Teach Us to Pray · Stop 1
Why do we call God “Father” when we pray?
Jesus' friends watched him pray, often before sunrise and sometimes all night. One day one of them asked him to teach them how. His answer starts with two words. Today you'll find out why those two come first.
Start this stopOur Father
Most people learn the Lord's Prayer by hearing it, long before anyone explains it. Christians have prayed it every day for about two thousand years. The Bible has two versions: a longer one in Matthew and a shorter one in Luke.
Jesus spoke Aramaic. When he prayed, he called God Abba, the word a child used for their father. People never forgot it. Paul kept the Aramaic word in letters to churches that spoke Greek.
If “father” is a hard word for you, because of your own dad or because you never had one, you're not alone. Jesus used the word for the best kind of parent: one who wants to hear from you and gives good things. That's the Father this prayer talks to.
“Our” matters too. Nobody prays this prayer alone, even in an empty room. Every time you say it, you're praying with everyone else who says it, and they're family.
Read it in your Bible
- Luke 11:1–2. Jesus finishes praying, and one of his disciples asks him to teach them, the way John the Baptist taught his followers. Jesus begins with the word “Father.”
- Matthew 6:7–9. Jesus tells his followers not to pile up words, as if God hears better when we talk longer. God already knows what you need before you ask. Then he gives them the prayer.
- Luke 11:11–13. Jesus asks the parents in the crowd whether they'd hand their child a snake when the child asked for a fish. If people who get plenty wrong still give good gifts, the Father will give the Holy Spirit to anyone who asks.
The opening and Luther's explanation
Our Father who art in heaven.
What does this mean? God would by these words tenderly invite us to believe that He is our true Father, and that we are His true children, so that we may with all boldness and confidence ask Him as dear children ask their dear father.
Words to know
- Abba. The Aramaic word Jesus used for his father, the way a child would say it. Jesus invites you to talk to God that close up.
- Disciple. A follower and student of Jesus. The disciples asked to learn how to pray. You're allowed to ask too.
- Prayer. Talking with God, out loud or in your head. No special words are required. Jesus gave us some anyway, for days when we can't find our own.
- Heaven. Where the prayer says our Father is. “In heaven” says God is bigger than anything on earth, and still listening to you.