Jesus of Nazareth: What He Wanted, Who He Was

Thus, for example, in the biblical book of Lamentations the words “Jerusalem,” “daughter Zion,” “daughter Judah,” “daughter of my people,” and “Jacob” are repeatedly exchanged for one another. “Jacob” means all Israel. In and of themselves Lamentations 1, 2, and 4 refer to the city of Jerusalem. It is addressed in the same way that Jesus addresses Jerusalem in our text. But the three songs constantly look beyond the city itself to encompass the whole land. For every reader or hearer of Lamentations it was clear that here Jerusalem represents Israel. The lamentation over the destroyed capital is at the same time a lamentation over the people of God, sunk so deep in misery. Jesus quite certainly knew these language conventions. Therefore he could have understood all Israel as included among the “children of Jerusalem.” The capital city is responsible for the land and also representative of it.

But however that may be, these words were probably spoken in Jerusalem, and in them Jesus summarizes his whole activity in retrospect—as his effort to bring about the eschatological gathering of Israel.

The image of the bird (in the Greek text) is, as so often with Jesus, taken from everyday observation. The reference is not to the eagle that spreads its wings but to the hen who repeatedly invites her scattered chicks to gather around her, clucking at them in a low tone; sometimes she also tucks them under her wings. But the true point of comparison in the image is not the protection of the young ones under her wings but the gathering of them.

The Petition for Gathering in the Our Father

At this point we must certainly take a look at the Our Father, for this prayer that Jesus formulated for his disciples summarizes his whole will in one work of genius. For that very reason we find an irritating state of things in the Our Father: here Israel, the people of God, apparently does not appear. There does not seem to be anything said about the gathering of the people of God either. Does that not refute everything we have said to this point? The objection is justified, but it misses the point, because the Our Father itself is shaped by the theme of the gathering of Israel. Its very first petition is: “Hallowed be Thy name!” (Matt 6:9 // Luke 11:2). Exegetes are united in saying that this is not only and not even primarily about the hallowing of the Name of God by Israel. Rather, what is in the foreground is that God is to hallow his own Name, just as he is to bring about his royal reign (second petition) and accomplish his plan of salvation (third petition). But what does it mean for God to hallow his Name?

We can simply not understand this first petition without its Old Testament background. At its base is the theology of the book of Ezekiel, especially chapters 20 and 36. Ezekiel speaks repeatedly of the holy Name of God, and this book contains the single passage in the Hebrew Bible in which the statement that the Name of God will be hallowed has God himself as the acting subject (Ezek 36:23).

In and of itself the hallowing of the Name (qiddush hashem) is a widely attested Old Testament and Jewish theme. But the subject is always the human being or the people Israel, and the reference is primarily to keeping the commandments. This is clear in the basic text, Leviticus 22:31-32: “Thus you shall keep my commandments and observe them: I am the LORD. You shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel.” So Israel is to hallow the Name of God. That is the normal usage. The statement that God himself hallows his Name, however, points clearly to Ezekiel. In that book, at Ezekiel 36:19-28, we read:

I scattered them [the Israelites] among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries; in accordance with their conduct and their deeds I judged them. But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that it was said of them, “These are the people of the LORD, and yet they had to go out of his land.” But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.