There is not one psalm that is addressed to “Father,” “My Father,” or “Our Father.”[1] So when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, and he opened with: “Father, hallowed be your name” (Luke 11:2), it must have seemed foreign to them. They had heard Jesus pray this way. Now he invited them to address the Holy God of Sinai as their Father too. This signaled that big changes were ahead. And he invites you, and he invites me, to share in those changes.
Since the name father summons all kinds of memories for us, here are three passages that fill that name with accurate content.
Luke, in his account of this prayer, is especially interested in correcting misunderstandings of God our Father. He knew that we would need help. Scripture identifies more bad fathers than good ones, so he ends the prayer with Jesus’ extended reflection on God our Father. An average, relatively decent father, he says, will not respond to a child’s request for food by giving that child a snake. And if fathers who are “evil” can do good things, how much more will your heavenly Father give the very best gifts to his
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