November 28th, 2020

This Sunday is the First Sunday in Advent, and it starts the church year. It should not be too surprising that the Old Testament text is from Isaiah [64:1-9]. The Gospel according to Mark starts almost immediately with a quote from that book. This year three of the four Sundays in Advent will have the Old Testament text from Isaiah.

​The connections between Isaiah and the New Testament are numerous. One of the more interesting ones is calling God ‘Father’. This title is extremely rare in the Old Testament, but when it happens, Isaiah is often the place. And it happens most often at the end of the book.

Here is a somewhat literal translation of those verses where that occurs:

Nevertheless, you, Yahweh, our Father, although Abraham does not know us, and Israel does distinguish us; you, Yahweh, our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name (63:16).

And now, Yahweh, our Father you are, we are the clay, and you are our potter, and the work of your hand is all of us (64:7).

The text for this Sunday contains the last time the phrase ‘Our Father’ will be used in the Old Testament when referring to God. It is indeed a very rare thing. It is so well known in the New Testament, especially since the Gospel according to Matthew is the first account that many people encounter. The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ first sermon in this gospel account, and the use of ‘Father’ within that sermon is extremely frequent. The Lord’s Prayer is within that sermon, and its importance is shown in that the use of the word ‘Father’ in the Lord’s Prayer is the middle use within the sermon.

The Lord’s Prayer is indeed a special prayer. A little less familiar fact regarding that prayer is the fact that the two words ‘the evil’ are the last two words of the prayer. Many people add a conclusion, or at least an ‘Amen’ to the end of the prayer. But the prayer in the text ends with the final petition to, literally, ‘deliver us from the evil’.

This makes the last word ‘evil’ and the official first word ‘Father’. The word ‘our’, both in the Hebrew and in the Greek, is after the word ‘Father’. What a contrast in this prayer between the beginning and the ending!

What is even more interesting than that is that, in the middle of the Lord’s Prayer, is the word usually translated as ‘daily’, which describes the bread for which we are asking. Unknown to many is that this word’s translation as ‘daily’ is only a good guess and is largely based on context. The word appeared nowhere else before its appearance in the New Testament. A better translation might be ‘supersubstantial’; that word was in a Latin translation. You might respond to that word by saying it is not really a word, but Jesus may have said a new word when he gave this prayer. An acceptable translation that would use a more familiar word might be the word ‘special’.

What the word does exactly halfway through the Lord’s Prayer is that it asks for something that is not completely understood by the Christian, but that is okay. What is requested is still asked for in confidence that it will be given, and the One who gives it and what is given is certainly special. And it certainly makes a difference when asking for it.

That kind of bread makes a difference because now on earth the sins committed by some Christians are forgiven by other Christians—that is the focus of the fifth petition. This kind of bread also makes a difference in that the Father is on the level of his people, and he certainly leads them, but he will not lead them into temptation—that is the sixth petition. On the contrary, he will deliver them from all evil—here is the seventh petition.

The special word ‘Father’ starts the Christian down a wonderful road. The end is in sight. And it is an exceedingly special one.