When He taught us to pray, Jesus began with the words, “Our Father.” That means something, I think . . . more than maybe we’ll ever know. There is at least one “good father,” and every child ever born can know Him. ❤️
Actually, the Hebrew word Jesus used was “Abba”. It’s the equivalent to calling God “Daddy” or “Dada”.
In essence, Jesus was saying, when you pray, crawl into the lap of God as you did when you were a child with your own father and say, “Daddy … “ before you ask for what you need.
That was unthinkable - positively revolutionary - to a people whose image of God was an angry God of punishment and retribution. God was a god to be feared, approached trembling in awe.
With his good, solid Rabbinical prayer - which was an echo of the songs of prayer he probably heard his mother Mary sing around the house, such as her own Magnificat, Hannah’s Song, Deborah’s song, and the song of Miriam and Moses - he was teaching his disciples to imagine God in a whole new way.
He also described God as “a mother hen gathering her chicks,” a “woman eagerly searching for a lost coin”, and a “baker integrating her kingdom”.
I agree, Elizabeth. And I wasn't trying to inject any sexist bias by writing what I wrote about "Our Father." Jesus certainly never viewed the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as "an angry God of punishment and retribution," and I don't think that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Miriam, Rahab, Ruth, Esther, Deborah, Hanna, David, Bathsheba, Solomon, or any of the Hebrew prophets did either. That's our modernist gloss, I think, because we get too tired or lazy trying to figure out the God of the Bible who is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow and who is forever inscrutable but also always is "Love." And yes, Jesus undoubtedly grew up with the songs of Mary and the stories of Joseph that helped shape his human understanding of his "Abba." In my work as an attorney representing our state's child welfare agency, I see every day what a good father can be for a family and also how destructive can be an unfit parent of either gender. But on our one day of the year, I wanted to put in a plug for all of us "Daddys" who are trying our best to look like our "Abba." Chris Tomlin has a beautiful song that I ended my own Fathers' Day post with today that I think that you'll like if you've never heard it before. At my request this morning, our sound tech played it for our exit music at our little struggling Baptist church after our pastor gave a fantastic message on Fathers' Day from the Book of Esther. Our sound tech is named Carla, and she is such a gift to our church. She always tells me and my wife, "I'm so glad that you two became members here!" No one encourages me in word or deed there as much as she does. https://youtu.be/CqybaIesbuA?si=OREQcG3mIKOcK8lr
My favorite "balance" comes from Genesis, "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." Or as Adam said when he first saw his God-made beautiful bride, "WOW!"
Hmm . . . I never thought about that. Wonder what Eve's thoughts were when she first laid eyes on Adam. You know about Lillith, right? According to Jewish folklore (the story/myth that didn't make it into scripture), she was first, but she left b/c she demanded equality with Adam.
I like to think that Eve was as equally impressed with Adam as he was with her. About Lilith . . . I do know the Jewish folklore about her. I think that was just some vivid Hebrew imagination, but I loved how the T.V. show Frasier wrote her character into their script. Bebe Neuwirth played her there to perfection!
I didn’t have a clue what I was doing after growing up in a violent alcoholic home. I did what many others have done: I focused on telling and showing my kids I loved them so they wouldn’t have to ask. Then I did other things wrong. We all did the best we could, even if our best wasn’t that good. Good reflection!
That's all any of us can do. The best we can. And sometimes, that's not enough. Same thing with our parents. And their parents. All the way back to Adam and Eve.
After your recent comment on my Substack, Pam and I were inspired to watch it again last night. I knew some of the classic scenes, but I’d forgotten how rich this film is. Youre so right, no one is beyond redemption…and often the redeeming force comes crazy out of left field.
A great piece on what's become a difficult day for me since losing my stepdad 2+ years ago. Thank you.
