BibleProject | The Lord's PrayerSample

Your Name Recognized as Holy

Today, we will focus on the first line of Jesus’ prayer: “Our Father who is in the skies, may your name be recognized as holy.”

This is an interesting request from Jesus, and you may be more familiar with the translation, “Hallowed be your name.” So what is God’s name? And what does it mean for his name to be recognized as holy?

In modern Bibles, all occurrences of “LORD” (with all capitalized letters) represent the personal name of Israel’s God, Yahweh, which God reveals to Moses in Exodus 3. Yahweh is also a form of the Hebrew verb “to be.” Jesus wants people to know more than a correct title for God; he wants them to know God as the one true God, the one who is. And he wants people to recognize God’s name as holy.

In the Bible, Yahweh chooses Israel to represent his name and reputation to the nations as holy—that is, utterly unique and set apart—so that the nations will honor him. But Israel often dishonors God’s name, so the prophets hoped for a time when Yahweh would restore his holy name and reputation among the nations. Jesus focuses on that hope in his prayer—a hope that all the world would come to see God as utterly unique, overflowing with goodness and love.

Notice too that Jesus calls God “our Father.” That’s different from thinking about God as “my Father.” But why use the word “father”? References to God as “Father” in the Hebrew Bible are rare, yet this is the main way Jesus refers to and relates to God.

On the one hand, this showcases Jesus’ unique identity as the “beloved Son” in whom the Father is “well pleased” (Matt. 3:16-17). And on the other hand, Jesus is always inviting his followers to participate in his way of life as God’s beloved child. So the combination of “our” and “Father” orients us at the start of Jesus’ prayer—Yahweh is our source of life.

To learn more about the unique divine name of God, watch the video below, YHWH / LORD.

Now, let’s slowly read and meditate on the whole prayer, making it our own.

Matthew 6:9-15
9 Therefore, when you pray, do it this way:
Our Father who is in the skies, may your name be recognized as holy.
10 May your kingdom come, and may your will be done, as it is in the skies so also on the land.
11 Our daily provision of bread, give to us today.
12 And forgive us our debts, just as we also have forgiven those indebted to us.
13 And don’t lead us to be tested, but deliver us from the evil one.
14 For if you forgive people their transgressions, your Father in the skies will also forgive you.
15 But if you will not forgive people, then neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.

Reflection Question
What is the difference between thinking of God as “our Father” and thinking of God as “my Father”? How does either concept affect the way we relate to others?