Luke 11: 1 – 4 The Our Father Part II

Luke 11: 1 – 4 The Our Father Part II

I want to think more about the Lord’s Prayer as Jesus’ personal prayer to his father – part of an ongoing conversation if you like. It is not only personal, but passionate, a cry from his very heart and soul. First it’s intimacy is astounding. Was this the first time Jesus addressed God as his “father” to the disciples? I don’t know. Certainly, in those days and all through the ages God was a figure of awe and fear to his people . . . definitely not a beloved, caring father. Yet even though Jesus claims God as father, he also acknowledges God’s holiness, his precedence, and his plan to bring about the Kingdom. Then Jesus switches gears, including others, in this case the disciples, in his prayer – “Give us our daily bread, Forgive us our sins” to let us know we are never alone. In the latter case, Jesus I think is letting us know that we can always change our ways, free ourselves of discouragement and move towards healing (ourselves and others) by asking for, receiving and extending forgiveness. I think the final line is a cry right out of Jesus anguish at that moment. He knows what is coming both for himself and for his disciples and he asks that they be passed over. This is a cry from Jesus’ heart right to the heart of God. It’s intimacy and immediacy is remarkable, and humbling. When I think of how I recite this prayer by rote with hardly a thought I am ashamed. But perhaps the way to do better, for me at least, is not to pray that prayer more thoughtfully, but to use it as an example to work toward my own intimate conversation with God.