TEACH US TO PRAY
Luke 11:1-13
July 29, 2007
Betty Berghaus
Call me naïve (and many people have and do!), but it never really occurred to me that some people do not pray, or do not feel they know how to pray. I guess I have grown up praying, and with a family who prayed. I’m not talking about praying in public – that is a different matter. But surely everyone prays in the quiet of their own lives. And yet, looking at this very familiar passage from Luke’s gospel, we see that the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray.
It was not uncommon for such rabbis and teachers to teach their disciples to pray, so John (the Baptist), as referred to in this passage, probably taught his disciples to pray. And here we see that the disciples asked Jesus to teach them. And if there is a right way to pray that can be taught, there must be wrong ways to pray! The Gospel of Matthew, in his version of the Lord’s Prayer, actually talked about these wrong ways more than Luke does. Matthew said: “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have [already] received their reward” (Matt.6:5). So there must be something about the attitude with which one prays. There are real insights we can gain about praying from this wonderful passage. But first let’s look deeper into the passage itself.
Jesus was praying by himself. When he finished, a disciple asked him to teach them to pray. So I get this image of Jesus hard at prayer, and these 12 men sitting around watching him. But Jesus was so agreeable! He began to teach them with what is given in Luke as a shorter version of what we know as the Lord’s Prayer. The version most like the one we say each week is found in Matthew 6.
In this model prayer, Jesus first addresses God as Father, denoting a relationship as of child and parent, a dependency. Before asking anything of God, there is adoration of God. “Hallowed be Thy name.” This is more of a statement than a request for blessing on God’s name, which is, of course, already holy. It was so holy for the Israelites that they would not say the name, but would substitute something like “Adonai” for God’s name. So this is an acknowledgement of the holiness of our God. “Thy kingdom come” looks beyond our own scope to God’s greater plan for humankind. So the prayer starts by centering on God and who God is before dashing into our own needs.
“Give us this day our daily bread” puts us into petition. But note that it is a plural request. It is not asking for “my” daily bread, but “our” daily bread. This is a prayer to be prayed in community. Even when not prayed in community, even when prayed alone, we pray in the plural - we pray for more than just ourselves. “Daily bread” has been taken to mean many things – enough bread for existence, bread for today, even bread for tomorrow or the future. It can be taken to represent food in general. But, coming out of world that knew famine and harvests that did not always provide all that was needed, and in which the poor often did not have enough food for each day, this petition perhaps literally asked for food sufficient for the day. It reminds us of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, and God sending manna sufficient for each day, but not lasting until the next day. It also harkens us back to the previous chapter of Luke, when Jesus sent the 70 out in mission with “no purse, no bag, no sandals,” nothing with which to purchase food or take care of themselves. The missionaries were to rely on others for their everyday needs. “Daily bread” gives us just enough to sustain us, just enough to support life, that we might be able to function for God.
In talking of the forgiveness of sins, our NRSV Bible uses both “sins” and “debts” in this passage. The root word here, especially in the Aramaic that Jesus probably used, could mean “sin,” “debts,” or “trespasses.” So the differences in reciting this part of the prayer have come out of tradition more than a difference in meaning. This is the longest of the petitions in Luke, and it is the only one requiring an action from the one praying – we are to forgive as well.
Then Jesus further illustrated the essence of prayer with a story about someone who needed to be hospitable when a guest arrived late at night and he was out of bread. Rules of hospitality of that culture dictated that someone arriving at the home was offered food. Bread was the most basic staple. Some fruit or vegetables might also be offered. But this person had no bread, and certainly not the time to prepare the dough, knead the bread and bake it in the middle of the night. So he went to a neighbor and rather obnoxiously kept knocking on the door. The neighbor finally gave him the bread just to get him to leave. This paints almost a comic scene (and I do think Jesus had a sense of humor!). Most people see this as depicting “persistence” as a needed trait of prayer. But Sharon Ringe thinks that the word translated as “persistence” is better translated as “shamelessness.” If so, then the one knocking was persistent to the state of forsaking his good name and standing in society. And, the one knocking was persistent in pursuing something needed for someone else. Surely those are some clues about the right way to pray!
Jesus then assured the disciples of God’s response to prayer. “Ask,” “seek” and “knock,” he said. And each one will “receive,” “find,” and “the door will be opened.”
Finally Jesus talked about how we, as imperfect as we are, know the right response to give to our children when they ask for things (no snake when they ask for fish, no scorpion when they ask for an egg), then surely our Father God, who loves us with a perfect love, will not give us anything harmful but will give us only good. So no matter how God answers our prayers, God gives only good.
It seems to me that we learn several things about God in this passage, as well as about ourselves. First, perhaps, God knows that we do not know how to pray, and that we need to be taught. But God teaches us. We know God as “Father,” a loving parent. But God is also more than a parent, as God is holy, and God has a kingdom, both in heaven and here on earth. We know that God will respond, that God hears us, and gives us what we need, and, as in the last verse of this passage, God gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask. According to this passage, God gives us daily bread, forgiveness (sufficient so that we can also forgive), and the Holy Spirit. Perhaps when we pray for other things, like a parking place close to the theater on a rainy day, we need to remember that God gives us what we need.
We also learn a lot about ourselves from this passage, and what we need to do to pray well. First, we learn that we do not know how to pray, but that it is alright, because God can teach us. We need nourishment on a daily basis, but perhaps only what is sufficient for the day, and not more (a lesson, perhaps, in diet and conservation of the world’s resources.) We are reminded that we are “evil,” or sinful, less than perfect. And we can be “tested,” or “tempted” by evil or times of trial. So we need to ask for forgiveness. But we also need to forgive. God seems to also encourage us to be persistent, but shows that perhaps we should be most insistent when seeking for others.
I, perhaps like most of you, have said the Lord’s Prayer all of my life. But it is a testimony to the Bible as the Living Word that, in studying this passage this week, I have gained a whole new perspective on this prayer that never occurred to me before, but that I hope will occur to me every time I pray this prayer. This is a global prayer! When I say “Give us this day our daily bread,” all of a sudden I am no longer thinking just of my need for food, or your need for food, but I think of those starving in the Durham streets, in the Appalachian areas, and those scenes we see of children starving in Africa. Give us all bread, O Lord!
And when I say “Forgive us our debts as we forgive others…,” all of a sudden I am no longer thinking just of my need for forgiveness, but of the sins of the world, as we inflict violence or wage wars against one another, including those terrorists who have no thought or concern for innocent lives. If we all could embrace God’s forgiveness, then we would not harm one another, but would see our oneness in both our sinfulness and in the grace of God’s forgiveness. Truly accepting God’s forgiveness could bring the world to peace! I can pray and imagine everyone laying down weapons, putting aside anger, and joining hands in love. “Forgive us. Lord,…as we forgive others.”
And so suddenly I realize that this is not just my prayer, one that I have prayed my whole life. Neither is it just your prayer, or our prayer. This is a prayer for all people, for the whole world. It is, or it can be, a life-changing prayer, a world-changing prayer, if only we truly mean what we pray, and we truly embrace what God offers us in love. It is a powerful prayer!
So, friends, in the moments of silence, please prepare your hearts and minds to pray together our Lord’s Prayer with new eyes and with open hearts. And maybe, just maybe, as we continue to pray as we have been taught, we can see the world change for the better – God’s will be done, on earth as it is in heaven!
Thanks be to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! Amen.