Texts in Conversation
In Mark, Jesus prays using the intimate term ‘Abba, Father.’ Rabbinic tradition in Leviticus Rabbah uses a similar appeal to ‘my father in heaven,’ both using this unusual way of expressing closeness to God in Jewish tradition at the time.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Mark 14:36
New Testament
33 He took Peter, James, and John with him, and became very troubled and distressed. 34 He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, even to the point of death. Remain here and stay alert.” 35 Going a little farther, he threw himself to the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour would pass from him. 36 He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” 37 Then he came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Couldn’t you stay awake for one hour?
Leviticus Rabbah 32:1
Aggadah
Rabbinic
When the wicked ascend from Gehenna and see the righteous sitting tranquilly within the Garden of Eden, their soul diminishes within them. That is what is written: “The wicked one sees and is angered” (Psalms 112:10). When? “As lowliness is lifted up ” – when the Holy One blessed be He will exalt the mitzvot that are treated with contempt. ‘Why are you going out to be stoned?’ ‘Because I circumcised my son.’ ‘Why are you going out to be burned?’ ‘Because I observed Shabbat.’ ‘Why are you going out to be beheaded?’ ‘Because I ate unleavened bread.’ ‘Why are you being lashed with a whip?’ ‘Because I made a sukka, because I took a palm branch, because I donned phylacteries, because I placed sky-blue wool [on my garment], because I performed the will of my Father in Heaven.’ That is what is written: “One will say to him: What are those wounds?” (Zechariah 13:6). [He will answer:] ‘These wounds caused me to be beloved to my Father in Heaven.’
Date: 500 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The phrase 'my father in heaven' in any form does not appear in the Mishnah, Tosefta or either or the two Talmuds, and it is rarely found in Aggadic midrashim. It does appear twice in halachic midrashim, but not as direct address or supplication to God. In Mechilta, Rabbi Natan describes the martyrdom of the people of Israel during the period of the Hadrianic decrees (fourth decade of the second century C.E.). and states: 'These plagues have caused my father in heaven to love me even more.' (This saying is also found in Leviticus Rabbah 32:1 (ed. Margulies, pp. 735- 736) and in Midrash Psalms 12) ..."
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