Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
July 29, 2007
Hosea 1:2-10
Psalm 85
Colossians 26:15-19
Luke 11:1-13
“Lord, teach us to pray.” This seems like an odd request coming from Jesus’ disciples, don’t you think? I mean, these are Jews, after all, steeped in a tradition of prayer. Many numbers of prayers and many kinds of prayers that are spoken often and at every occasion. Why do you suppose the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray?
Well, the Gospel of Luke, itself, gives us some clue as to why the disciples ask Jesus such a question. Luke’s gospel is sometimes called a gospel of prayer. Luke is always leading the readers of his gospel to moments of prayer. If he is not telling us about prayer, he is showing us people at prayer, especially Jesus. But it is obvious that in Luke’s gospel Jesus is praying differently from the expected norms of Jewish prayer; otherwise, why would his disciples have made this request.
So what is this difference? Well, an important difference is that Jesus does more than pray the expected prayers of his tradition, at the expected times and places, in the expected ways. In chapter 5, verse16 of Luke’s gospel we read that for Jesus prayer is a habit. Jesus prays habitually, at any time and for any reason which prompts him to pray. We often find Jesus going aside to pray. Jesus prays when he needs to; and often in his own words. He prays when he needs to be in immediate and conscious communication with God. Jesus prays after his baptism, and at key moments as he is choosing his disciples. He prays before Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi. Jesus prays at his transfiguration and in his desperate moments in the Garden of Gethsemane where he also urges his disciples to pray. And, of course, Jesus prays many prayers in his agony as he hangs from the cross.
By his example of praying, the most important thing Jesus teaches us is that prayer is about relationship. Prayer is more than an act of obedience, or an act of will. It can be different from the repetitive words and formulas of liturgical prayer. Prayer serves a greater purpose than thanksgiving, petition, forgiveness or intercession. For Jesus the prayers we pray are feeble and misdirected if they do not bring us into deeper and more enduring relationship with God.
Relationship with God is what the disciples apparently saw in the ways that Jesus prayed. They undoubtedly saw so much more of what prayer could be when they witnessed Jesus praying with such frequency and fervor. They undoubtedly experienced Jesus’ deep relationship with them because of his deepening relationship with God in prayer. And they wanted that. They wanted to know that relationship with God—with Jesus and with each other, too. In fact, I think it is a testimony to prayer that this rag-tag group of men, who seemed to have little clue as to the life Jesus was preparing them for after his death, became a powerful witness to Jesus’ life and raised up a praying church which has lasted for two millennia. And it all began with a simple request of Jesus. “Teach us to pray.”
Teach us to pray as you pray, they said to Jesus. Teach us to pray so that we can have what you have. This incredible intimacy with God. This wonderful ability to form deep relationships with others. This important skill which enables one to remain healthy and stable in the midst of dysfunction; strong and fearless in the throes of conflict and danger, compassionate and vulnerable in the face of need. It had to be prayer. The kind of prayer Jesus prayed.
We shouldn’t be surprised that Jesus’ disciples would make such a request of him. As a matter of fact, we can probably remember at least one, if not several, times in our own life, we have made the same request. Times we have brought our questions and concerns, even our doubts and fears about prayer to God or to someone we trusted; like a priest or a spiritual mentor or friend, to other adults in a prayer group or study group, or while making a retreat. Or perhaps we kept our questions and concerns about prayer to ourselves. It is no wonder that you can find books and videos on the subject of prayer in stores everywhere. It is no doubt that such resources can be helpful. But we already have available to us the best source for understanding prayer, a source which provides we the most complete answers to our questions and the best models for prayer. Our best source is our own scriptures. And I believe some of our best models for prayer can be found right in our own Anglican tradition in the Episcopal Church. Our own Book of Common Prayer forms us in the practice of prayer, and our church is rich in resources for expanding and deepening our life in prayer.
But simply going to church every Sunday to pray the liturgy, or merely reading a book about prayer, or making an occasional prayer retreat does not guarantee that any of us will learn to pray as Jesus taught us. At every Eucharist, we say the prayer Jesus taught his disciples, but it is not necessarily true that we are learning how to pray by it. Perhaps that is because of our sheer repetition of the prayer that we don’t think about Jesus’ purpose for teaching it. But that is precisely what we need to do if we are to become mature in our prayer life. We need to think about it. We need models for showing us how to pray as Jesus taught us, and we need to practice praying in the way Jesus taught us, whether that be prayer in the moment, or the prayers of our liturgies as we worship.
Opportunities for learning to pray come around at regular intervals for us in the Episcopal Church. Scripture selected for our three-year lectionary cycle bring us both Matthew’s version and Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer. It’s a good thing that when these scripture readings come around we are given pause to think about the prayer Jesus taught his disciples. It’s a good thing we hear their request. For it is the same request we need to make regularly ourselves if we are to grow in mature relationship with God and with each other by the ways we pray.
