“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:3). Let us pray. Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
I grew up in a loving, Christian household where we went to church almost every Sunday and prayed together daily. The first two prayers I ever learned were “God is great, God is good. Let us thank Him for our food; by His hands, we all are fed. Give us, Lord, our daily bread” for meals and “Now thy lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. Guide me safely through the night. Wake me by the morning light” before bedtime. Then, as I grew and heard the repetition of the Lord’s Prayer each Sunday – Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory. Forever and ever – I was able to recite it along with the congregation. Prayer is universal to many religions. Wikipedia defines prayer in this way: “Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional connection to God, or any deity, through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of a hymn, incantation, formal creedal statement, or a spontaneous utterance in the praying person. There are different forms of prayer such as petitionary prayer, prayers of supplication, thanksgiving, and worship [or] praise. Prayer may be directed towards a deity, spirit, deceased person, or lofty idea, for the purpose of worshiping, requesting guidance, requesting assistance, confessing sins or to express one’s thoughts and emotions. Thus, people pray for many reasons such as personal benefit or for the sake of others. Most major religions involve prayer in one way or another. Some ritualize the act of prayer, requiring a strict sequence of actions or placing a restriction on who is permitted to pray, while others teach that prayer may be practiced spontaneously by anyone at any time.” Many aspects of this definition is how prayer is viewed for Christians today and has developed over time, but we were first taught how we should pray by Jesus through his words recorded in the gospels.
Our gospel lesson today begins with Jesus just having finished praying at an unspecified time after his visit with Mary and Martha and in an unspecified place: “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place” (11:1a). The disciples have asked for Jesus to teach them to pray. This is noteworthy because in Matthew, the disciples and Matthew’s intended audience seem to know about praying: “When you are praying…” is seen in Matthew 6:5, but here in Luke the disciples are asking to be taught how to pray: “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples” (11:1b). They seem to not know how to pray, at least as followers of Jesus. Jewish masters used to give their followers some short form of prayer, as an identifier of their relationship to them. It is quite probable that John the Baptist had done this for his followers and Jesus’ disciples are now asking this of Jesus. Just as a Jewish disciple’s prayers defined who his master was, so to our prayers define us, and Jesus’ disciples are to pray differently than those who follow another.
As Jesus is teaching his disciples to pray, the Greek translation of the verbs found in verse two are in the second person plural form – y’all. By not using the second person singular, Jesus makes this prayer communal rather than personal. This is further seen by the plural pronouns of “our” and “us” being used within the prayer. This was given as a prayer to define “us” and separate Jesus’ followers from others. That definition is not necessarily in the words, but in the fact that we pray it together, confessing and asking for the same things at the same time. Unfortunately, today we seem to have to explain which version of “The Lord’s Prayer” we’re going to pray when various denominations gather in one place. But the important thing is that we are aware of these differences and we adapt and adjust to one another, working together and praying together as one community.
As Jesus begins to pray, he teaches us to address God as “Father.” This address, no matter that our society views it as formal, refers to an intimate relationship for Jesus. Jesus had this intimate relationship with God, and we too are to have that same close, personal, intimate relationship with God. Before Jesus was sent to earth, God was seen as unreachable and feared. The individual was not the one who offered sacrifices to God; the individual took their sacrifice to the priest who offered it on their behalf. We were not to have such a personal relationship with Him. Through Jesus and his ministry, we are given full access to God; we are people who have a father-child relationship with the almighty God, a perfect relationship that is nothing like the worst nor even the best father-child relationships of this earth.
We are to address God – Father, Daddy – and then we are to tell him – actually command, since this is translated from the imperative part of speech – to make his name be holy, sacred, sanctified and then command for his kingdom to come to earth. After these commands, we are given more commands to order God to do: “Give us,” “Forgive us,” “Lead us not.” What does this mean that we are commanding God? In last week’s gospel lesson, Martha was politely reprimanded for telling Jesus what he should do and now we’re supposed to tell God, the Father – whom we felt we didn’t have such immediate access to – what to do? This is quite confusing. The best answer for this is that we are requesting God to do what God would do anyway. We are asking God to provide for us daily, and He does. We are asking God to forgive us our sins as we also forgive everyone indebted to us, and He does. In asking God to “lead us not into temptation,” we are calling upon our Father to protect us from whatever might threaten our lives or our relationship with the Father, and He does.
The first four verses of our passage today give us what we should pray as community, while the next three sections explain how and why to pray. The parable of the friend at midnight occurs only in Luke. It’s tied to the previous prayer by the words “bread” and “give.” The key word in this part of the passage occurs in verse 8, which is the Greek word anaideia. This is the only place in the New Testament that this word is found. Many Bibles translate this word as “persistent,” but it would actually be better translated as “shameless.” Our petitions to God, Jesus says, should be bold, audacious, shameless. We should keep on asking, seeking, and knocking until we receive an answer. Verses 9 and 10 encourage us in this shameless out-pouring in our prayers: “For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” The last three verses give an explanation as to why we should pray so insistently. If we know what is good and how to give good gifts, though sin and evil are a part of our world, how much more is God capable of giving us the things we need?
