us Chinese, when we received Jesus as our personal Savior, we are called Christians.
The term “Christian’ was first used of believers in Acts chapter 11 in Antioch. It means and meant “followers of Messiah.” Or “little Christs.” It was a term of ill-repute and the believers wore it as a badge of honour. Over time, and through history especially in the 4th Century under Constantine, Christian, the term, became associated with the conquerors and the empire of Rome. It meant a loyal subject of the emperor.
For modern Jewish people, there are two categories of people: us and them. Us being the Jews and them being everyone else. Since most Jewish people live in Western and thus Christianised countries, the ‘other’ is the Christian.
So when a Jew becomes a follower of Yeshua, he or she is a Christian, just like the Chinese or the Indian or the Siberian. But because of the evils done in the name of Christianity, over the last thousand years, and especially by non-Jews at Jews, like the Holocaust, the Inquisition, the pogroms and the like, Jewish followers of Jesus prefer to dissociate from the historic Church which allowed for or even participated in those evils and use the term Messianic. The term itself is EXACTLY THE SAME as Christian. It means a follower of Messiah, but in the 20th and now 21st Century, the term does not have the stigma that Christian has in the minds of Jewish people.
2) Could you distinguish modern Judaism from early Judaism?
Modern Judaism began in AD 70. I’m not sure what you mean by “early Judaism.” (Is that Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, with or without Tabernacle/ Temple?) The Temple fell in AD 70 and the leadership had to come to grips first with their loss and experience the grief associated from denial to acceptance. But then they had a responsibility to come up with alternative views on God and his relationship with the Jewish people, with the situation of priesthood and offerings, with a new view on atonement and forgiveness and so much more. We were at the loss of land, and since that was 1/3 of the promise in the covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12, now what do we say? What do we do? How shall we now live after AD 70?
The development of the Talmud took on significant importance, and I aver that Judaism never looked back again. The role of the rabbi in village or city became more significant that the role of the priest. Teaching replaced worship. The pulpit replaced the altar. Learning and the academy replaced sacrifices. Prayers at certain times of day took the names of the morning, afternoon and evening sacrifices.
That was almost 2,000 years ago and religions have ccome and gone since then, and Judaism should really be labelled Judaisms, as there are many of them that come and go through the centuries. Remember the names Herodians, Sadducees, scribes, Sabbatai Zvi, Essenes--- so many more, that follow this one or that one. Even Zionism is a new religio-political phenomenon.
Judaism is not static; it is ever changing.
3) What’s the Zionist belief?
Zionism is the belief that the Jewish people should have a homeland and since 1895, it should be in what we today call Israel. Zion of course is the biblical term for the homeland of the Jewish people. It was originally Canaan filled with 7 nation-states (Hittites, Jebusites, etc) and was the place given in covenant by God to Abraham and his descendants. Specifically to Isaac, not Ishmael, Jacob, not Esau, and then after the Exodus, to the 9 ½ tribes west of the Jordan River. The other 2 ½ tribes set up residence east of the Jordan.
There has been a longing within the Jewish people for centuries to return to the homeland after Rome kicked us out in AD 135. That longing was championed by some serious Bible believers over time, but most recently in the XIX by Anglicans and Presbyterians in the UK. Then in 1890s the conference held in Basel, Switzerland is the focal genesis of the latest movement that resulted in the Balfour Declaration, the attempts by France and England after WWI to set up a homeland, and finally after the League of Nations couldn’t get it done, the United Nations made it happen in May 1948.
I believe God is a Zionist. He wants the Jewish people to inherit the land he promised 4,000 years ago to Abraham.
I also believe that there is room for Arabs and peoples of the world to live among the Jews there. Being pro-Zion or pro-Israel does NOT mean being anti-Arab.
We should put down our flags and pick up the cross if we ever intend to get along with ‘the other.’
2 million Arabs live in Israel today. They are not Jews. They are likely not Muslim, although some are. Religion and politics rarely are good together and therefore, it’s a quagmire of trouble in the Land to this day.
Other questions tonight?