“Teach us to pray,” the disciples say to Jesus in our gospel account today. And the first thing we need to do is be sure we know what they are requesting. The disciples are not asking Jesus WHAT they should pray. They are asking Jesus to teach them HOW to pray. Jesus’ answers are about our attitude of prayer more than they are about the things we pray about. For Jesus, attitude is everything. Our experience of prayer and our expectations of prayer depend on the way we approach God in prayer. So Jesus tells his disciples, “When you pray, say this. Father, hallowed be your name.” And immediately we know the kind of relationship we are meant to have with God. In the Greek transcription of “Father,” Jesus uses the word, Abba, which means “daddy.” And it is clear that our relationship with God is meant to reflect the greatest intimacy and the highest regard a parent and child have for each other.
This notion of relationship came home to me in its feminine version in a recent TV documentary about unwed teen mothers. Before the birth of her child, a rather brash young woman was displaying many the worst attitudes which come from being a teenager. She portrayed herself to be all grown up. Independent and capable of managing her own life. But in the throes of delivering her baby, the girl admits that she became so vulnerable and scared, she found herself crying out, “Mommy.” Months later in the follow-up segment of the documentary it was clear that the young woman’s admission to her vulnerability and need of her mother opened the door to deeper intimacy and more mature relationship with both her mother and her baby. And her change in attitude showed it.
Despite our relationship with our mother and father, they will always be our mother and father, and in his next teaching about prayer Jesus wants us to remember that God will always be our God and we are his child who needs him to be in relationship with us so that we can become the person God created us to be. We are to remember that God is God and we are not. God became like us, but he is not like us. God is beyond us at the same time he is so incredibly near us. God’s kingdom is in heaven but God also brought his kingdom to earth with the birth of his son. And prayer is what continues to keep God’s kingdom present to us in our world. Jesus tells the disciples that every prayer we make must show our desire to bring God’s kingdom nearer to us. And the word “us” is very important. For ultimately prayer is not about me. Prayer is not about what I want, what I need, what is best for me. Prayer is always about what is best for the kingdom. It is always about relationship, and relationship is always about community, and it is in community where God establishes his kingdom. The attitude of prayer needs always to consider the ways my relationship with God will prosper not just me, but others, as well.
“Give us this day our daily bread,” says Jesus. And he wants us to know that what God provides for our own need must also be provided for the needs of others. I cannot be in proper and complete relationship with God if I only care about my own food and clothing and shelter and health care, and…on and on. If I am not willing to see that others share in the daily bread God provides for all his creatures from the natural resources of his creation.
What Jesus teaches us next about may be the most difficult of all attitude adjustments God asks us to make if we are to be in right relationship with him and each other. He asks us to approach God in an attitude of forgiveness. Because sin is what keeps us from having a good and right attitude toward God and others. Sin is what keeps us from being in good and right relationship with God and with each other. This is why we are to forgive the sins of others. God’s forgiveness cannot break through an unforgiving attitude. We will never know what it is like for God to forgive us and for us to feel forgiven if we don’t know the freedom and joy which comes from forgiving. Freedom and joy which can also bring us through the trials and temptations of this life.
And so Jesus ends his teaching in Luke’s gospel with the words, “And do not bring us to the time of trial.” What Jesus is showing his disciples is how prayer can keep us from the consequences of harm and the consequences of temptation we are bound to experience in this world. Because prayer keeps us focused on what matters in this life. It keeps us focused on the ways we are to live into the life of the kingdom on this earth. Prayer keeps us in the kind of relationship with God and with others which can save us from ourselves and others. And to paraphrase Jesus words in Luke’s gospel, how much more will a good and right relationship with God keep us living a good and righteous life, regardless of the evil and danger, trouble and temptation, greed and injustice that surround us in this world.
After his teaching, Jesus adds one more piece of advice to how we should pray. Persistence. Jesus indicates that we are to be persistent in prayer—not just during our experiences of worship, but in any moment we need to confide in the One who loves us like a father and a God. Because much like an earthly father, persistence is what gets God’s attention. Persistence is what demonstrates to God that we really want this relationship with him. Persistence is what prompts God to work WITH us in prayer, and IN us through the power of the Holy Spirit to live the life God is calling us to live, so that we can be the person God created us to be.
British author C.S. Lewis figured it out. Lewis became a Christian late in his life, but it appears it did not take him long to learn how to pray. As his beloved wife lay dying, a teacher colleague asked Lewis if he believed that his prayers would bring some kind of miracle to bear on their situation. Lewis told him, “I don’t pray to try to change God; I pray because prayer changes me.”
The Good News of today’s gospel is that a persistence in prayer will change you. It will change your relationship with God, with your family and friends and with the people of the world. Change is also the challenge which comes with learning how to pray. As practicing Christians we need to be open and ready to accept the challenges and changes prayer will bring to our life when we learn how to pray.