Читать книгу Calvin's Interpretation of 'The Lord's Prayer'. A Rhetorical Approach - Professor J.H. Mazaheri - Страница 8

With regard to one’s posture and gestures in praying, such as kneeling, Calvin declares that these are “exercises” helping us to intensify our deference to God. In other words, they are helpful if sincerely felt, and not automatically or ritually performed: “Quant aux maintiens et façons extérieures du corps qu’on a coustume d’observer (comme de s’agenouiller et de se deffuler), ce sont exercices par lesquels nous nous efforçons de nous appareiller à plus grande révérence de Dieu” (Institution III, xx, 33, 376).1 This is something everyone who prays, somehow at some point, thinks about. Calvin is quite concise on this subject, and has a liberal approach to it, thus remaining faithful to Jesus’ words. The only thing that really matters to him, is that prayer must be genuine and said with the utmost respect to God (“à plus grande révérence de Dieu”), and that is how one’s posture and gestures may become meaningful as well. If we feel that the act of kneeling down (“s’agenouiller”) better expresses our respect to the Father, then we do it withoutout thinking. The same thing could also be said about taking one’s hat off or just any garment—the verb “deffuler” usually refers, in Middle French, to removing one’s hat; but it could also apply to another garment, such an an overcoat. If we feel that we must remove it out of reverence for God, we do it. Here, one just follows the community’s customs (“coustume”). Nonetheless, the main point, implicitly expressed, is that a rite by itself is absurd, and only makes sense if it is observed when sincerely needed, in order to glorify God. To better explicit Calvin’s thought, we may think of Moses at the Burning Bush, a holy place where he felt that he had to remove his sandals. There Moses heard the Holy Spirit saying to him: “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground” (Exodus 3: 5). So if God himself asks you to observe a certain rite—you hear his voice telling you what to do—, you do it. On the other hand, these rites are not important by themselves; that is why Jesus does not attach any importance to them. We just know how he prays himself: alone, with God, and kneeling down—as it is described in Luke 22: 41. Besides, at this particular moment, “In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground” (Luke 22: 44). This reveals the intensity of his feeling when communicating with the Father. Although Calvin does not refer to this passage here, he must have this type of examples in mind to understand what he means by “bodily gestures” in praying. Jesus’ ardor and passion are a perfect model of authentic prayer.