In Matthew 6:5-7, in the midst of the sermon on the mount, Jesus has been warning against praying to be seen by men and praying thinking that meaningless repetition will cause prayers to be heard. Then, in Matthew 6:8, the Lord says “your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” He then proceeds to teach in Matthew 6:9-13 what is often known as “The Lord’s Prayer” or “The Model Prayer” — in it, Christ teaches His disciples not simply a routine form of prayer, but the substance of prayer.
This is a prayer where the Father is revered and His children express their needs to their Father. Again, this is not like the Pharisees praying to impress everyone with how religious they are or the Gentiles praying repetitiously so their gods will perhaps hear them.
The prayer is addressed to “Our Father in heaven” — bringing familiarity and closeness together with might, greatness, and exaltation. In these first words we see the love of God and the power of God at the same time.
The Greeks, the Romans, and many cultures believed in dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of gods. Various gods were uncaring, or deceitful, or always angry. Many Gentile gods were seen as fickle, petty, and cruel — not even the best in humanity, but often the worst in humanity. A common picture is one of gods for whom the last thing they want to do is help people, unless it happened to be for their own fun.
Jesus teaches us to speak to “our Father”. The Father who loves, who cares, and who will do what is best. He is not a cruel judge eagerly waiting to crush us the moment we slip up, He is not a mean coach looking for an excuse to put us down because he dislikes us, and He is not even a kind friend who wants to help us when He has a chance. God is a Father, THE defining Father. He has a unique place as Father, emphasized heavily here in Matthew 5-7, and treated as a fundamental characteristic by the New Testament writers. God is not just a father who wants to do what is best, but a Father who can and will do what is best.
In all this, we should never forget that our Father is high and holy — He’s not some father that just wants everyone to have a fun time with no consequences, or a bumbling, fumbling sitcom dad who doesn’t have any idea what’s going on.
When Jesus says “Hallowed be Your name”, that prayer is for something we must have a part in — it must begin with us honoring His name as holy. He is not a tool for our purposes, but we are a tool for His purposes. The idea of holiness is separate, different, or apartness (as opposed to common, everyday, or “same”). For God’s name to be treated as holy doesn’t simply mean don’t say it when you stub your toe. It is to treat Him, His character, and His nature as holy. In Psalm 20:7 the Psalmist says “we boast of the name of the Lord our God”, that is, not to trust in the power of man, but in the power of God and all that He is.
Remember the Old Testament: In the Law of Moses distinction between the holy and the profane is constantly stressed; there were deeply serious consequences for failure to treat God as holy. As one brief but powerful example, after Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire and were killed, the Lord says “By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.” (Leviticus 10:3). Consider Isaiah’s vision of God’s throne beginning in Isaiah 6:1-5, and the seraphim call out “Holy, holy, holy” — the triple-emphasized holiness of the Lord!
Today, many people treat God as a silly superstition or a cosmic Santa Claus to ask for presents, but very few truly treat His name as holy. Our Father in heaven is to be regarded as separate from all else. He is holy above all else.
This holiness is not to make us afraid of our Father, but to give us even more confidence in His power to carry out His love and His care for us. When we pray, do we have confidence in our holy heavenly Father?
— Stefan Richardson