I’m sorry for your loss
When He taught us to pray, Jesus began with the words, “Our Father.” That means something, I think . . . more than maybe we’ll ever know. There is at least one “good father,” and every child ever born can know Him. ❤️
Actually, the Hebrew word Jesus used was “Abba”. It’s the equivalent to calling God “Daddy” or “Dada”.
In essence, Jesus was saying, when you pray, crawl into the lap of God as you did when you were a child with your own father and say, “Daddy … “ before you ask for what you need.
That was unthinkable - positively revolutionary - to a people whose image of God was an angry God of punishment and retribution. God was a god to be feared, approached trembling in awe.
With his good, solid Rabbinical prayer - which was an echo of the songs of prayer he probably heard his mother Mary sing around the house, such as her own Magnificat, Hannah’s Song, Deborah’s song, and the song of Miriam and Moses - he was teaching his disciples to imagine God in a whole new way.
He also described God as “a mother hen gathering her chicks,” a “woman eagerly searching for a lost coin”, and a “baker integrating her kingdom”.
Earth-shaking, earth-moving, revolutionary stuff.
I agree, Elizabeth. And I wasn't trying to inject any sexist bias by writing what I wrote about "Our Father." Jesus certainly never viewed the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as "an angry God of punishment and retribution," and I don't think that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Miriam, Rahab, Ruth, Esther, Deborah, Hanna, David, Bathsheba, Solomon, or any of the Hebrew prophets did either. That's our modernist gloss, I think, because we get too tired or lazy trying to figure out the God of the Bible who is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow and who is forever inscrutable but also always is "Love." And yes, Jesus undoubtedly grew up with the songs of Mary and the stories of Joseph that helped shape his human understanding of his "Abba." In my work as an attorney representing our state's child welfare agency, I see every day what a good father can be for a family and also how destructive can be an unfit parent of either gender. But on our one day of the year, I wanted to put in a plug for all of us "Daddys" who are trying our best to look like our "Abba." Chris Tomlin has a beautiful song that I ended my own Fathers' Day post with today that I think that you'll like if you've never heard it before. At my request this morning, our sound tech played it for our exit music at our little struggling Baptist church after our pastor gave a fantastic message on Fathers' Day from the Book of Esther. Our sound tech is named Carla, and she is such a gift to our church. She always tells me and my wife, "I'm so glad that you two became members here!" No one encourages me in word or deed there as much as she does. https://youtu.be/CqybaIesbuA?si=OREQcG3mIKOcK8lr
Didn't hear you trying to inject sexist bias. Just adding a little balance. Thanks for the song. It's lovely.
My favorite "balance" comes from Genesis, "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." Or as Adam said when he first saw his God-made beautiful bride, "WOW!"
Hmm . . . I never thought about that. Wonder what Eve's thoughts were when she first laid eyes on Adam. You know about Lillith, right? According to Jewish folklore (the story/myth that didn't make it into scripture), she was first, but she left b/c she demanded equality with Adam.
I like to think that Eve was as equally impressed with Adam as he was with her. About Lilith . . . I do know the Jewish folklore about her. I think that was just some vivid Hebrew imagination, but I loved how the T.V. show Frasier wrote her character into their script. Bebe Neuwirth played her there to perfection!
I didn’t have a clue what I was doing after growing up in a violent alcoholic home. I did what many others have done: I focused on telling and showing my kids I loved them so they wouldn’t have to ask. Then I did other things wrong. We all did the best we could, even if our best wasn’t that good. Good reflection!
That's all any of us can do. The best we can. And sometimes, that's not enough. Same thing with our parents. And their parents. All the way back to Adam and Eve.
After your recent comment on my Substack, Pam and I were inspired to watch it again last night. I knew some of the classic scenes, but I’d forgotten how rich this film is. Youre so right, no one is beyond redemption…and often the redeeming force comes crazy out of left field.
And, always unexpected. And, usually undeserved. At least, in my experience.
We liked that movie. I has a good (but by no means perfect) dad. I wrote about him on my old blog once