Skip to main content

92. "Our Father"


Matthew 6:9, Luke 11:2, 1 John 3:1-3
Key Verse: "Our Father"

When His parents, Mary and Joseph, found twelve year old Jesus in the Temple, after three days of searching, Jesus responded to Mary's rebuke by saying, "Why were you searching for me?  Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?"  (Luke 2:49) Now, Jesus is using inclusive language to address His Father.  He does not teach His disciples to open their prayer with, "Jesus' Father," or "Father God," or, "My Father," but rather, Jesus teaches His disciples to use an intimate, but corporate term, "Our Father."  Jesus is beginning to teach His disciples that they too can be a part of the family.  We are not only children with individual relationships.  We have a relationship with our heavenly Father, but we also have siblings.

In the religious, idolatrous cultures of Jesus' day, such as that of the Greeks and Romans, the gods were capricious, powerful characters, thought to be endowed with human characteristics.  Mortals saw themselves as subjects of these beings who seemed to be in constant need of appeasement.

Even many religious Jews misunderstood the character of the one true God.  Many of the 603 laws that had come about since the time of the exile were the result of the Jews, under their own strength of will, trying to prevent God from becoming angry with them again. They saw God more from a pagan point of view. They did not know Him as He wanted to be known, through "relationship."

When Jesus begins this prayer with the words, "Our Father," He is extending the offer of both a horizontal relationship through a community of people, and a vertical relationship to our heavenly Father.

As a loving Father, God desires a personal relationship with His children and, like our earthly fathers God enjoys it best when we are having a good relationship with each other.
He is the Father that we can relate to.  He is protector and guide.  When we are His true children, He will discipline.  (Hebrews 12:5-12)  He is a Father whose love will not fail.  What a blessing to know that we belong to Him.  "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!"  (1 John 1:1)

Hymn:  "Children of the Heavenly Father"
& "Children of God" by Casting Crowns 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

211. The Sons of Thunder's Request

Matthew 20:20-28 , Mark 10:35-45 , Key verse: "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all." Mark 10:43B-44 In our readings for yesterday, in which Jesus outlined what was about to happen to Him, for His disciples, the passage in Luke ends: "The disciples did not understand any of this. It's meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what He was talking about." ( Luke 18:34 ) Now, we see just how truly clueless they were. Jesus had laid out a plan before them of pain and suffering and death and now James and John are focused on a promotion. The disconnect is so obvious. It's really not important to know whether James and john came up with this request on their own or if their mother put them up to it. The request was made and James and John thought that they could handle the responsibility that would come with it. What is that saying, "Fools rush in where angels fe...
Post a Comment
Read more

October 27 Save the Glaze for the Bunny

Like a coating of glaze over earthenware are fervent lips of an evil heart. A malicious man disguises himself with his lips. But in his heart, he harbors deceit. Though his speech is charming, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart. His malice may be concealed by deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. If a man digs a pit, he will fall into it. If a man rolls a stone, it will roll back on him. ~Proverbs 26:23-28 For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. Even one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth. T...
Post a Comment
Read more

January 24 You’ll See, He Remembers

The wise inherit honor, but fools He holds up to shame. ~Proverbs 3:35 “Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds.” ~Isaiah 3:10 “God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” ~Hebrews 6:10-12 “The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them. The sins of others trail behind them. In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not cannot be hidden.” ~1 Timothy 5:24-25 “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” ~Matthew 12:36-3...
Post a Comment
Read more