Grace and Space

Lk 11:1-4
[or Lk 1:26-38]
Teach us to pray: Typical of any important event in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is found to be praying before he teaches the disciples how to pray. For Luke, this serves as a model for the Church. If Jesus prayed throughout his life, then Christians must also pray throughout their lives.
Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer is not the traditional Matthean form, which circulated among Jewish-Christians. It is the version which was used by Gentile-Christians near the end of the first century. Since Luke is writing primarily for Gentiles, he records the version of the prayer which they were already using at the time he was composing his Gospel.
The prayer addresses God as “Father.” There is no Matthean “our.” “Father” is the translation of the Hebrew “Abba,” which means “Daddy.” This is the traditional way that a Jewish child referred to his or her dad. Christians, according to Jesus, call upon God as their “Daddy.”
This makes all Christians children of God and brothers and sisters. Communally, all the brothers and sisters declare that their Daddy’s name is hallowed, holy, deserving of great respect. In other words, all that children can do is offer their Daddy the praise that is due him alone.
The communal nature of the prayer cannot be over emphasized. Luke’s perspective is that it is the community, made up of brothers and sisters, that petitions God to “give us… our daily bread and forgive us… for we forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test” (vv 3-4). The prayer is the prayer of a community.