Mar 24

Mar 24 Matthew 6:9 with St. Gregory of Nyssa

“Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven…’”

The similarities between the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai in Exodus and Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5–7 are striking. Comparison of the two, however, also reveals important contrasts, and St. Gregory of Nyssa begins his preaching on the Lord’s Prayer, which Jesus teaches during the Sermon on the Mount, by pointing these out. Whereas the people of Israel at Sinai underwent bodily ritual purification in preparation for God’s appearance on the mountain, we are to purify our thoughts and desires by faith and repentance. Whereas Moses alone drew near to God on the mountain, Jesus leads us all “not to a mountain but to Heaven itself, which He has rendered accessible to men by virtue.” Even more amazing, Jesus tells us to call God “Father.”

For Gregory, this invitation should make our jaws drop. God, after all, “is absolute goodness, holiness and joy, power, glory and purity, eternity that is always absolutely the same.” For us to call him “Father” indicates that Jesus has brought us “to kinship with the Divine Nature.” Christ is the only Son of God, yet, as Gregory quotes, “to all who did receive him…he gave the right to become children of God” (Jn. 1:12).

With this right, however, comes tremendous responsibility. Just a few verses before teaching the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus tells us to “be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). To call God our Father is to commit ourselves to live as his true children, seeking his holiness. Gregory makes it clear that he is not demanding some sort of self-achieved perfectionism apart from God’s grace, but at the same time, he writes, “He who has commanded us to say Father, has not permitted us to pronounce a lie.” We must not let our prayer become empty words. Rather, when we pray to “our Father,” we should remember and give humble thanks for the dignity of being called to be the children of God.[1]