“Another Look”
Sermon Presented July 25, 2010
Luke 11:1-13
People who seek God want to pray the “right” prayer! What can I do to assure my connection to God? I am no exception! My library on the topic of spirituality is primarily focused on prayer! I have books written by the ancients – Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila, Thomas A ‘Kempis, Julian of Norwich, and St. John of the Cross – as well as more current writings by Leslie Weatherhead, Joan Chittister, C. S. Lewis, Kathleen Norris, Henry Nouwen, and Thomas Merton. Some, like the anonymous author of The Way of the Pilgrim suggest a continuous repetition of some variation of The Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Others suggest meditating on a word, a phrase or a 3 Scripture verse. Some suggest conversational prayer, while still others offer a liturgical formula for the content of a prayer. But try as we might, most haven’t reached satisfactory enlightenment on how to pray.
Jesus’ disciples were much like us. They were devout Galilean Jews who prayed regularly! However, when they observed Jesus in prayer, they saw that something was different. They, too, wanted to know the best way to connect with God, and they knew Jesus had the answer. This is what Jesus taught them. I’m reading Luke 11:1-13.
I first want to encourage you to look at this text as a whole. The illustrations given at the end of the text have no meaning when separated from the prayer Jesus taught. This is a wonderfully refreshing prayer, and one that even lapsed Christians remember and offer to God. It’s a deeply human kind of prayer. It’s a prayer for those in need. (Douglas John Hall, Feasting on the Word, Year C, Vol. 3, p. 288)
I’m sure you noticed that this isn’t the familiar version of the Lord’s Prayer that we find in Matthew and that we speak or sing at worship each Sunday. Luke offers an abbreviated form of that prayer. In all likelihood, Luke’s is the earlier version – because it’s shorter – and Matthew’s is a later, expanded version.
Most Christians have memorized The Lord’s Prayer. Sometimes when I visit a person in the hospital or nursing home who is unresponsive, take her or his hand, and pray the Lord’s Prayer, they physically respond. Sometimes the person attempts to say the words with me, and other times squeezes my hand or opens their eyes. The prayer has meaning and brings comfort. Just as John the Baptist gave a model prayer for his disciples, and devout Jews repeated a ritual prayer morning and evening, Jesus gave a prayer to his disciples – to us!
Jesus addresses God in his prayer as Father. He could do this because he recognized God as his loving and attentive parent. However, the address of God as Father is problematic for some Christians. I had a friend in Kansas City who was sexually abused as a child by her father for more than a decade, and she asked me to find a Bible for her that had no “male” references for God. Some have read John Schissler’s book Passages: The Making of an American Family. (Schissler will speak to our book club next month.) In his book, Schissler told of an incident when his father, desiring to punish Schissler’s 3-year-old sister, grabbed her by the arm and dragged her down 3 flights of stairs – beating her all the way to the basement where men were slaughtering hogs. He forced her to kneel on the cold cement floor, surrounded by the carcasses of dead pigs, while the butchers continued to work. People who didn’t have a loving father find it problematic to address God as Father. Depending on your background, you may want to address God differently. I know ministers who begin the Lord’s Prayer with “Our Father/Mother”.
