We never hear the famous “Lord’s Prayer” in its original context. If we did, we’d realize that Jesus never intended for Christians to pray this way. There are many things wrong with this prayer. For one thing, it’s far too directive. We shouldn’t be telling God when to bring His Kingdom. And after Jesus just got done saying that God knows all about our needs, why would we then go on to ask God for food? Is Jesus suggesting that if we don’t ask God, He might forget to take care of us? No, this prayer is not at all what it seems to be at first glance. Jesus isn’t trying to teach people how to pray, He’s trying to drive them into utter despair about their moral depravity. This whole sermon is about making people realize that they are falling drastically short of actually meeting Yahweh’s demands for perfect righteousness. Jesus is hammering the same point of “you’re a moral failure in God’s eyes” over and over again. Each time He comes at it from a different angle. How you think is wrong. How you act is wrong. What you want is wrong. All your role models are wrong. You’re going to Hell, you’re going to Hell, you’re going to Hell. This is what sincere Yahweh followers are hearing and it’s terrifying. There’s nothing beautiful about the Sermon on the Mount. This isn’t “good moral teaching”. This is condemnation. This is “You’re all a bunch of moral scum and Yahweh’s going to throw you into Hell the minute you die.” This is nightmare material, and this prayer Jesus throws out just makes it worse.