Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Matthew 6:9a "In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven."
OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN
Jesus did not teach the whole world to pray the Lord's Prayer and call God their Father. Jesus was addressing His disciples or followers when He spoke the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6, 7), during which He taught them the so-called Lord's Prayer.
This teaching is offensive to many, because they want to think they are good enough to call God their Father. They don't necessarily think they are better than others, but they think they are just as good as others. If Peter, James, and John can call God their Father, well then, so can they.
In the Gospel of John (chapter 8) there is recorded an extended conversation that Jesus had with the religious leaders of His day. The topic of conversation was who had the right to call God their Father. Jesus, of course, consistently called God His Father, because He was and is the eternal Son of God. As the eternal Son of God, Jesus is equal to God. In other words, He is just as much God as His Father is God.
But what about the religious leaders in Palestine? Could they be called the children of God? Could they call the almighty God their Father? They thought so. They told Jesus: "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father -- God." Their reference to fornication may be a slam at Jesus. Perhaps they knew something about the strange circumstances of His birth. Who was Jesus' father anyway? Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth, adopted Him, but who was His father anyway? A Roman soldier? A neighboring farmer? A transient from Jerusalem? Sad to say, there are many in our day who repeat such notions and consider themselves scholars of the Bible.
The fact is that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, as prophesied hundreds of years earlier by the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 7:14). So Jesus had a holy birth. A unique holy birth. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the sexually pure virgin Mary. Jesus was not born of fornication or sexual immorality. In fact, He is the only one born of woman, of whom it can be said that He was and is without sin.
