Tuesday, March 10, 2020

ABBA, FATHER

“Because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’”  (Galatians 4:6 NRSV)

Calling God “Abba” is rooted in Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane: “And He said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me. Nevertheless, not what I want, but what You will.’”  (Mark 14:36 NKJV)

Abba was an ordinary family word of Jesus’ day. It conveyed intimacy, tenderness, dependence, and complete lack of fear and anxiety. Modern English equivalents would be Daddy or Papa.

No Jew would have dreamed of using this very intimate term to address God. However, Jesus always used this word in His prayers (Aramaic abba or its Greek equivalent pater), with the exception of His cry from the cross.

And Jesus instructed His disciples to use this word in their prayers as well. We are empowered to speak to God just as a small child speaks to his father.

-- David Jeremiah, quoted in “His Passion: Christ’s Journey to the Resurrection”


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