Our.
Are you ready for a ride on the first word in the Lord’s Prayer?
Last week we looked at the context of the Lord’s Prayer in the gospel of Luke. This week we’re going to take it slowly and just look at the first word.
Our.
Jesus could have said, “My.” And then we could have forever wondered if he meant just his or that it was meant to cover all of us. But thankfully, he cleared that confusion completely up by using the plural possessive word Our.
Isn’t that nice?
We’re in this together.
You.
Me.
Us.
Our.
It kind of takes for granted that there is an our. It suggests that we won’t all be mini islands floating around not having much to do with one another.
It is a simple reminder at the beginning of our personal communication with the Almighty God of the Universe that we are not only in relationship with the King of Kings, but that we are also in relationship with one another.
Our.
Of course, we can’t go anywhere without also noticing the possessiveness of the word our. Jesus could have said, “The Father” or “A Father,” but he didn’t. He said Our Father. He’s ours, which means he’s different from their’s. As much as the world wants to be tolerant and hopeful that there are many ways to eternal bliss. That’s just not the picture the Bible paints. Our Father sets himself apart from all the others. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
And there’s one more thing about that tiny word. I think it also recommends itself to reflect our choice in the matter. Not that we choose to make him our Father. We don’t make God anything. He already is. However, we do make choices for our own lives, and making the choice to believe and to trust him, to know him as our Father isn’t something small. It’s a very big deal that changes the way our world looks.
I don’t suppose I can explain all of that in a few hundred words. Oh, I probably couldn’t explain it even if I had thousands of words. Knowing God as my father is a daily learning experience for me and a journey I will never regret embarking on.
Our.
He is my father. He is our Father.
Our.
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Very nice piece of writing, Mary Beth. And a very nice reminder.
Thanks Fred!
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