He
was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his
disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught
his disciples."
- Although there is no record of John teaching his disciples how to pray, the idea makes sense. Just about every faith leader has disciples who which to imitate him or her in how they live and in how they pray. The odd thing here is that there is no note of when or where this happened with Jesus. It's simply remembered as a “certain place.” Nor is this described as unusual, which makes us think that this was typical.
- Since we have such a wonderful explanation of the Lord's Prayer in the Small Catechism, I'm not going to try to reinvent the wheel and talk about that. I'm going to refer you all to your own copies of the Small Catechism to see what was said there.
- Jesus' own lesson on prayer to his disciples begins with “He said to them, "When you pray, say...”, but it might be a way to pray rather than a magic formula for prayer. As you can see, our recited version bears only a passing resemblance to the original versions in the Gospels, and the three Gospels all differ in the wording.
- When we pray together out loud, we use the same words for the sake of “good order.” It is more orderly, and we could still use any language or translation... if we were willing to tolerate a little chaos in our service. When we pray in private, the Lord's prayer serves as a model of how to pray. Even if we are alone, the prayer is always plural and quite intimate. It's always Our Father... Vater Unser... Pater Noster... Padre nuestro... Otce nas. To call God “Father” or in Jesus' own language “Abba” is extremely familiar and intimate, and that is how we are to call on our God! Take a look at the example shown us in the reading from Genesis. Abraham relates to God in a way many of us might find quite brave and perhaps a bit too intimate for some.
- The short parables and examples that follow in Luke's Gospel tell us more about this intimacy and trust. The story of the persistent man asking his neighbour for three loaves of bread and the neighbour finally... grudgingly... with great annoyance... gives his friend the bread if only to shut him up, carries the lesson of “This is how you are, but not how your Father is!”
- To go further, Jesus uses examples from the lives of all his listeners to illustrate the goodness of God. “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?” We all know the difference between a snake and a fish. The contrast is made even more out of the ordinary when we consider that scorpions in that part of the world are black and eggs are just as light coloured as there are here.
- Then Jesus says “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
- This is where we have to think this through. Surely we all pray for our needs and the needs of those we love. But do we consider our need for the Holy Spirit? How would the Spirit be involved in all this?
- The Holy Spirit is always involved in our prayers, even to the point of praying within us when we don't know how to pray, as the apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Romans.
- This reference to the Holy Spirit takes us beyond prayers of petition, that is, prayers that ask, to the true nature of prayer, which is relationship with our Father. Saying God will give what is good because of his loving-Fatherly relationship with us is an example of God's desire to be in a close relationship with us.
- The ultimate expression of this is in nothing less than the life of Jesus on this earth. Ask yourself this: Would God have sent God's Son to live among us and then sent God's Spirit to remain with us every day if God wanted to keep us at arm's length?
- No, Jesus came to earth to free us from the tyranny of sin and came among us as one of us to redeem us and to be in a close relationship with us. As the Word-made-flesh, he remains one of us even as he is united to his Father. In this, his Father is our Father as well.
- Prayer is as simple as any words and as deep as the Divine. It is the love of God that makes it both simple and deep. It is the love of God that not only permits to call God “Father” but actually prefers that.{At this point, I told the congregation that since I was going on holiday for three weeks, I wanted to hear what they had to say about the Lord's Prayer. A few people spoke up with tremendous insights and wonderful stories about prayer and praying. We all ended by saying the Lord's Prayer together... in whatever language each person wished.}
He
said to them, "When you pray, say:
Our
Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed
be thy name,
thy
kingdom come, thy 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. Amen
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