Wednesday 22nd May
Read Matthew 6:9-13
“This, then, is how you should pray:
‘“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.” (NIVUK)
It is surprising sometimes to reflect on just how privileged we are to be taught this prayer. Jesus can uniquely pray to His Father, as He is the Son of God. Yet he teaches His followers to pray ‘Abba Father’ also. As the writer to the Hebrews reminds his flock, Jesus identifies as our brother and grants us the privilege of sharing in sonship.
Just how rapidly this understanding of the faith developed is best illustrated in Paul’s letter to the Galatian believers, a gentile church in modern-day Turkey. Writing to followers of Jesus, Paul reminds them of just this privilege. “Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’ 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.” (Galatians 4:6-7) (NIVUK). When he writes to them and reminds them of what the Spirit calls out to God in prayer, and it is written in Aramaic in the letter!
Ponder that for a moment. Paul writes to remind them of what they have been regularly praying, in Aramaic, the language Jesus taught His followers to pray in, not their native language. This letter is one of the earliest letters written, even pre-dating the gospels. From the very beginning of the faith the privilege of sonship taught in Jesus’ prayer was on the lips of Gentiles hundreds of kilometres away from Israel.
It is on our lips too at the very bottom of the planet. Have you fully grasped the privilege captured in this prayer?
