Dissecting the Lord’s Prayer
But Deliver Us from Evil
But deliver us from the evil one.
(Matthew 6:13b NABRE)
The last petition in the Our Father that Jesus taught us is a petition for the Father to deliver us from evil. With reference to the Biblical translation, we know that this evil is not just an abstraction, but is a person. It is Satan, the Devil. He is a murderer, a liar and the father of all lies (see John 8:44 and Revelations 12:9).
In this world, he deceives men and women and brings them away from God. He even tried to deceive Jesus when he tempted him in the desert (see Matthew 4:1–11). But does that mean that the way for us to be delivered from the evil one is to be taken out of the world? Near his hour, Jesus prayed:
I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.
(John 17:15–17 NABRE)
We hear that Jesus does not want us to be taken out of this world; rather, he wants us to be protected from the evil one and to be consecrated in the truth.
We must not be afraid of the evil one. Jesus reminds us that we must not fear the things that the evil one bring to us for these will not separate us from the love of God.
And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.
(Matthew 10:28 NABRE)
St. Paul even writes:
What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?
No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 8:35, 37–39 NABRE)
What separates us from God is sin, and the remedy for that is for us to recognize our sins and acknowledge them before the Father.
If we say, “We are without sin,” we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing. If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
(1 John 1:8–10 NABRE)
When we acknowledge that we have sinned, he will forgive us our sins and grant us our petitions.
And we have this confidence in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask, we know that what we have asked him for is ours.
(1 John 5:14–15 NABRE)
At the same time, we must be on guard. We must be on guard against the evil one so that we may recognize temptation, run away from it so that we will not sin. St. John ends his first letter reminding us:
Children, be on your guard against idols.
(1 John 5:21 NABRE)
The next time we pray the Our Father and we say “But deliver us from evil”, let us remember that we are not asking God to remove the trials and difficulties around us; rather, we are asking Him to guide our hearts so that our encounter from evil will keep us free from sin, safe from all distress and at peace with God in our hearts. By that, it also requires us to be on guard against the ploys of the evil one so that we may not commit sin.
This is the ninth in a series of articles dissecting the Lord’s Prayer beginning with Our Father which was followed by Who Are 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, Forgive Us Our Trespasses as We Forgive Those Who Trespass against Us and Lead Us Not into Temptation.
