(US Library of Congress / Public domain)
When Jesus begins the prayer that has come to be called the Lord’s Prayer with the words “Our Father” (Matt. 6:9), who is included in his “our”?
In the history of the prayer’s interpretation, “our” has sometimes been understood expansively: the crowd, all people, all of creation. It has also been understood narrowly: the children of Abraham, the Jewish people, anyone who has accepted that Jesus is the Christ, the disciples.
One possibility that has been missing from the debate is that the “our” is at once far more universal and far more specific than the tradition has allowed. I’m convinced that the “our” in the Our Father includes both the person praying and that person’s enemies. The prayer is teaching us how to pray for our enemies.
