Our Father

[Y]our Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven…” (Mt. 6:8-9 ESV)

Jesus taught the people how to pray. There are a number of very good works considering the Lord’s Prayer as a unity, among them a classic by Dietrich Bonhoeffer in The Cost of Discipleship and a more contemporary one by Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove in a recent book on prayer entitled Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers, both of which I recommend highly. But here I want to consider only one aspect of the prayer, the earth shattering assertion by Jesus that God is the father of us all.

Jesus spoke these words during his earthly ministry and they were spoken to Jewish listeners. I imagine few if any of those in his audience would have thought of the phrase “Our Father” as including anyone outside of the Jewish fold. Yet we know it was his intention to be inclusive by his commission in Mt. 28:19 to “make disciples of all nations.” This was such a revolutionary idea that many of the first followers of Christ, Jews who believed that Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s promises only to the nation of Israel, could not imagine including Gentiles into their midst. But in fact Jesus did intend that. Jesus established a kingdom for people of all nations.

The first century Jews Jesus ministered to were possessed of an almost unbelievable exclusivity. Had not God chosen them from all the nations of the world to be his holy people? So ingrained was this sense of election among them that they felt defiled even by touching foreign ground. The custom of shaking the dust from one’s feet was practiced by Jews returning from Gentile regions as a symbol of ridding oneself of the corruption of the foreign world. A Gentile could become a proselyte but only by subscribing to the practice of the entire Mosaic Law as it was then understood, which included circumcision. To Jewish Christians, Gentiles who claimed God’s promise outside of the law remained unwelcome strangers. They were, in effect, illegal aliens.

But Jesus threw the gates of God’s kingdom wide open! And, as it was later revealed by the Holy Spirit through Phillip, Peter, and Paul, it seemed the price of admission had just gotten a lot lower. The former condition for inclusion in the kingdom by strict adherence to the law was replaced by a single requirement: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another” (John 13:34). This is a mandate we inherit, and it is not to be a romantic or sentimental attachment. Jesus means for us to love each other “just as I have loved you.” How did he love us? He gave everything, and then he died so those who despised him could enter his kingdom.

The first thing Jesus tells us to pray for in the Lord’s Prayer is that God’s kingdom be established “on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus’ heavenly kingdom is one that includes people of all nations, and we are commanded to pray for that kind of kingdom here and now. God established Jesus’ kingdom through his death and resurrection but the work is not yet finished. It is not yet done on earth as it is in heaven. But I am convinced that this prayer does not let me off the hook to go about living in the fallen world as if nothing had changed, expecting God at some point to step in and finally make everything right. In fact, if I claim to be a follower of Christ, this prayer is a call to action: to work to make his kingdom a reality.

Throughout the Bible God demonstrates concern for the poor, the sick, and the oppressed both Jew and Gentile. That concern was epitomized in the crucifixion. I cannot claim to be a follower of Jesus if I will not follow him to the cross.