THE LORD'S PRAYER D: RELATIONSHIP; OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN

RELATIONSHIP

(Our) Father in heaven.

First discovery: I have heard so much about the word for father being abba, Father, or Daddy, that I could not believe what I discovered when I came to my Greek Interlinear NT and Strong's concordance. Every time the word father is translated father it is the Greek word “pater”. (Means Father or Parent) Awb, or abba, is the word used for Father in the Old Testament, and as to it meaning “daddy” I'll touch on that in the next installment under “Your name be hallowed.”

But note that Jesus begins his teaching on prayer by having the disciples recognize or acknowledge the relationship. Hitherto, I have emphasized what might be an “evangelical” insistence that before God can hear our prayer we have to become His children in a John 1:12 sense “but to as many as received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God.” But upon reflection of the Matthew message of the revolutionary concept of the Kingdom of God being at hand, and of breaking through all the religious barriers the leaders of the day had put up, and in light of the rest of the book's teaching on the readiness of God to receive his children's request because he IS the Father, I think I am changing my view. This arrogance , that unless we “measure up” or earn God's favour, he will not hear us, is precisely what Jesus condemned in the Pharisees. They prided themselves on their being “chosen” and more holy than anyone else, and therefore more sure of having their prayers heard. Connect all the other references to God the Father, and I think you may conclude that what Jesus is asking or telling his disciples is that the first thing in praying is to acknowledge that God is the Father. We don't have to do anything to make him the Father. He is our father by Creation. Our father in heaven. We are already his children. But we do have to acknowledge that fact and give him that place in our lives if we are going to gain the benefits of that relationship. It is as if John 1:12 says “as many as receive or accept the truth, and believe or trust, to them he gives the right to experience the privileges of son-ship. We make such a deal about “accepting Jesus into our hearts” that we forget the rest of John 1:12 that tells us we become sons “not of natural descent, nor of human decision, or a husbands will, but born of God”. We talk about being adopted into the family of God as though the infant initiated the process and 'isn't God lucky to have us want to join the family?'. He adopted us. We are his children by a double process, and we have had little to do with either except as we awaken to the truth and “receive” it. And as pointed out in my ponderings on the Apostle's Creed, when I say I believe in God the Father Almighty, or when I say in the Lord's Prayer “our” or my Father in Heaven”, I am saying that everything that follows now, will take on a different perspective because the one to whom I am coming is unlike any other. While, heavenly, he is not an angel, nor a wrathful or whimsical Grecian or Roman deity or demigod, but he is a “Father”. On the other hand he is not “just a father” with the earthly limitations that we know fathers to have. Rather he is the Heavenly Father, and that means he has all the power that the Creator God has. Furthermore, as the Creator of us in particular He knows every detail about our humanity, and as explained in the other passages that Jesus gives to us, He cares for us as a father cares for his children. I suspect that if we reminded ourselves of this truth every time we came to prayer, we would be overwhelmed with the wonder of it. Could we not almost stop right there sometimes, and when our hearts are heavy, or we feel our need to be the greatest, could we not just whisper, or cry out: “Father” and leave it at that? Or for our own sake add the modifier, “who is in heaven”, and thus go on, confident that we are coming to one who is both willing and able to meet every need.

Imagine, what would be the point of mentioning any of the rest of the petitions or phrases, if the first were not true. If we don't have the Relationship, if God is not the Father, why presume we will be heard? And if it is not the Heavenly (or Divine) Father, why presume that even if we were heard, that there would be any inclination or power to answer?

So Jesus invites us, or instructs us, all of us, to come to God. Come by faith, or trust, as it says in Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists AND THAT HE REWARDS (answers) THOSE WHO EARNESTLY SEEK HIM.” And furthermore Jesus tells us that we come to him as “our Father”.