«You are our Father. , . . You, Lord, are our Father, the One who has always rescued us». Isaiah 63:16, GNT
WHEN THE DISCIPLES asked Jesus to teach them to pray, the first lesson the Master taught them about prayer is found in these words: «When you pray, say this: ‘Father’ » (Luke 11:2, GNT). Now, because of sin we know the relationship between a father and son is not always functional, but under normal circumstances, how do we speak to our earthly parents? Do we resort to an ornate and grandiose vocabulary when communicating with them? No, of course not.
From Jesus’s words we come to understand that the disciples prayed, but not as someone who spoke to a God who was their Father and loved them. When praying they were to understand that they were talking to a family member, and hence they were to do so without employing «vain repetitions» or «many words» (Matthew 6:7).
This greatly contrasted with the way people in Christ’s days spoke to their gods. Historian Eusebius of Caesarea quotes an example of the way the Romans addressed their gods in the figure of the emperor:
The emperor Caesar Galerius Maximianus Invictus Augustus, Pontifex Maximus, Aegyptiacus, Thebaicus, five times Sarmaticus, twice Persicus, six times Carpicus, Armeniacus, conqueror of the Medes and the Adiabeni, twenty times of the tribunate, nineteen times emperor, eight times consul, father of the homeland, proconsul.»*
Sadly, many Christians fall into the same trap: We pray as if we were speaking to the emperor, and we believe the more adjectives we use to refer to God, the sooner He will hear us. What we need to do is address Him as our Father. He doesn’t require a better title than that. Most Bible scholars assume the Lord’s Prayer begins with the Aramean word abba. The Babylonian Talmud records abba as the first word of a child «when it ceases to nurse and begins to eat bread.
Children don’t worry about using words correctly; children only know that, no matter what they say or how they say it, their father will hear them. When praying, what’s important is not what we say, but to whom we say it. Today we can cry out, «You are our Father. . . . You, Lord, are our Father, the One who has always rescued us» (Isaiah 63:16, GNT).
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Taken from: Devotional Readings for Adults 2023
“I AM WITH YOU”
From: J. VLADIMIR POLANCO
Collaborators: Lorina Maya & Avineyda Hernández
