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Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples." So He said to them, "When you pray, say:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us day by day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone
who is indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one."
And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you'? I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"
- Luke 11:1-13
In yesterday's reading, we read that as Jesus was alone praying, His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, "Who do the crowds say that I am?" So they answered and said, "John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God." And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day." Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God."
Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples." In today's reading, we skip forward to chapter 11, in which Jesus gives the disciples (and we who follow) the Lord's Prayer. Tomorrow also we will skip ahead into chapter 12 of Luke's Gospel. Thursday will be Ascension Day in the West, and after that the lectionary returns to where we were yesterday, in chapter 9, at the end of yesterday's reading. Let us first notice that Jesus is praying, and that it is at the prompting, or rather, the requesting, of the disciple that Jesus responds with the prayer we're given. In today's lectionary, there is also an excerpt from the Epistle of James, in which we are taught that "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights" (James 1:17). Here, the giving of this prayer is our gift from the Lord, made in response to a request. In essence, it is a prayer that is given us in response to a prayer. This is a kind of paradox that teaches us about Christ, the nature of spiritual gifts, and is a microcosm picture of what Jesus will teach in response! My study bible says the disciple's request expresses a universal spiritual need.
So He said to them, "When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." My study bible teaches that "Our Father signifies (1) the unique privilege of being children of God by the grace of adoption, and (2) the unity of Christians who commonly call God 'Our' Father. God's name is hallowed when we praise and glorify Him by righteous words and deeds. God's kingdom and will are closely related: we pray they may be actualized on earth as they are in heaven, when God's reign is gloriously manifest." Let us note at once the direction of this prayer: the point is that we are asking of "Our Father" that His kingdom come to this world, and for His will to be done on earth as in heaven. As disciples, this implies something of our mission, and our joy.
Give us day by day our daily bread. A note says, "Daily (Gr. epiousios) can also mean the 'essential' bread which many Church Fathers understood as (1) the truth of God's word for daily sustenance, or (2) the sacramental bread of the Eucharist, Christ Himself." This is important for us to understand. The word "epiousios" can also be translated "super-substantial," something meaning a kind of bread that has more to it than what we normally think of as bread, something added from above.
And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. A helpful note says that, "Willingness to forgive everyone is a prerequisite to being forgiven by God. To be indebted means to have committed a sin against another. Although God tests us, He does not lead us into temptation. Deliverance from the evil one (rather than from evil in the abstract) is the classic patristic understanding of this petition." "The evil one" as opposed to "evil" is one reading of the Greek.
And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you'? I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs." My study bible tells us that "Jesus praises persistence even if it seems inopportune and bothersome. Persistence in prayer helps us to focus our attention on God." Let us note again that prayer is a petition, an asking. But the real question focuses on what do we ask for? What is the main thrust of this prayer? We must ask also in this context, what is discipleship?
"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." My study bible tells us, "We ask in prayer, seek through study, and knock through righteous living." The analogy to the neighbor who will give bread when persistently requested to do so is meant to teach us about praying to the Father.
"If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" My study bible says that "evil is used here in the general sense of all human beings being weak and sinful. If Jesus promises to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him, how is it that we ask?" The Eastern Church retains a prayer from the early Church: "Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, who are everywhere present and fill all things, Treasury of Blessings and Giver of Life, come and dwell in us, cleanse us from every stain and save our souls, O Good One."
Jesus' prayer teaches us something about what we ask for as disciples. What is the great gift that is promised? It is the Holy Spirit that is given by the Father to those who ask. It is this for which we seek, and ask and knock. If we pay attention to the Gospels, we see that Jesus often asks people, "What do you want me to do for you?" He responds to requests. He invites us, through the Gospels and the stories we read in them, to be specific. The gifts of God, then, are responses to requests, to prayers -- and here Jesus makes no exception to this pattern when He teaches the disciples how to pray, and puts the emphasis on the gifts of grace, and especially the gift of the Holy Spirit. Discipleship, then, via this prayer, puts the emphasis on the Kingdom and its manifestation in the world, the will of God being done, our capacity for true discipleship in the willingness to forgive, and especially the prayer and the emphasis by Jesus on the gift of the Holy Spirit in response. It is this, overall, for which we are to ask and seek and knock -- this for which we are persistent in our prayers. This is both the fulfillment and the manifestation of relationship, our relatedness to God. It is our joy, our true adoption in sonship as children of God. It is this, ultimately, for which we pray. In the Holy Spirit there is fulfilled an infinitude of gifts and promises that cannot be numbered. In the gift of the Spirit there is also fulfillment for each one of us as the persons that we are created to be, each unique in our own personality as given by God. Let us remember, as we pray, that God does not give gifts in pieces. That is, each gift of a spiritual nature, no matter what that may be, constitutes a glimpse of the fullness of God, that "God does not give the Spirit by measure" (John 3:34). Let us remember that as we pray, so we pray with all the saints, all those living members of the Church, including the "great cloud of witnesses" spoken of by St. Paul. Let our prayers be magnified in one another and through our communion. Let us remember also the comfort of the Spirit, which we share with one another in our prayers.
