5th October 2022
WE CAN APPROACH GOD CONFIDENTLY AS A FATHER WHO LOVES US
Galatians: 2:1-2.7-14
Psalm: 117:2.2
Luke 11:1-4
The privilege and responsibility of calling God Father. The Jews were noted for their devotion to prayer. Formal prayer was prescribed for three set times a day. And the rabbis had a prayer for every occasion. It was also a custom for rabbis to teach their disciples a simple prayer they might use on a regular basis. Jesus’ disciples ask him for such a prayer. When Jesus taught his disciples to pray he gave them the disciple’s prayer, what we call the Our Father or Lord’s Prayer.
Dear brethren, what does Jesus’ prayer tell us about God and about ourselves? First, it tells us that God is both Father in being the Creator and Author of all that he has made, the first origin of everything and transcendent authority, and he is eternally Father by his relationship to his only Son who, reciprocally is Son only in relation to his Father (Matthew 11:27). All fatherhood and motherhood is derived from him (Ephesians 3:14-15). In Jesus Christ we are reborn and become the adopted children of God (John 1:12-13; 3:3).
In today’s gospel, Jesus teaches us to address God as “Our Father” and to confidently ask him for the things we need to live as his sons and daughters. We can approach God our Father with confidence and boldness because Jesus Christ has opened the way to heaven for us through his death and resurrection. When we ask God for help, he fortunately does not give us what we deserve. Instead, he responds with grace and mercy. He is kind and forgiving towards us and he expects us to treat our neighbor the same.
We are reminded that, we can pray with expectant faith because our heavenly Father truly loves each one of us and he treats us as his beloved children. He delights to give us what is good. His love and grace transforms us and makes us like himself. Through his grace and power, we can love and serve one another as Jesus taught - with grace, mercy, and loving-kindness. Brethren, do you treat others as they deserve, or do you treat them as the Lord Jesus would with grace and mercy? Jesus' prayer includes an injunction (charge) that we must ask God to forgive us in proportion as we forgive those who have wronged us (Matthew 6:14-15). God's grace frees us from every form of anger, resentment, envy, and hatred.
May the Father in heaven who has given us a mind to know him, a will to serve him, and a heart to love him, give us today the grace and strength to embrace his holy will and fill our hearts with his love. So that all our intentions and actions may be pleasing to him. May God help us to be kind and forgiving towards our neighbor as he has been towards us.
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