ABBA

Podcast: ABBABishop Anthony Percy

4:02

In the midst of the widespread rejection of his message, Jesus prays to his Father:

I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth (Matthew 11).

Jesus calls his Father ‘Abba.’

Jewish names for God include Lord, King, Shepherd, Rock, Fortress, Father. 

George T. Montague alerts us to something most important:

The Talmud says that when a baby first begins to speak, his first words are Amma and Abba, both titles of intimacy by which he addresses his ‘mummy’ and ‘daddy.’

The first person, therefore, whom Jesus addressed as Abba was not God but Joseph.

In the mysterious development of his human religious consciousness, when Jesus came to the moment of choosing his name for God, the title was none other than the one he had first given to his foster father, Joseph (Companion God, 95).

Jesus does not deviate:

In the Garden of Gethsemane, he prays to Abba (Mark 14).

Paul does not deviate:

Contemplate Galatians 6 and Romans 8.

We must strongly resist the urge of using supposedly inclusive language when we speak of God.

God is Abba, Father. We are his children. We are on intimate terms with him:

Today and tomorrow. Unto eternity.

AMEN.