We live, as Jesus lived, in a world all too full of injustice, hunger, malice and evil. This prayer cries out for justice, bread, forgiveness and deliverance. If anyone thinks those are irrelevant in today’s world, let them read the newspaper and think again.
The more I studied Jesus in his historical setting, the more it has become clear to me that this prayer sums up fully and accurately, albeit in a very condensed fashion, the way in which he read and responded to the signs of the times, the way in which he understood his own vocation and mission and invited his followers to share it. This prayer, then, serves as a lens through which to see Jesus himself, and to discover something of what he was about.
Nicholas Thomas Wright (born 1 December 1948), known as N. T. Wright, is an English New Testament scholar, is one of the world’s leading Bible scholars. He is research professor emeritus of New Testament and early Christianity at the University of St. Andrews and senior research fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford.
The Lord's Prayer: A Mathematician's Creed 