“Father”
Original sermon given on Sunday, July 27, 2025 written and delivered by Pastor Jeff Leininger at First Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church.
Watch the sermon live.
“Father”
Luke 11.1-13
Luke 11.1-13
In the name of the living God and the risen Christ. Amen.
Many of us have said the Lord’s prayer thousands of times. You probably had it enter your ears and your heart even before you could even speak. You know it so well it’s hard to actually say it and think about what it means, and it will be one of the last things you’ll be able to utter on your deathbed.
But it is precisely because we know it so well that we get a bit confused when we hear St. Luke’s recording of the Lord’s Prayer — it’s not the one we have memorized. Keep in mind, however, that Jesus taught his disciples about prayer on a number of occasions over his three-year ministry, and used different words on different occasions. Here, Jesus is teaching his own disciples. The actual form of the prayer that we have memorized is closer to what St. Matthew records, when Jesus publicly taught before thousands at the sermon on the mount. Like a good preacher, he’s reusing his material. And if you come from a Roman Catholic tradition, you’ll be quick to note that the closing doxology that many Protestants use — “for thine is the kingdom…” is strictly speaking, not in the Bible. It does date back to as early as 100 AD, from an early catechism called the Didache, so, in our defense it has been around for a while.
This leads us to what is probably the most important thing to remember about the Lord’s Prayer. It is not, in fact, the wording that’s most important; it’s the content. It’s not so much the external form of the prayer which should most concern us, but rather the function of prayer in our lives, in our church and in our world which Jesus is, in fact, teaching.
This is an important warning for all of us who have this prayer memorized and who can say it by rote. It too often can become merely “pagan babbling” as Jesus warned — as if the mere recitation of these particular syllables is efficacious and meritorious for us. No, the Lord’s Prayer is his teaching about what the content of our prayers should be — the things we should ask for, the way we should ask, and God’s disposition is toward our asking. It is, of course, good to have this prayer memorized. But it is also good for us “de-memorize” it, in a sense: to stop and pause and reflect on what it teaches us about our asking and his answering.
I would like to “de-memorize” just one part of this prayer for us this morning. The very first word. When you pray, say, “Father…” Jesus tells us. Or even “Our Father” as Matthew has it and as we commonly pray in church.
Father. Think about this: we are to call the Almighty, All-Powerful, Holy Righteous creator of the universe “Father.” How does that strike you? Terrifying, southing, comforting, confusing? Our relationship with our earthly fathers, knowingly or unknowingly, sets the stage for how we receive this prayer. For those who have a strained relationship with their father, it can be difficult. Those fathers who misuse, abuse, or abandon their children have left such deep scars that some people have a difficult time even beginning the Lord’s Prayer.
In fact, this was one of the surprises for me early in the ministry: having someone come to me and say, “Let me tell you why this ‘Father’ thing is so hard for me…”
Or sometimes people have a difficult time with the word “Father” because they, in fact, had a good father, but he’s been taken from them too soon, and thinking about God as a Father brings a mixture of affection, but also pain. “Pastor, how can I trust God as my heavenly father when he took my earthly father away from me?”
But even beyond this, when we begin this prayer with “Father,” we are admitting or professing that prayer, in fact, is a relationship. That is, Jesus is making it clear that God is not like the big vending machine in the sky — you put enough in, push the right buttons, and you’ll get what you want out. Or some impersonal force to be tapped into for your benefit. Or like the capricious pagan gods who you need to appease or manipulate to get on your side. No, when we pray to God our Father we are praying to an eternal, personal being who loves us and bids us to come to him. This means that while he certainly hears all our prayers, our heavenly father gives us not just what we want when we want it, but what we need and what he knows is right for us — like all good earthly fathers.
Through this one first word, “Father,” Jesus tells us that prayer starts with a relationship and that this relationship is like the care of a good father for his children. Even good fathers fail and mess up and don’t always get it right. How much more are we to trust our heavenly father, who perfectly loves us, perfectly provides for us, and gives us not what we want, but those things which he, in his perfect wisdom, knows we need.
But most importantly, when we think about God as our Father, Jesus is asking us to think why we are able to have this relationship of prayer with God: it is precisely because our Father in heaven gave us his son. That’s the gospel in nutshell, from John 3.16: “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but has eternal life.” As a father, I can’t get my mind around this kind of love. I can’t imagine giving up my kids for anything. That my heavenly father loves me that much that he would give his son for me. I can’t understand it, but I do believe it is for me… and also for you. In the end, it is only because of this — that God gave us Jesus and that this Jesus, the son, willingly went to the cross for us — greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends — it is for this reason that we are able to call him “Father” and believe that his relationship with us is one of love. As St. Paul wrote, “He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with Jesus, graciously give us all things” (Romans 8.32).
The gospel — that we are reconciled with God through the suffering, death, and resurrection of his son — the gospel is why, and only why, we can be bold, persistent, and confident in prayer.
So, for any of us whose earthly fathers have hurt us, or manipulated us, or left us when they should have cared for us — in the gospel of Jesus, the son given to us, you can believe that your heavenly father is everything your earthly father was not.
For any of us who grieve the pain of the loss of a loving earthly father — in the gospel of Jesus, the son given to us, you can believe that you remain safely in the care of Him who will never leave us or forsake us.
For all of us, when we pray and are bold to call him “Father,” we can believe that He has marked all our moments, measured every tear, heard every imperfect prayer uttered amid every moment of pain, and yes, still loves us through it all.
Come soon Lord Jesus. Amen.