Dare to say "Our Father"

In the gospel of Matthew, after warning his followers against ostentatious prayer, or babbling with many words,

 Jesus tells them how to pray. The Lord’s Prayer is simple and powerful, consisting in Matthew of fifty-two words (Matt. 6:9-13).

Commentators point out that Jesus uses an intimate word in addressing the Creator: "Abba." It is close to "Dad." The Creator is brought close to those who can say "our" Abba, not "my" Abba. Each of us who can say "our" is a member of a community, a community that cuts across all barriers of race, culture, tribe, or nation. The "our" binds us into the community of the baptized and serves as a reminder of that inescapable link, whatever may be the forces that weaken—or ever seem to destroy--it. The poorest of the poor as well as the mighty of the earth have the same access to the Creator and to his grace; they can all dare to say "our Father."

The almost unutterable tragedy in the Christian community is the spectacle of Christians daring to say "our" while lining up against each other under separate banners of unrelenting nationalisms. The murderous tribalisms and ethnic hatreds of earlier ages emerge in the twentieth century as slogans proudly worn by followers of Jesus originating in France, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Italy, and other nations.

The petitions in Matthew have a different resonance, a different poignancy in accord with the needs and crises of each age. That the name of the Creator should be hallowed in the hearts of all Christians is the very ground of faith. In the nuclear age, however, the linking of some of the petitions in the Lord’s Prayer with peace is close to the hearts o many Christians.

"Your kingdom come" has deep significance of peace. We remember that even after his resurrection, Jesus had to emphasize to his disciples that they were not to launch into a program of "restoring the kingdom of Israel." The earthly kingdom was of the greatest importance to members of the Jewish community humiliated under the rule of a pagan empire. The Messiah was to come and redeem them from this loathsome state of lowliness. This was what they expected, and when the one from Nazareth cruelly dashed their hopes of liberation, many Jews no longer walked with him.

The ones who did walk with him gradually realized that the kingdom preached by Jesus had a far different meaning from the one to which they were accustomed. It was a kingdom which, while already present in mystery when the poor are fed, the suffering are healed, and the enemies are loved, will only come to its fullness in eternal life.

When he cured the demon-possessed man, Jesus announced that the act had been performed by the power of the Almighty, telling the onlookers that "the kingdom of God has come upon you" (Matt. 12:28). When a scribe answers Jesus with understanding, echoing the teaching of love of God and neighbor, Jesus tells the man that he is not far from the kingdom of God.

The Lord’s Prayer is part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, in which we learn that among those blessed are the "poor is spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Also blessed are those who mourn, those who try to be peacemakers (a thankless and often dangerous task), and those who are persecuted, insulted, and the object of attack. These would have their place in the kingdom of God. How vastly different are the values of the kingdoms of the world and the kingdom of God.

The consequences of following a Messiah who preached the otherworldly type of kingdom were grave. The allegiance to this kingdom would shatter any allegiance of the kingdoms of this world, however powerful or demanding.

Eileen Egan worked with Catholic Relief Services for 40 years and was a co-founder of Pax Christi USA. She died October 7, 2000, at the age of 88.

Reprinted from Peace Be With You: Justified Warfare or the Way of Nonviolence, ©1999 by Eileen Egan. Used by permission of Orbis Books. Watch for a review of this book in a future edition of spiritrestoration.org.