As Wikipedia’s definition confirms, prayer is much more than asking for things. Prayer is praise, worship, thanksgiving. It is a conversation with God, it’s questioning God, arguing with Him, lamenting to Him. Prayer is all these things and so much more. But prayer is also in its most fundamental form asking God for what we most need and desire. Shamelessly. This asking is so central because it confirms our essential dependence on God. God has given us many, many gifts, yet we never stray far from our original condition of ultimate dependence on God’s mercy, goodness, and grace. When we ask God for something in prayer, we acknowledge both our need and God’s goodness. We can also count on God listening to our prayer. There is nothing more important to God than being in relationship with us, and so when we speak we can count on God’s attention. I don’t have children, but I can imagine the attachment and the want to love, protect, and provide for your own. I have a dog, a little cocker spaniel/poodle mix named Scottie, that I had to leave behind with his “grandparents” this summer. I love him as if he was a person, my child, and I miss him more than I ever thought I could miss a pet. He is my family when I am away from my parents and siblings. I feel guilty at times that I am neglecting my responsibilities for him, but I know when I get back to South Carolina he will welcome me with kisses and his little nub of a tail twitching his whole backside. If it is so for people with children and pets – this want, this urge, this love that is shared – Jesus asks us, how much more so is it with God?
We need to remember, though, that prayer is not like putting coins in a vending machine. We can’t put our prayer in the right slot, push the right button, and then wait for the vending machine God to give us exactly what we want. God is not a vending machine. God is our Father, our Daddy. Prayer is a relationship; an intimate, loving, caring parent-child relationship. I remember when I was little always, always being the kid who wanted everything when we went in a store: “Ooo! Mama, can I have this? Daddy I want Fruity Pebbles! Can we get Fruity Pebbles? Mama I need this! Please, can we get it?” Sometimes I was answered with a yes. Sometimes I was answered with a no. Many times, as any of us know, the answer is, “We’ll see.” What does that even really mean!? Most of the time I was already pouting because I just knew it meant “No.” I did hold on to the hope that it would change to a yes, though! Sometimes that is the intention. My parents didn’t want to hurt my feelings at that moment, and they were probably hoping I would forget about it soon enough. Sometimes it worked… most of the time it didn’t, though, because I was a pretty stubborn child! Sometimes, however, it really did mean, “We’ll see.” We may not have had the money at that moment, a birthday or special occasion was coming up soon, or they simply knew I didn’t completely understand all that I was asking for. I feel this is what we can compare the answers God gives us to our prayers. We rejoice when He tells us “Yes” and we may pout when we feel the answer has been “No,” but I think we forget about the third option all too often. “We’ll see” is a perfectly acceptable answer to any question or prayer. God knows that we can’t really handle whatever it is we’re asking for. If you think about it, even Jesus’ request in the garden was answered with a “We’ll see.” It may have been possible for Jesus to avoid the suffering and death if all the leaders suddenly converted, repented of sins and believed in him. But, as we know, that didn’t happen. We pray for healing. The answer is often, “We’ll see.” Sometimes our prayers may result in healing, perhaps miraculously or through the human knowledge and skills of the doctor, nurses, and medicines. Sometimes the best efforts of the medical team and our prayers aren’t enough and the “we’ll see” becomes a “no.”
Prayer, above all else, is a relationship – a child with parents, friends talking with each other. The second part of our gospel lesson uses the image of a friend asking another for some food for the sake of another friend. Sometimes we’re able to meet the need of our friends: “Can I borrow a screwdriver?” “Can you help me with this?” But there are many times – and perhaps their most important requests, where we can do nothing to change the situation: “I’m out of work, can you get me a job where you work?” “I’ve got cancer, can you make it better?” “I’m so depressed. I don’t know if I will ever be happy again, can’t you do something to help me?”…
Prayer is a relationship, a presence. It’s the presence of daddy or mommy, not always saying or doing things to change the situation, but their presence can often change you as it brings their comfort and love to the situation. And perhaps you are better able to accept what lies in the future with their support. You are better able to live the uncertainty of the “we’ll see” answer as you patiently wait together to see what will happen. Prayer is the presence of God. It’s not that God will always change the situation, but knowing that God is with us, and that God is going through the tragedy or suffering or depression or even death with you, not as a far off God who is unreachable, but as your very close and loving father.
Let us pray. Dear Daddy, We are grateful for this opportunity to come to you in prayer with the knowledge that you listen and answer. Be with us this day, guide us, and help us to remember that you want to hear from us. Help us to pray as Jesus instructed us, this day and always. In Your Name we pray, Amen.
