When Jesus met Mary on Easter morning at the tomb he said -Don't hold onto me for I am returning to my father and your father.    Seems unusual to say my father and your father but God the Father is to Jesus something different than God the Father is to his created children.  And yet, Jesus is reminding us that God is our father too.   We too, have been called to a special relationship to our Father God made possible by Jesus' obedience and sacrifice.

Our Father... the beginning of the prayer Jesus taught... is quite different from the way believers had thought of God.  Jesus gave example after example of how God as a Father wants to give good things to his Children, how God forgives in the image of a father running to meet his wayward son who is on the way to returning home.  The woman at the well was received by Jesus in a most unexpected way- and Jesus said to his disciples "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:8-9)

For God so loved the world- that he gave his only Son!