So He said to them, "When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." My study bible teaches that "Our Father signifies (1) the unique privilege of being children of God by the grace of adoption, and (2) the unity of Christians who commonly call God 'Our' Father. God's name is hallowed when we praise and glorify Him by righteous words and deeds. God's kingdom and will are closely related: we pray they may be actualized on earth as they are in heaven, when God's reign is gloriously manifest." Let us note at once the direction of this prayer: the point is that we are asking of "Our Father" that His kingdom come to this world, and for His will to be done on earth as in heaven. As disciples, this implies something of our mission, and our joy.
Give us day by day our daily bread. A note says, "Daily (Gr. epiousios) can also mean the 'essential' bread which many Church Fathers understood as (1) the truth of God's word for daily sustenance, or (2) the sacramental bread of the Eucharist, Christ Himself." This is important for us to understand. The word "epiousios" can also be translated "super-substantial," something meaning a kind of bread that has more to it than what we normally think of as bread, something added from above.
And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. A helpful note says that, "Willingness to forgive everyone is a prerequisite to being forgiven by God. To be indebted means to have committed a sin against another. Although God tests us, He does not lead us into temptation. Deliverance from the evil one (rather than from evil in the abstract) is the classic patristic understanding of this petition." "The evil one" as opposed to "evil" is one reading of the Greek.
And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you'? I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs." My study bible tells us that "Jesus praises persistence even if it seems inopportune and bothersome. Persistence in prayer helps us to focus our attention on God." Let us note again that prayer is a petition, an asking. But the real question focuses on what do we ask for? What is the main thrust of this prayer? We must ask also in this context, what is discipleship?
"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." My study bible tells us, "We ask in prayer, seek through study, and knock through righteous living." The analogy to the neighbor who will give bread when persistently requested to do so is meant to teach us about praying to the Father.
"If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" My study bible says that "evil is used here in the general sense of all human beings being weak and sinful. If Jesus promises to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him, how is it that we ask?" The Eastern Church retains a prayer from the early Church: "Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, who are everywhere present and fill all things, Treasury of Blessings and Giver of Life, come and dwell in us, cleanse us from every stain and save our souls, O Good One."
Jesus' prayer teaches us something about what we ask for as disciples. What is the great gift that is promised? It is the Holy Spirit that is given by the Father to those who ask. It is this for which we seek, and ask and knock. If we pay attention to the Gospels, we see that Jesus often asks people, "What do you want me to do for you?" He responds to requests. He invites us, through the Gospels and the stories we read in them, to be specific. The gifts of God, then, are responses to requests, to prayers -- and here Jesus makes no exception to this pattern when He teaches the disciples how to pray, and puts the emphasis on the gifts of grace, and especially the gift of the Holy Spirit. Discipleship, then, via this prayer, puts the emphasis on the Kingdom and its manifestation in the world, the will of God being done, our capacity for true discipleship in the willingness to forgive, and especially the prayer and the emphasis by Jesus on the gift of the Holy Spirit in response. It is this, overall, for which we are to ask and seek and knock -- this for which we are persistent in our prayers. This is both the fulfillment and the manifestation of relationship, our relatedness to God. It is our joy, our true adoption in sonship as children of God. It is this, ultimately, for which we pray. In the Holy Spirit there is fulfilled an infinitude of gifts and promises that cannot be numbered. In the gift of the Spirit there is also fulfillment for each one of us as the persons that we are created to be, each unique in our own personality as given by God. Let us remember, as we pray, that God does not give gifts in pieces. That is, each gift of a spiritual nature, no matter what that may be, constitutes a glimpse of the fullness of God, that "God does not give the Spirit by measure" (John 3:34). Let us remember that as we pray, so we pray with all the saints, all those living members of the Church, including the "great cloud of witnesses" spoken of by St. Paul. Let our prayers be magnified in one another and through our communion. Let us remember also the comfort of the Spirit, which we share with one another in our prayers.
