Week 3, day 1: Why should we trust Jesus here?
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…” (New International Version)
“Our Father in heaven: may your holy name be honoured…” (Good News Bible)
This week’s thoughts are from the Green family - parents Dan and Karen, with children Jasmine (15), Layla (13) and Noah (10).
Dan Green writes:
‘Oh my gosh Dad, that is so predictable. I must have heard a hundred talks about that already!’
‘Can someone please go and get the sour cream from the fridge?’
‘Why do we call God our father anyway, it’s such a cliché.’
‘Noah, can you please stop kicking me under the table!’
It turns out that writing a reflection as a family isn’t always straightforward, and is definitely not a linear process. Instead, our conversations are full of interruptions, seemingly random contributions, somebody occasionally bursting into song… and every now and then an absolute gem of an insight from somebody who is looking at things from a completely different angle to me!
As we discussed today’s verse over our chicken fajita wraps, the question that we got most fixated on was why Jesus instructs us to pray to God the Father, rather than directly to himself (as Jesus) or to the Holy Spirit. We batted back and forth various possibilities that we could think of: that it would have seemed weird and egotistical for Jesus to invite people to pray to him (especially as they hadn’t yet realised who he was), and that he hadn’t yet explained that he would send the Holy Spirit (that would come later, before he ascended to heaven).
My mind drifted to reasons why some people can find it difficult relating to God as father, and I couldn’t help thinking that if Jesus is the best picture of God that we have (the image of the invisible God, as Colossians 1 puts it) then wouldn’t it make sense if we addressed our prayers to him?
It was Jasmine who cut through my wandering thoughts, and offered a different perspective. It was so good that I asked her to write it down and Whatsapp it to me! Here it is:
‘Why do we use this prayer as our template, and why do we follow Jesus’ example in addressing God as father? I think in the end it all comes down to how we think of Jesus, and what we know about his relationship with God. Why do we trust a teacher with what they teach us? It is because we know that they have had experiences and lessons that help them to know what’s right or what’s best. Therefore, when we are told things by people wiser in a subject than we are, we believe them and copy them. It’s the same with the Lord’s prayer: we can use these words ‘our father in heaven, hallowed be your name’ because those are the words of someone who has had the experiences and knowledge needed to declare those things accurate and right.’
So there it was. I could have spent all evening chewing over the pros and cons of different approaches and different language, but Jasmine had reminded me of the value of simple faith and that there’s a place for saying that we’ll follow Jesus, copy Jesus, take Jesus’ words at face value…. just because we trust him and trust that he knows best.