Sermon
19th July 26
We know that the New Testament was written in Greek. However, that was not the language Jesus spoke. For he used Aramaic, the everyday language of 1st century Palestine. When the writers of the gospels quoted Jesus, they had to translate his words into Greek. But there are a few exceptions, when they quote Our Lord’s original words in Aramaic. Thus, Jairus’ daughter is told “Talitha cum” (little girl, get up), the ears and tongue of the deaf mute are commanded “ephphatha” (be opened), and Jesus cries out from the cross “Eli Eli lama sabachthani” (my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?).
But the most frequent word used by Jesus and left in its original Aramaic is “abba”, which Jesus uses when he addresses God. It is a word that is virtually untranslatable: whether into Greek or English. It is often rendered as Father, but that is not adequate, above all because it does not understand the relationship the Jesus tells us that we should have with God.
Abba has been translated as daddy but that is too babyish, to be discarded as the child grows up. Consider the eldest son in the family. He may have called his father “abba” from infancy and through childhood, but he continues to use it as he matures. As a child, his status might be little more than a slave, but he can look forward. For he is the heir, and one day he will inherit his father’s wealth and status.
Abba is a word that reveals that absolute dependence of a child on his father. But it is more, as it reveals that hope for the future when the son will come into his inheritance. Jesus on earth has that close intimacy with God his father such as a child has with theirs. But he also looks forward to the time when he too will come into his inheritance and will reign alongside God in heaven.
And Jesus tells all who would follow him that they too are to have this same close intimate relationship with God, and the same hope that they will share in his inheritance. This is what that reading from Romans is all about: listen again to verses 14 to 17 (read). St Paul is saying that we are more than the children of God, we are also heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.
Not only does Jesus call us into that unique relationship with God, but he gives us a unique Abba prayer. Jesus taught us to call God abba Father, so we have the courage to say that same Lord’s Prayer, which rightly remains at the heart of all our prayer, both in private and in public. So, when you pray the Our Father, remember you are praying to Our abba: not some mighty remote figure, but a loving Father who promises us not just his love and protection, but an inheritance with Christ and with the saints in light.
Amen
