"'Abba' is not the precise form of the word for "Father," but is presumably the baby talk of a child, containing all the nearness, affection, and love in which we do not designate a person as 'Father,' but in which the child addresses its father. 'Abba' - that was the expression heard from the lips of children in the secular language of every day. Jesus had the audacity to speak of God and to God in such a way that to pious ears it sounded offensive, disrespectful, worldly.
... With the one word 'Father' we are allowed not merely to say this, but also to let it happen as we say it. It is a tremendous event when we take seriously the invocation: "Our Father." Whom is it we are addressing here? No man, although in doing so we have all men in view. No earthly thing, although in doing so we also have in view everything in the world that concerns and troubles us. "Our Father" we say in the midst of the world, under the buffetings of the whole world, and to that extent in the teeth of all the world. To whom? To a non-entity? In actual fact, it is to that which bursts upon unbelief as the mystery of nothingness, striking it dumb in speechless horror. That is what we are permitted to address as Father, because what comes to us from that quarter is not nothingness, but is through Jesus the voice of the Father, and in that voice the Father himself with outstretched arms.
When we say "Our Father," what happens is no less than that the world receives a different face as we hold fast tot he fact that in Jesus the face of the Father looks upon us."
- Gerhard Ebeling, "Pray then like this: Our Father who art in Heaven," On Prayer: Nine Sermons by Gerhard Ebeling (Fortress Press: 1966, Philadelphia) pages 47-51
Many people wonder about the nature of prayer - why we do it, how it works, etc. Ebeling's work here lays out a beautiful image: in prayer we address God not simply as "Father," but as "Abba." A baby's word for the figure that becomes known as Father.
Imagine a babbling infant - either being the babbling infant or being a parent to said infant. Baby is making noise "ab, ab, ab," and it suddenly becomes "abba abba abba," when all of a sudden - parental figures recognizes its name and lifts the infant up in joy - and all the little wires in baby's mind go "Oh, this word means this person to whom I am attached."
Now imagine baby learning to walk. Parent is right in front of baby, mere steps away. Baby is challenged and frustrated, but is doing something new - maybe even falling down. Parent has arms outstretched, summoning the baby forward.
Apply this to Jesus, and the cross. And that is why you should read Gerhard Ebeling's theology.
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