Abba: Entering the Prayer of Jesus

Among all the Aramaic words preserved in the Gospels, perhaps none is more precious than Abba.

It is a word that has echoed through two thousand years, carrying not only the sound of Jesus' own voice, but the very nature of His relationship with God.

Many of us have been taught that Abba means "Daddy." While this captures something of its intimacy, it is only part of the story.

The Aramaic word Abba certainly means Father, yet not in the distant, formal or authoritarian sense that the English word can sometimes suggest. Nor is it simply the language of a small child.

In Jesus' day, children addressed their fathers as Abba, but so did sons and daughters long into adulthood. It was a word of affection, familiarity, trust and belonging. A word that held both tenderness and dignity.

If we were seeking an English equivalent, it might be closer to "Beloved Father," "Dear Father," or perhaps "Papa."

When Jesus prayed, His own heart reached instinctively for Abba.

This is what astonished those around Him.

He first reveals the One to whom every human heart ultimately belongs.

Abba.

The Beloved Father whose love has always been reaching towards us, inviting us not merely to worship Him, but to dwell in the intimacy of His own heart.

Jesus did not come merely to reveal the Father to humanity; He came to reveal humanity as beloved sons and daughters of the Father.