Another biblical prayer functions in a similar manner: the Shema. Found in Deuteronomy 6, the Shema is the central prayer of Judaism..
“Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.” – Deuteronomy 6:4
While the Shema emphasizes the incomparable greatness of Adonai, The Lord’s Prayer invites us to draw near to a loving and compassionate Father. Similar to how the Shema introduced radical monotheism to the world, The Lord’s Prayer introduces an equally radical intimacy and personal dependence on the one true and living God as Father. The Orthodox theologian Alexander Schmemann wrote, “In its deepest and original sense Christianity is the religion of fatherhood, which means that it is not founded on intellectual ideas or philosophical deductions, but on the experience of love which floods our whole life, on the experience of personal love.”2
Each time we pray this prayer, then, Yeshua reminds us that we’re not part of an organization— we’re members of a family. We don’t pray to a remote, aloof life force; we commune with our Abba in complete dependence and trust. Ours is a faith meant to be personally experienced, not merely intellectually acknowledged.
And as we pray to “our Father in heaven,” every nook and cranny of our lives will be flooded with His perfect love.
Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced are in the Tree of Life Version.
1 Joseph H. Hertz, The Authorized Daily Prayer Book with commentary, introductions and notes (rev. American ed. 1948, NY, Bloch Publ’g) page 161
2 Alexander Schmemann, Our Father, trans. Alexis Vinogradov (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2002), 21.