The Lord’s Prayer
As I experience it, the Redeemer spoke this original archetypal prayer (at least) twice, in two different contexts and places and to different people.On one occasion He spoke it to a larger gathering of His disciples among whom were present – as I remember – the twelve disciples of the Last Supper. This did not take place in Jerusalem or in its immediate surroundings, but, judging by the landscape, in Galilee.
On the second occasion He spoke the prayer for the group of women described below, during the night between Maundy Thursday and Good Friday….
Although Christ had instructed the disciples that after His departure they should teach the prayer to people – and thus of course to the women who had a profound connection with Him – He knew that the men would find it difficult to overcome their traditional social views of women. To understand this one has to translate oneself back into a quite different time where certain law, traditions and conventions prevailed.
Those arose from accepted religious customs and were very far removed from our own modern views of social community. It would never have occurred to people living in Palestine at the time of Christ to try to change the social and religious customs of the time through a modern impulse of renewal. In the way that we nowadays enjoy the achievements of a certain social renewal, this was something which the Christ alone could bring.
Judith von Halle, The Lord’s Prayer