A number of people didn't make it last night because of the cold/flu going around so four of us talked about all kinds of things, half of which I can't remember, from David and Bathsheba to the Passover ritual before the Exodus, to Moses' life before the Exodus, to crazy paranoid Herod, to the Prophet Samuel and Prophetess Anna, to the purification of women after giving birth, to what to what it must have been like for Joseph and Mary to walk up those Temple steps for the Presentation of Jesus. Again, this was the first time "God" had returned to the Temple in about 500 years. If you read my last two posts, with the Q&As, you will get the gist of that.
In the upcoming weeks we will be tackling the Sermon on the Mount, which is heavy duty stuff. That is also when the Lord's Prayer is given by Jesus. To prepare for this, we have started an exegesis on the Our Father. For those who don't remember, "exegesis" is a biblical term which means to investigate, analyze, unpack, interpret. It is pronounced: "eks-eh-jesus." In fact, the first time Taylor heard it, she thought I was talking about having breakfast with the Lord (eggs 'n Jesus!).
We've seen so far how much meaning there is to be unpacked in all of scripture. At the very least: the context of the story, the cultural traditions of the characters, the religious customs and overtones, the often hidden meanings in the story (especially parables), and how passages in the OT and NT are connected. Now try and image how much meaning is packed into a prayer given by the Lord himself; and so it is! What I will provide you tonight has even more layers of meaning that reaches out to each person wherever they are spiritually. For me, every year I find different things myself. In this sense, once you start digging, it's kind of like a gift that keeps on giving.
Anyway, here is the initial exegesis on the very first part of the prayer: "Our Father Who Art in Heaven." I will expound on the second phrase of the prayer in a few days, and then you will be caught up to where the group is.
Our Father Who Art in Heaven
“Our Father Who Art in Heaven” – first thing to notice is how the best prayer starts by raising our minds off ourselves and up to God. The starting point and ending point for everything in our life.
1. “Father” – this was the first time the Jews every heard of God being called father. What they didn’t realize at the time was that by Jesus becoming one of us, we were becoming family.
2. “Our” – Jesus is already informing his disciples that we are a “we.” Kind of like there is no “I” in Team. “We” is about the Trinity, it is about family, it is about all our encounters and engagements, it is about the human race. I was once asked if we could pray this prayer as “My Father….” Of course, we can, because it’s hard to put God to work in your life on our “we” issues if we don’t first have our own personal relationship with Him. However, “Our” is the bigger meaning, for the personal relationship with God is all about the “We.” Perhaps rotate My and Our.
3. “In Heaven” – where might this be? It is not “over there.” Heaven, the angels, and the Trinity are all around us. Think of blind and deaf man standing in a beautiful meadow with sunflowers next to a babbling creek. He can’t see the colors and he can’t hear the creek or the birds in the nearby maple trees. All these things exist, but he doesn’t experience them. How great it would be if he could! We humans only have 5 senses which are further limited by our physical space and time. When we enter heaven, we will gain the remainder of our spiritual senses – which will be like the suddenly seeing/hearing of the man above. Further, we will not have any physical limitations. Actually, our prayers are already linking us to heaven because prayers are not limited by space or time already.
Next up: Hallowed Be Thy Name
Maranatha!
Ron
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