Jesus on Prayer

All this summer our gospel readings from Luke are following  Jesus as he travels from Galilee to Jerusalem.  No one knows how long the trip actually took; it’s under 100 miles, but he doesn’t seem to be in a rush.  He’s heading to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.  It is Jesus on the road.  We meet a lot people, hear some parables and find a lot of teachings. 

Today when Jesus is praying one of the disciples asks, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”  Jesus’ response is the root of what we call the Lord’s Prayer.  As is often the case there’s not a word to spare, but this is not a formula for how to pray so that you get what you want.  It’s more a prayer that sets up the right attitude for a relationship with God.

Right off the bat Jesus says call God, “Father.”  He could have said we should call God, “The Supreme Creator, King, Master and Judge before whom all should tremble.”  But he does not.  No, we are encouraged to address God as Father – or perhaps Dad.  And if God is our Father then we are his children.

This is a deep and rich image – a family relationship with God.  I would be negligent if I didn’t acknowledge that calling God ‘Father’ doesn’t work for everyone.  In an ideal world all dads would be strong and wise and loving and merciful.  But no one lives up to that ideal.  And all too many fall too far from it; so that for some people calling God ‘Father’ makes them cringe.  For some that image is an abusive and exploitative image.  Or for some people they feel like they can never measure up to their dad’s expectations and thus never gain acceptance.

No image is perfect.  If this one makes you cringe then try to imagine the perfect dad, although God as the perfect dad may not fit either.  There’s the parable of the Prodigal Son where the dad is anything but upright and proper.  And let that parable reinforce our notion of God’s nature.  God is indeed strong and wise and loving and merciful.  And God is also playful, silly and a bit crazy.

We are to address God as Dad.  We are to honor God as such and we are to see ourselves as children.  Healthy families are strong and robust.  Even unhealthy families can be strong.  God’s family is infinitely strong and your place in it is absolutely secure.  No good father is ever content if even one of his children is missing or lost.  We saw that in parables too.

Notice something else significant.  When Jesus talks about praying is he talking about just God and you or is he talking about God and us?  It’s God and us.  I cringe when people say Jesus is their personal Lord and Savior.  I know what they mean, but you are not an only child where God is concerned.  We’re all in this family together; like it or not.  Your prayer life is not an individual conversation between just you and God.  It is part of a broader conversation with your whole faith family.  I suppose our prayer chain illustrates that, when many are praying the same things.

You know the Lord’s Prayer well.  Though it has the form of a series of requests it’s more of a pledge to a way of life.  When you pray, “Your kingdom come,” you are orienting your life to the hopes and the direction of God’s kingdom.  And this is not just for the future of eternal life.  You are asking for God’s kingdom here on earth, where you will be an agent to bring it about.

“Give us each day our daily bread,” shows where you will get nourishment.  Did you pray for popularity?  Did you pray for success?  Did you pray for a big retirement account so you could live in safety and comfort?  No.  You pray to God for providing you with your basic needs.  This does not mean the pantry will always be miraculously full.  No, you still have to go shopping or else grow your own food.  But your orientation for your needs will be turned towards God and not the world.

“Forgive us our sins, for we forgive everyone indebted to us.”  Let’s not get into a debate about whether the words should be “sins” or “debts” or “trespasses”.  Again, the point is attitude.  Your life is not going to be about getting revenge, or keeping a mental record of who you owe and who owes you.  Nor is this an legal exchange where only if you forgive others will God forgive you.  This is saying that your way of life will mirror God’s own love and mercy.

“Do not bring us to the time of trial.”  This is a kind and generous thing for Jesus to include in the prayer.  Some would ask God for challenges and adversities to overcome so that they could be faith heroes.  Jesus, however, recommends not seeking to be a hero.  Instead, ask to be excused from faith trials and tests.  Only the egotistical want to proudly display what they’ve been through.

Jesus then goes on to give a parable about prayer.  He invites us to imagine going to your friends in the middle of the night asking for bread.  Like many parables, this one plays on the absurd.  No one would go knocking on doors in the neighborhood asking for bread at midnight!

Don’t come away from this parable with the wrong idea.  It is easy to conclude that it is a teaching about persistence in prayer.  The phrase, “If at first you don’t succeed try try again,” does not apply here.  Praying endlessly for something, even praying hard, does not guarantee you’ll get what you want.  Remember, Jesus whole teaching about prayer is not about a formula for how to pray it is about an attitude and understanding of prayer.

Let’s look at Jesus’ next words to help with an answer, “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.  For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”

In “The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary” R. Alan Culpepper gives a succinct interpretation of these verses that gets at the heart of what Jesus is teaching, “Asking in the hope that something will be given to you puts the hearer in the posture of a beggar.  Seeking and finding is language common to the quest for wisdom, but it could also have wider applications – perhaps even seeking lodging or shelter.  Similarly, knocking in the hope of being received somewhere again puts the hearer in the posture of the destitute and the homeless.”  (Volume 9, Pg, 237)

I think Culpepper rightly points out what Jesus is teaching here.  Jesus is not teaching us how to get stuff from God – even good and righteous things like asking for someone’s safety or healing.  Jesus is teaching a proper relationship with God.

Right after Martin Luther died they found a scrap of paper in his clothes.  On it were his last written words, “We are beggars.  It is true.”  To his dying moment Luther knew how absolutely and completely dependent he was on God for absolutely everything – for life, for breath, for food, water, safety, clothing, family, friends, you name it.  And he also knew how completely worthless he was to God; were it not for God’s grace.  Yes, Martin Luther goes down as one of the most influential people in history, but he knew that God could do anything.  Luther knew that he needed God.  And he knew that God did not need Luther.  Therefore Luther knew he could only beg.  That is the overarching teaching of Jesus’ about prayer.

Jesus does not want to humiliate us or make us feel worthless, but look at his words: ask, seek, knock… forgive, give.  These are not the words of business deals.  These are not the words of formulas for getting what you want out of God.  These are the words of an attitude that recognizes need.

With that need fully recognized then we can turn to the final piece of what Jesus teaches.  “Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish?  Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion?”  Will God give us garbage or violence for our needs?  Of course not!  Like any loving father, our Father will give us good gifts – especially the Holy Spirit.

May you pray as Jesus taught – with persistence and with boldness – knowing both your need for God and God’s desire to give you good things; perhaps not what you ask for, but for what you need to be whole and capable always.