It is so easy for us to take them for granted but when you really think about them there is so much there to ponder.
First of all, there is the simple word 'Our'. Somehow we know that Jesus is not simply referring to the particular group of people who were with him at that particular moment. We just know that it is for all people, throughout all time and in every place and not just for those brief thirty-three years of his life spent in the Palestine of his time.
As to the keyword 'Father,' it is implicit in the prayer that Jesus is addressing God, his Father in heaven, the God who is our Maker who created and holds the universe in existence. So for Jesus to combine all of us with him in relationship to his and, therefore, our Father too is truly amazing.
How comforting, consoling and strengthening is that. No matter what are our failings and failures, our despair and grief, our poor attempts to do better, God the Father is the Father of Jesus and OUR FATHER too. We are all linked to Jesus as his adopted brothers and sisters in the family of God forever.
As to the keyword 'Father,' it is implicit in the prayer that Jesus is addressing God, his Father in heaven, the God who is our Maker who created and holds the universe in existence. So for Jesus to combine all of us with him in relationship to his and, therefore, our Father too is truly amazing.
How comforting, consoling and strengthening is that. No matter what are our failings and failures, our despair and grief, our poor attempts to do better, God the Father is the Father of Jesus and OUR FATHER too. We are all linked to Jesus as his adopted brothers and sisters in the family of God forever.
