God the giver (Lk. 11:1–13)
When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, he gave them a prayer and then followed up with a parable about asking and receiving. This passage, along with Luther’s take on the Lord’s Prayer, show us some important things about prayer:
Prayer is commanded by God
Prayer needs to be taught
God wants to hear our prayers
God is always ready to give; we only need to ask
Prayer is commanded by God.
What is the Second Commandment?
“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.”
What does this mean?
“We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by his name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.”
Luther’s Small Catechism
The Commandments tend to teach us things negatively. They say, “Do not.” Today, when it comes to prayer, Jesus teaches positively. “Do this.”
If we are to take the Second Commandment and think about what it says not to do, it’s quite clear. We shouldn’t do certain things with God’s name. But to look at it positively, we should “call upon God’s name in every trouble.” That means the same as to pray.
So, if you think about it, God’s command to pray is as strong and firm as the other commands: do not steal, do not murder, do not lie etc.
It’s easy to be intimidated by the Ten Commandments. They sound harsh and brutal at times. But they only sound that way because of how difficult they are to keep. We struggle to meet God’s expectations, including the one to pray.
Maybe this is why the disciples wanted Jesus to teach them. Maybe they had only known prayer to be a compulsory part of their religious lifestyle—and who enjoys anything that is compulsory?
Just before this in Like’s gospel, Jesus had told the Parable of the Good Samaritan (a teaching on just how counter-cultural the love of God can be) and then he had allowed Mary to sit at his feet while Martha worked away in the kitchen (another example of Jesus crossing firmly-set cultural boundaries).
Maybe the disciples had a feeling that Jesus would have something different to say about prayer. Maybe they had learnt from these other counter-cultural teachings that prayer is not what they always thought it was. This brings us to our second point.
Prayer needs to be taught.
Myself, Tony and Helen Juttner, and a group of our young people from St Martin’s went to the Christian Life Week camp last week. There, you find all kinds of kids (and adult leaders) who have an extremely wide range of knowledge. Some of them read their Bibles most days, go to their local church every week, and pray at home every day. Others have had a Bible given to them at school but had never thought to open it, and prayer is a mysterious thing that only other, more confident people can do.
Prayer is a regular feature at these camps. There are worship services where the worship leader prays spontaneously on behalf of everyone, there are the classic sung table graces like the Superman grace and the Addams’ Family grace. There are also small group times where prayer is often done in turns. The first-time campers, quite a few of the more experienced young people, and even some of the leaders, shudder at the thought of praying aloud in front of other people, even if it is only five people.
Prayer needs to be taught. Many of us, even our highest churchgoers, regardless of age, do not feel confident when it comes to prayer, especially in front of others. I understand the stage-fright thing—that used to be me, but I had to get over that quickly didn’t I…
I think we lack confidence because we haven’t been taught. We might have seen others do it hundreds of times, but observation doesn’t always translate to competency. The best way to learn is to do. But where do we start?
Jesus makes it easy for us. The Lord’s Prayer is one of the greatest gifts of Christ to his church, but I’d argue that it’s also one of the most undervalued. We speak it every week in worship and some of us might use it at home, but do we ever stop and think about how valuable it is?
In Matthew’s version of this teaching, Jesus says, “When you pray, pray like this…” He teaches the Lord’s Prayer not as a set prayer, one that we recite word-for-word, but as a template or pattern for us to use. Take each petition and use them to pray about things specific to you.
Give us this day our daily bread: “Lord, the pantry is looking empty and my welfare payments haven’t come through. Provide us what we need, please.”
Lead us not into temptation: “Lord, I find it so hard to pull myself away from my phone when I should be doing more important things. Help me to turn away when I need to.”
In Luke’s version, however, Jesus is a bit more specific: “When you pray, say…” Go right ahead, use these words. These days, we tend to be a bit critical of set prayers, saying that they’re not from the heart or genuine. Jesus says, “Say this.” Not only that, but he is really giving the disciples something that they can teach others.
So parents, teach your children the Lord’s Prayer. Speak it with them at bed time. Grandparents, teach your adult children the Lord’s Prayer by praying aloud for them to hear. Jesus has given us all this prayer to use, so use it often.
Your confidence doesn’t come from your own ability to pray, but from the one who gave you those words to say. When you ask God to strengthen your faith, that itself is an act of faith in the one who hears your prayers.
God wants to hear our prayers.
There are people who are “qualified” to pray: pastors, priests, our Prayer Team, any mature Christian you know. They are there to help us all to pray, but that doesn’t mean you can’t. God wants to hear your prayers. Why else would he give the disciples, who were fishermen and tax collectors, a prayer that was short, simple, and able to be passed on? Why else, when he gave Moses only ten rules for the whole of life for all people, would he include the command to pray?
God wanted to hear the disciples pray for themselves, and he wants to hear us do the same.
· Psalm 50:15 says, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
· Jesus says in John 16:23, “Whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.”
· In today’s reading, Jesus says, “When you pray…”
God doesn’t just want our prayer because he likes the attention. He wants us to pray because he wants to give.
God is ready to give; we need only ask.
“If 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!” (Lk. 1:13)
Gift-giving is still a huge part of our culture. When we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we have massive, complex, and organised ways of giving gifts to each other like Secret Santa across extended families or workplaces. When we remember the day that someone was born, we give them a gift. Gift-giving and receiving is one of the Five Love Languages. Always an interesting quiz to do if you have spare time…
We know how to give a good gift. Every family is different—some go through enormous effort to hand-make something or go through the effort of a surprise. Others experience overwhelming relief when the shop assistant offers gift-wrapping.
No matter how good or bad you think you are at gift-giving, it’s a language we all speak. We can all tell what a good gift is and what it isn’t.
Our heavenly Father is the greatest gift-giver of all. It may not be perfectly wrapped or kept hidden for a special day, but it is life-changing, and it is free of the obligation to return the favour.
He gives all kinds of gifts, of course, but the one Jesus focusses on here is what? His Holy Spirit. And why is that?
It’s the Holy Spirit that is our helper and advocate. It’s also the Holy Spirit who is our intercessor—he prays to our Father on our behalf. He acts as a mediator between God and us so that all God sees when he looks at us is his precious baptised and redeemed child.
Imagine that a person you gave a gift to is telling you how much they appreciate it and can’t believe how you knew to get that gift for them. Multiply that by a hundred—that’s how our Father feels when we return to him in prayer after all he has done for us.
We call on him in times of trouble, we pray for his help when we’re out of our depth, and we praise him for everything he has done, is doing, and will continue to do for us.
“And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Lk. 1:9)