What does Jesus teach about prayer here? He gives his disciples a format for prayer that begins by asking that God’s kingdom come! He is seeking the reign of God in its fullness! Then he offers three requests for essential needs: daily sustenance, forgiveness, and the preservation of faith during times of trials. The final request, that God not bring us to the time of trial, doesn’t mean that we will have no temptations – or problems. The prayer is that we won’t be enticed to do evil during these times. Jesus asks for protection from circumstances that test or imperil our faith, especially through the threat of persecution. (Matthew Skinner, Feasting on the Word, Year C, Vol. 3, p. 289)
Jesus’ parable may also be problematic for you. This is the first time I have used this text for a sermon, so I had a great deal of work to do in sermon preparation. Still on the subject of prayer, Jesus tells a parable about the one who refused to get up and give bread to his neighbor at midnight when the neighbor had an unexpected guest. According to first century Jewish rules, hospitality was foremost in Jewish life – and it still is. The friend who refused to get up and give bread to his neighbor was shameful. That person does not represent God. A friend would have immediately adhered to the request. (James C. Wallace, Feasting…, p. 291)
Bruce Malina, author of Windows on the World of Jesus, wrote that there are rights and obligations incurred when people live close to one another. Neighbors of this sort are an extension of one’s kin group. They have daily face to face contact. Proverbs 27:10 says: “better is a neighbor who is near, than a brother who is far away.” In times of need, a neighbor is expected to help. (p. 52)
Those who hear Jesus tell this story of a friend at midnight recognize that it is an unlikely scenario. In the Greek, the single question offered here is: Could any of this happen to you? The answer would be a resounding “no”. No one could imagine a friend saying what is said in verse 7. A friend who refuses help in this situation would violate conventions of hospitality and incur shame. Jesus’ point is that even if the sacred obligations of friendship and hospitality don’t compel a friend to respond – which isn’t going to happen, still a friend will finally supply bread because of the persistence of the one asking. Jesus goes on to say that God is eager to give assistance, and people should pray with a persistence that borders on presumptuousness. (ibid, Skinner, p. 291)
In a world where hospitality was highly prized, the continuous and shameless knocking would broadcast to the world the shameless behavior of a friend who would rather stay in bed than answer hospitality’s urgent need. The point of the parable is that Jesus’ followers should be equally shameless in approaching God. (ibid, James C. Wallace, p. 291.) Another way to look at a familiar text!
Detached from Jesus’ prayer, verses 5-13 might seem to offer empty promises, suggesting that God dispenses favors and blessings like a vending machine. Our prayer should be the model Jesus gave them: that God will bring the fullness of God’s reign to fruition. And this is what we should ask for – daily sustenance, forgiveness of sins, and blockage of the enticement to do evil. (ibid, Skinner, p. 291)
When we pray, we must face our tendency toward distraction during prayer. If you don’t get distracted in prayer, you’re not human. Our distraction might be a siren, ringing telephone, mosquito, or just thought that fleet through our mind. How do we hold our concentration when our multisensory world and multitasking brains keep creating new strains of attention deficit? (Peter Marty, Christian Century, July 13, 2010, p. 21)
My guess is that Jesus’ disciples were as weak at concentration as we are. They had lives to lead – which included worries and preoccupations. But they may have realized that they had inadequate faith to carry them through their prayer time. They saw the deep faith Jesus demonstrated through his prayers, and they yearned for a similar closeness to God. They wanted a more confident faith that would make their prayer lives more fruitful. (ibid)
It’s easy to chastise ourselves for our lack of faith – for our ineffectiveness in prayer. But if we truly want to have a deeper relationship with God, we will be gentle with ourselves. We will work on our relationships with the people around us, thus helping to strengthen our relationship with God. When our human relationships are askew, it’s difficult to focus on God. But when we pray about things that matter deeply to us – when we are serious about a prayer, we tend to focus completely!
Prayer is much more than a formulaic discourse – or talking to God. Prayer lives from a relationship we share with God in Jesus. It is an intimate, vital daily aspect of that relationship.
The Lord’s Prayer! We speak it; we sing it; we utter it alone and in community. We are weak and we seek strength from God, who responds to us at the point of our need. George Buttrick, one of the most famous preachers of the last century, said: “If God is in some deep and eternal sense like Jesus, friendship with God is our first concern, worthiest art, best resource and sublimest joy.” (Cynthia A. Jarvis, Feasting…, p. 286)
All of us experience doubt concerning prayer. Am I wasting my time? Am I doing it right? Jesus says: Just do it! Ask! Seek! Knock! Allow prayer to become a conversation with one who is our friend. That conversation begins with a word. God has spoken that word to us through Jesus, and now we are invited to speak it back. (ibid, p. 288) How will we respond?
07/25/2010
