Sons and Heirs

Eucharistic Meditations on the Lord's Prayer (2)

The eucharistic nature of the words “Our Father” are further to be understood with reference to the offering of Bread and Wine brought out by Melchizedek of Jerusalem in Genesis 14. God, as the Creator of the World, is its natural lord. The sovereign of the territory is the one who has the capacity and prerogative to determine the mode in which that territory exists: an absolute sovereign is one who says “build here” and is capable of realizing that purpose. God, as the one from whom the being of the world is derived, is the one with absolute capacity to determine the mode in which it exists. As it all depends on Him, He has all power to shape it as He wills. Thus, in the story of Abraham, God is the one who wills him and his seed to inherit the land of Canaan. This is accentuated by the fact that God must supernaturally bring forth Isaac in the womb of Sarah. We see, therefore, that Abraham’s title to the land turns on God’s bringing forth his seed by the Holy Spirit, prefiguring the point at which the divine Son will be brought forth from the womb of Israel in the Holy Theotokos. The boundaries of the land covenant are delineated in Genesis 15: it is in the preceding chapter that Melchizedek, king of Salem, blesses Abraham in the name of God Most High, Begetter of Heaven and Earth. The word used for “beget” is the very word used of Eve’s conception of her firstborn son in Genesis 4:1-2 and indeed, the word used for the begetting of Wisdom in Proverbs 8.