The Gospel for 28th July

Luke 11.1-13 (NRSV)

The Lord’s Prayer

11He 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.’ ²He said to them, ‘When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name.
   Your kingdom come.
³   Give us each day our daily bread.
⁴   And forgive us our sins,
     for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
   And do not bring us to the time of trial.’

Perseverance in Prayer

5 And he said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves of bread;⁶for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.”⁷And he answers from within, “Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.” ⁸I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

9 ‘So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. ¹⁰For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. ¹¹Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? ¹²Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? ¹³If 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!’

Prayer is central to the Christian life. We can do absolutely nothing unless we pray. Jesus was the Son of Almighty God and prayer was central in his life. As we reads Luke's gospel, we see how Jesus was a person of regular and disciplined prayer. He prayed at his baptism (3:21); he prayed before choosing his 12 apostles (6:12); he prayed when ministering to the crowds (5:16); he prayed before asking the 12 to confess their faith (9:18) and he prayed at the Transfiguration (9:29). If Jesus needed to have prayer at the focal point of his life on earth, how much more need we, weak sinful mortals, spend time in prayer.

The apostles knew that Jesus was special and was able to do great and marvellous things, because he prayed and so they asked him for his secret.

Firstly, Jesus said that we should always begin with praise, worship and giving honour to God. True and effective prayer is only possible for those who are in a position to call God their Father. It is only possible to call God Father, if we have become his children. And it is only possible to become a child of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul explains in Galatians 4:4:

... when the right time finally came, God sent his own Son. He came as the son of a human mother and lived under the Jewish Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that me might become God's sons and daughters. (TEV)

Any person can recognise God as a Father, but only those who have received the gift of forgiveness through Jesus Christ can come to God as their Father because when this happens, St Paul explains '... God's Spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God's children'. Through Jesus Christ we have a family intimacy with God who is our Father.

As God's children, we pray that our Father's holy name may be honoured. A name in Hebrew culture stood for the entire nature, character and personality of the person. God's name is honoured therefore when his nature, character and purposes are known and honoured. When we pray that God's name will be honoured, we pledge ourselves to action where we study God's word, are enabled to discern his will for us, and we respond in faithfulness and obedience to what God is calling us to do.

We pray 'may your kingdom come.' God's kingdom is not an earthly kingdom; it is his reign in the hearts of people. When people are filled with the Spirit of God they change and become new creations. God desires all people to be saved. He desires all people to know peace in their hearts through the forgiveness of their sins. He desires people to know peace within themselves. God also wants all people to live at peace with each other. Jesus is the 'Prince of Peace' and his kingdom is the kingdom of peace. When Jesus rules in the hearts of people, the effects of this should be evident in society. Like the leaven in dough spreads throughout the whole loaf, when God's kingdom comes into the hearts of believes it spreads throughout the world.

When we pray the first thing we need to do is give God praise and glory through reverent worship. When we meditate on God and his word, things come into perspective and we will know better what we ought to ask for ourselves and more importantly for others. True prayer is not getting man's will done in heaven, but God's will done on earth. Prayer is not telling God what we want and then selfishly enjoy it, but rather asking God to use us to accomplish what he wants. This is how his name is honoured, his kingdom is established and extended and his will is achieved - as Matthew puts it 'on earth as it is in heaven'.

Within the perspective of worshipping God and knowing his word and will, we can bring our needs before him. We can come to him with our present needs, but note there is no place for greed. God allows us to bring our daily needs to him and he will meet them. The image of bread is significant and probably refers to God's provision of manna to the people in the desert. I am sure we all remember his instructions to the Israelites:

            Moses said to them, "This is the food that the Lord has given you to eat. The Lord has commanded that each of you is to gather as much of it as he needs ..." (Exodus 16)

While we know of the need to be responsible in making provision for our future, Christians should never be greedy. God blesses us with everything we need in accordance with his will, and we have no right to make selfish demands in our prayers.

When we pray we also pray about the past. The most significant aspect of the past for us is the need to be forgiven. God promises us that he will forgive us but we need to be open to receive this forgiveness. The way we open ourselves to receive this gift is through our willingness to forgive others. As one commentator puts it:

            To remain unforgiving shows we have not understood that we ourselves deeply need to be forgiven. Think of some people who have wronged you. Have you forgiven them? How can God deal with you if he treats you as you treat them?

We also pray about the future - '... and do not bring us to hard testing'. Christians desire more than anything else, the strength to be able to live as God intends them to live. They know that evil is always trying to lead them astray and so destroy the joy of the reality God's kingdom in their lives. Each day, we need therefore to seek God's protection.

Jesus illustrated his teaching on prayer by using two parables. The reluctant neighbour in verses 5-10 does not mean that God would ever be reluctant in giving us what we need. God is always desirous of answering our prayers, but he cannot do it lightly or cheaply in response to half-hearted desire on our part. God gives good things to many people, but his choicest blessings are reserved for those who will value them and prove that they will really appreciate them by asking until they receive. Christians are those who humbly persist in their prayers. If a tired and selfish neighbour eventually gives in and gives what is needed, how much more will our loving heavenly Father, who never gets tired or sleeps, who never gets impatient or irritable, who is always generous and who delights in blessing his children, give them all the things they need to make them happy and blessed and whole human beings. God also calls us to persist because he does not want us only to come to him with 'midnight emergencies', but to remain in constant communication with him. All too often people only pray when there is a particular emergency. This reminds me of a rather humorous story:

            Two men were being chased by an obviously evil‑intentioned bull.

            "What are we to do?" puffed one.

            "Can you pray?" Panted the other.

            "The only prayer I can remember is "For what we are about to receive..."

When we are regular in prayer, God will show us the way; God will reveal his will for us.

In prayer, God gives us everything we need because he gives us of himself - as verse 13 explains:

            Bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

Being filled with the Spirit enables us to discern the mind of God as he provides us with everything we need. William Barclay concludes:

            If we do not receive what we pray for, it is not because God grudgingly refuses to give it but because he has some better thing for us. There is no such thing as unanswered prayer. The answer given may not be the answer we desired or expected; but even when t is a refusal it is the answer of the love and wisdom of God.

 Amen.