Our Father

How often have we recited the words Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father”? More times than we can count, right? But what are we saying when we pray them?

In English, we use two words to pray “Our Father.” In Hebrew, we are praying using only one אָבִינוּ (avinu) literally “The Father of us.” When we pray “Our Father,” we are praying both possessively and communally (the “Father-of-us”) and not individually (“the father we share”). The first breath of the prayer Jesus teaches us to pray puts us into God’s family before it asks for anything.

This familial relationship with God and his family has its roots in the Old Testament. (See Deuteronomy 32:6, Isaiah 64:8, Malachi 2:10). In the New Testament, we hear Jesus praying, “Abba, Father.” Abba is the Aramaic word for the Hebrew word for “father” - Avi. The first breath of Jesus’ prayer is in the voice of a tender, small child calling to his loving and good father. Jesus teaches us to do the same. Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6 carry this same thought into our prayers, declaring to us that the Spirit cries “Abba” in our hearts.

When we pray, we are never alone and apart from our good Father who loves us and who is for us and who can do “far more than we can ask or imagine.” When we pray, may we always pray, “Our Father,” Father-of-us, Avinu, Abba, Daddy.