Day 39 of 40 Following the Prayer Steps of Jesus

Today is the 39th day of our journey through Jesus’ prayer steps.

In Luke 11 we find Jesus’ followers intrigued by Jesus’ prayer life: 1Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”(Lk. 11:1 ESV).

 Joachim Jeremias (“The Prayers of Jesus”) writes that in the Judaism of Jesus’ time it was common for individual religious groups to have their own customs and practices regarding prayer (63).  We know that the Pharisees and the Essenes had prayer practices unique to their groups.  It appears from the text above that John’s disciples did as well.  Thus, here, the disciples ask Jesus to give them their unique prayer.  They want a prayer that will set them apart from the other religious groups.  They literally want a “Jesus-Prayer.”

But what was the “Jesus-Prayer”?  What prayer would distinguish Christ-ians from all others?  What would it mean to pray in a distinctly Christ-like way?

  Here is the prayer Jesus gave in response to the request: “Father, hallowed be your name.  Your kingdom come. 3Give us each day our daily bread, 4and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.  And lead us not into temptation.”(Lk. 11:2-4 ESV). 

Jeremias argues that one particular word makes this prayer distinctly Christian.  One specific word sets this prayer, and all of Jesus’ prayers, apart from the known prayers of other religious groups of the time: the word “Father.” (63)

Jeremias points out that God is seldom spoken of as “Father” in the Old Testament.  Only 15 times is God directly called “Father” in the Old Testament (Deut. 32:6; 2 Sam. 7:14 (par. 1 Chr. 17:13; 22:10; 28:6); Ps. 68:5; 89:26; Is. 63:16; 64:8; Jer. 3:4, 19; 31:9; Mal. 1:6; 2:10)( there are more instances of God being compared to a father) (12). 

In ancient Palestinian Judaism, God is rarely described as “Father” (only four passages of the Apocrypha describe God as “Father”) (15).  Jeremias could point to only two prayers from ancient Palestinian Judaism which addressed God as “Father.” (24) 

In contrast, Jeremias finds that at least 170 times the word “Father” is used by Jesus of God (29).  More importantly, in almost every one of his recorded prayers, Jesus addressed God as “Father” (55).  Even more surprisingly, Jesus frequently addressed God in prayer as “My Father” and as “Abba.”  Jeremias finds no evidence of “My Father” being used by others in early Palestinian Judaism and suggests this address set Jesus’ prayers apart from all others of the time (57).

What makes Jesus’ prayer distinct is the way he not only addresses God as Father but the way he interacts with God as Father through prayer.  His “Lord’s Prayer” gives us one manifestation of this distinctiveness.  But his actual prayers do as well.  As we listen to Son talk to Father through the recorded prayers of Jesus, we learn what it means to be truly “Christian” in our prayers.

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