Teach us to Pray – part 2
The first thing Jesus teaches us to say in this model prayer is “our Father”.
I can almost count on one hand the number of times God is referred to as a father in the Old Testament; for perspective you should know that the OT makes up three quarters of the Bible. But when Jesus shows up and begins to teach us about God he is constantly referring to his “father”. God is called Father more than 220 times on the pages of the New Testament, most of those from the lips of Jesus. It seems he wants us to know something. Jesus wants us to know God, and to talk to God, the way he does, as a father.
I know the word “father” can come with a lot of baggage for some of us. Some may see it as an endorsement of the patriarchy, whatever that may mean. Some of you have had great dads and had a blessed childhood. I have been, at best, an inconsistent father. I have been impatient and unkind; too often I have been hardhearted, to my everlasting shame. Some of you have had terrible fathers, men who did evil things that have scarred you for life. I am so sorry if that is you, I wish that I could take all that away from you and bury it in the hell it deserves. Some of you have had no father at all because he left or was taken from you.
But what if you could have a father who was always there; who would never leave; who would never die? What if you could have a father who was always patient with you; who was never unkind? A father who you could always call on without fear, even when you are broken down in the middle of the night in a place you should have never been. A father who always forgives but never needs forgiveness. A father who never has to regret any of the words he has spoken to you even if he lives forever, which he will. A father who is not only shockingly wealthy because he owns the cattle on a thousand hills, but who is also embarrassingly generous. A father whose discipline is always perfect. A father whose love is stronger than death.
Some of you are thinking that such a father is too good to be true, but is it?
Jesus used the term Abba when addressing his father. It is a more intimate Aramaic word, something akin to our daddy. Jesus has taken the glory of the inexpressible One; the One who is described as dwelling in clouds and thick darkness; the One whose mere presence could incinerate galaxies; the One the prophets call the Ancient of Days, and he has brought him to earth and told us to call him Dad. This is not religion; this is something else, this is family.
You do not have to be a sociologist to understand the damage that fatherlessness does to a society; the fruits of it are all around us. I cannot fix all the broken fathers in this place, including myself. But we are all invited to return to the one perfect Father, who has been revealed to us by his perfect son. To call upon him in our hour of need, and to bless him in our hour of joy.
Now, go talk to your Dad.
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God..” -John