It’s some comfort to know that they disciples didn’t know how to pray. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say they want to know how to pray better. Like them, we want the proper formula, the magic combination of words. We want to be sure we’re doing it effectively, efficiently, properly and powerfully.
So Jesus offers up the set of verses that we call the Lord’s Prayer, although it might be more accurate to call it the Disciples’ Prayer. Mind you, what we have is an English version of a Latin translation of the Greek writing of what Jesus spoke in Aramaic. ... What we have used for centuries is straightforward and compelling enough: pray about bread, sins, debts or trespasses (depending which denomination you belong to) and temptations. That’s it.
Except it isn’t that easy. We know of prayers that go unanswered, unheeded, ignored. Or maybe flatout refused. Which makes God seem rather random and arbitrarily discriminatory. What is the criteria by which prayers receive a positive response? Neither Jesus nor the Bible seem to be able to outline the selection system.
But we might be well reminded to consider that it is not the outcome of prayer that should be our focus, but the act itself. As the Nike shoe company used to tell us: “Just Do It.” There are a number of techniques that people come up with, but it’s a matter of finding the time to do what works best for you.
... We do not pray to change God’s mind or influence the outcome of the future, but to change and influence ourselves. The movie “Shadowlands” is about C.S. Lewis and his marriage to Joy Gresham who dies of cancer. In discussing the situation with a friend, C.S. Lewis says, " That's not why I pray, Harry. I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn't change God; it changes ME." I haven’t been able to verify this is an actual quotation from him or just a meaningful portion of movie script, but it certainly is worth sharing.
Jesus follows the prayer with a little situation of the neighbour knocking on the door at night needing a bit of food to accommodate a surprise visitor. Set against the previous lessons about hospitality, who is a neighbour, of visiting and listening to guests, this is in keeping with what he had been teaching.
However, it’s been a bit of puzzle why Jesus might present prayer in a negative fashion, as the relentless knocking on the door in the middle of the night, as something that God might find inconvenient or bothersome. Why would a reluctant granting of prayer out of frustration be preached about?
The idea of asking and being granted, of being the squeaky wheel getting spiritual grease is a little too familiar with our earthly processes and procedure than to be any kind divinely inspired interaction of grace and mercy. It is tempting to interpret these verses as proof that prayer gets us what we want.
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The persistent and repeated act of humbling oneself, swallowing pride to admit one doesn’t have enough on one’s own, moves us to change and rethink our attitude and our situation. If a person approaches prayer from that perspective, God is able to work miracles in our lives.
Let our lives be prayer. In action, in outreach and in giving.
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