“Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name (Matthew 6:9).”
You may recall that I skipped over the Lord’s Prayer when I covered the Sermon on the Mount. Having examined the Unforgivable Sin and the Inoffensive Sin, I return to the Lord’s Prayer now. I will rely on Kenneth Bailey’s Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes for much of this insight. I highly recommend the book!
Jesus prayed “Our Father” in Aramaic, the language of everyday people in that time and place. We take it for granted to be able to pray in English, but Judaism and Islam hold that you must pray in Hebrew and Arabic respectively, and the Catholic Church stopped having mass in Latin in the 1960s. We can pray from our heart, without having to translate into some other language.
In Aramaic, the word “Father” is a very familiar term, closer to “Dad”. Throughout the Old Testament, God is referred to by dozens of different names such as the Creator God, the Lord God and Lord is our Banner. A handful of times, he is referred to as being “like a Father”, but never “Dad.” This was shocking and revolutionary: God wants to have a personal relationship with us. We celebrate how the Veil between the Temple and the Holy of Holies was torn at Jesus’ death, that four-inch thick curtain that was a wall between us and our God. No one before or since has ever suggested addressing the Supreme Being in such familiar terms.
Lest we forget who our Dad is, the next phrase reminds us he is in Heaven, on his throne, Creator and Ruler of the Universe, everything that is, was or ever will be. As King David wrote in Psalm 139, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” I believe this is true of each and every person, creature, tree and blade of grass or kelp in history, not to mention the sun, the moon and every star that he called by name and set in its course. As the song goes, Our God is an Awesome God!
Hallowed means “Holy, separate, perfect”. Name can mean “reputation” or it can mean “authority”. A policeman might say, “stop in the name of the law.” God’s authority, his sovereignty, is holy and perfect. We bow down before him.
As Jesus warned against “vain repetition” just before giving this prayer, I try to remember to translate this prayer in my mind, as I recite it, so it does not become rote and stale. Something like “Our Dad, Creator of everything that was, is or ever will be, your power, plan and authority are perfect.” Note the first person plural. Not “my Father”. “Our”. Yours, his, hers, theirs. A prayer meant to be prayed publicly and together. Quite the opening line!
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