Teach Us to Pray

In the fall of 2021, I wrote a four-week series on prayer. One of those weeks was on the first part of Luke 11. As I was reading Luke 11 this week, I thought again about how verses 2-13 seem to tell one story. As we enter this third week of Lent, it's worth revisiting this prayer conversation with Jesus and his disciples.

Luke 11 opens with Jesus praying. When he finishes, one of his disciples approaches him and says, "Teach us to pray, Master, just like John taught his disciples."  

This interaction is interesting to me and makes me curious. Jesus and his disciples were Jewish. They all grew up regularly praying and observing the feasts and holy days. So why were they asking Jesus to teach them to pray? And why does Jesus respond the way he does?

It can't be that there is only one way to pray because we see Jesus model various kinds of prayer in Scripture. But, there was a custom of daily prayers - offered morning, noon, and night - and it seems the prayer Jesus offered his disciples would become a part of those daily prayers.

The prayer Jesus gives in Matthew 6, and varied here in Luke 11, seems to point back to the passage from Deuteronomy 6:4-9, known as the Shema, a reminder to the people that there was one God and they were to love him with their whole being. 

Luke 11:2-4 
"When you pray, replied Jesus, this is what you say:  Father, may your name be honored; may your kingdom come; give us each day our daily bread; and forgive us our sins, since we too forgive all our debtors; and don't put us to the test." 

Some Bible translations insert a new heading following verse 4, separating these earlier verses from the ones to come, but I think they all work together to answer the disciple's question about prayer. 

Jesus continues - 

Luke 11:5-13
"Suppose one of you has a friend, he said, and you go to him in the middle of the night and say, My dear friend, lend me three loaves of bread! A friend of mine is on a journey and has arrived at my house, and I have nothing to put in front of him! He will answer from inside his house, Don't make life difficult for me! The door is already shut, and my children and I are all in bed! I can't get up and give you anything. Let me tell you, even if he won't get up and give you anything just because you're his friend, because of your shameless persistence he will get up and give you whatever you need. So this is my word to you: ask and it will be given to you; search and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. You see, everyone who asks receives! Everyone who searches finds! Everyone who knocks has the door opened for them! If your son asks you for a fish, is there a father among you who will give him a snake? Or if he asks for an egg, will you give him a scorpion? Face it: you are evil. And yet you know how to give good presents to your children. How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

What is Jesus talking about? How does this all fit together?  

It seems like Jesus is expanding the language of prayer. As their Rabbi, Jesus appears to be offering a daily prayer for the disciples to remind them to honor God and to look for his kingdom. And then, he seems to expand the conversation on prayer into a foreshadowing of the gift of the Holy Spirit and how everyone who asks will receive this gift.

When the disciples asked about prayer, Jesus didn't give them a 10-step action plan for intercession or sit them down for a quick course on casting out demons. Why not?

I wonder if Jesus wants his disciples to understand that the power and presence of the Holy Spirit is at the heart of prayer.

As sons and daughters of the King, we worship our Heavenly Father. His name is worthy of honor, glory, and praise. God's Spirit continually reveals his kingdom to us, fills us with the bread of life daily, guides us as we both seek and offer forgiveness, and protects us from our real enemy.

Prayer isn't about a genie in a bottle granting our wishes, but about daily union with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

What do you notice about prayer from Luke 11? 

 

~ Melissa