Embracing the Lord's Prayer: A Journey of Connection

The Lord's Prayer is unique and atypical in two significant ways. Simplicity and simplicity. And it's speech. Simplicity and speech. First of all, Lord's Prayer that Jesus gave us is very short. 72 words in Greek, 53 words in English. It can be prayed even slowly in less than a minute. It's so simple. Yet, Jesus said it contains all the petitions we need to ask. [00:08:47] (33 seconds)


Jesus didn't like this religious prayer of a pagan people because they think a prayer is some kind of performance or transaction based on the eloquence and rationality. Especially doubled up by the quantity of the word. Jesus said prayer is a real, simple, personal conversation with God. So it's a simplicity. It's very unusual if you ever compare it to the other ancient prayers. [00:10:13] (34 seconds)


New Testament scholars think the Lord's Prayer begins with an Aramaic word. Abba, which means Daddy or Papa. Jesus told his disciples to pray in the Aramaic. But in the New Testament, of course, it's written in Greek. It was translated. Now, Aramaic was the common language of Jesus' time rather than classical Hebrews. [00:10:52] (30 seconds)


This simple Lord's Prayer is a language that we can use to communicate with God. Language and language, speech, is such a blessing of God. Do you know Greek Orthodox intentionally kept the word Abba when they cite the Lord's Prayer, even though in Greek it was a pater, you know, father in Greek, because they want to show their appreciation of Christ who took this common vernacular language of Aramaic to be a God's language for us. [00:14:39] (36 seconds)


The affectionate aspect of the Lord's Prayer reveals, this is very important, Jesus' divine identity, and then grace to us. Because when you look at Jesus in the gospel, Jesus never prayed our prayer, our father. He never said our father. He always talked to God as my father, or sometimes the father. [00:17:28] (31 seconds)


He is a true son of God by his own nature and power, but we are children of God by grace of adoption. You know, Jewish people, they pray their daily 18th prayer with the God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob. And then that expression, it has some kind of meaning, that is what God is. [00:19:04] (28 seconds)


The God's authority or Father's authority is not imposed or artificial but is intrinsic and authentic. In that sense, God's authority is dramatically, drastically different from the authority of others such as human rulers. Take, you know, for instance in the 4th century, there was a Roman emperor named Caesar Gallerius. [00:21:42] (30 seconds)


Lord's Prayer gives us authority, even audacity, to approach God in our prayers. As the children of God, when we call God Abba or Daddy, we know we have all God's ears. And the archangels, they are paying attention to you and me. just like anytime my children call me I make myself available even though you don't have that privilege. [00:27:12] (36 seconds)


This word our is significant because it turns even our individual prayers into prayers for others so in that sense the Lord's prayer from the beginning from the very first word is already a prayer for us the intercessory prayer all prayers should be intercessory prayer true prayer is not just ending with my circle of life but goes far beyond the people that I know or my family. [00:28:56] (35 seconds)