Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (C) [Lk 11:1-13]
24.07.2022
The
Lord’s Prayer and Perseverance in Prayer
1. Theme in brief
Persistence
in prayer
2. Focus Statement
The disciples of Jesus must persistently pray for
the realization of God’s Kingdom and constantly knock at God’s ‘door’ in prayer
as an expression of their absolute trust and utter dependence on him.
3. Explanation of the text
In his gospel, Luke highlights
the role of personal
prayer in Jesus’ life more than other evangelists. Today’s text
taken from his gospel, tells us that before Jesus could teach his disciples how
to pray, one of the disciples himself took the initiative to ask him to teach them
how to pray as John the Baptist taught his disciples (10:1). This shows that the
disciples were definitely motivated by his personal example and understood the importance of prayer
in their life. In answer to the request
of that disciple, Jesus taught them the famous prayer called “Our Father” as a pattern for Christian prayers. He taught it
as a model
that outlines the primary content of Christian prayer.
As Jesus taught, prayer
begins by addressing God as a loving and caring Parent (“Abba”), and proceeds to give glory
to his name
and puts his purpose
(that is, his Kingdom) in the first place (11:2); then proceeds with
placing our daily
needs before him (11:3). Thus, the first content of prayer is to
pray for the realization of God’s loving rule (called God’s Kingdom) on earth.
In fact, when his name is hallowed or glorified; his kingdom comes; he provides daily bread
for us by blessing the work of our hands; we learn to forgive one another as he forgives
and he delivers
us from the time of trial (11:4). Thus, prayer deals both with present needs
and the future
hope
of the coming of God’s Kingdom.
The second part of the Our
Father deals with the petition expressing the trust disciples are to put in a Provident God
by requesting him to take care of their “daily bread” (11:3). Here daily bread stands not
only for food and drink but also for all other material or human needs.
Next, Jesus teaches that the disciples should acknowledge the reality of their sins and
their need for forgiveness.
As his children, God expects that they reflect his forgiving nature by forgiving
everyone indebted
to them (11:4). When Jesus refers to the acts of rebellion we commit against God’s
authority over us, he calls them sins, but when he refers to the offences
others inflict on us he calls them "debts," probably to highlight the seriousness
of offences against God. Giving and receiving of forgiveness are linked
together; if we refuse to forgive others’ debts, how can we expect to receive
God’s forgiveness for our sins? The plural pronouns in the second part of this
prayer such as “us,” “our,” “we” (11:3-4) indicate that prayer is not merely individualistic
or centred on only one’s own needs, but also for others’ as well.
In order to emphasize the
necessity of perseverance
and persistence in prayer, Jesus tells the Parable of the
Friend at Midnight. Its lesson is not that God is literally like that man who
gave to his friend what he wanted at midnight ( that is, three loaves of bread)
to get rid of his ‘shameless’ (in original language) persistence
(11:8). The point is this: if a person can take all the personal trouble of
getting up at midnight, opening the locked door and disturbing his children in
bed because of his friend’s persistence (11:7-8), will not God grant freely
what we ask, since he loves us so much and helping us costs him no trouble
(11:5-8)? For Luke, the ultimate purpose of prayer is to get the gift of
the Holy
Spirit whom the heavenly Father gives to those who ask him (11:13) –
a gift which surpasses all other material things.
Further, Jesus speaks about
the effectiveness
of prayer: if earthly fathers do not give snakes and scorpions to their
children when they ask fish and eggs, how much more will our heavenly Father,
who is abounding in mercy, grant our prayers (11:11-13). The
continual asking,
seeking and knocking of disciples at his door until it opens
are signs their utter
poverty (insufficiency), lowliness, powerlessness and dependence
on him (11:9-10). By persistently or shamelessly knocking, the door finally opens
for them; by repeated asking they get what they want; and by continual seeking
after the Kingdom of God, they finally discover it.
4. Application to life
In today’s gospel, Jesus
reminds us to have a deeply personal relationship with God in prayer. He teaches
us to always approach him just as children approach their loving parents in
total trust
and confidence by addressing him as our dear Abba, Father. The most famous
prayer taught by Jesus as per today’s gospel is known as “Our Father.” Now we
use it as “a formula
prayer” – a prayer that we repeat often. That is fine. But more than as a
formula to be repeated again and again (often mechanically), Jesus taught it as
a basic model
or pattern
for our prayers. As per this model, Christian prayer in general begins first
with God, his name, his glory, his Kingdom and his will. Then only we place
before him our needs as we say: Give us this or that grace/ gift/ favour/ blessing.
Hence, as Jesus taught us,
in prayer we come before a God who is our ‘Abba’ or dear Daddy and pray that
his name may be sanctified,
his kingdom
may come as we do his will in our words and deeds. First of all, we
need to pray constantly that God’s name may be hallowed and glorified in our thoughts
of him as a dear Daddy, in our words that we may not misuse it, in our conduct
that all our actions may be guided by him and in our worship that it may be pure and
genuine. As his children, we pray that our conduct or action may always bring honour
to his name and never any dishonour. Further, Jesus teaches us to put God’s purpose
first in our prayer, that is, his Kingdom. He teaches us to pray that God’s rule
of unconditional
love may become a reality in our lives. In other words, God alone and his
love may
rule over our minds and hearts and determine our actions. When we
allow God to totally rule over our lives, we are filled with his qualities
of love, mercy, peace and justice. That will influence our attitudes and actions
and in turn will influence our society with God’s values. Thus his Kingdom
increases and our own kingdom of selfishness decreases.
By praying for the coming
of God’s rule on earth we show that God’s rule must supersede everything else. By
praying for daily bread we show that we are not self-sufficient and depend
on God’s providence
for our daily needs. As we saw, our “daily bread” includes many other basic needs
than mere physical bread – health, education, jobs, right to life, human
dignity and security, proper access to natural resources, etc. By praying for
God’s forgiveness
of our sins we confess
our own sinfulness
and the grace to forgive the sins of others. Jesus links receiving of God’s forgiveness
to our own giving
of forgiveness to others’ “debts,” that is, personal faults/ failures/
mistakes/ offences and even sins. As children of a forgiving Father, he calls
us to exhibit his own nature by forgiving others. Otherwise, how can
we call ourselves children of a forgiving Father? And how can the world learn
of God's forgiveness unless we manifest forgiveness in our lives?
Truly speaking, the three
aspects of intercessory
prayer
taught by Jesus in today’s gospel, namely, asking, seeking and knocking, if taken literally,
contradict our experience in many cases (though not all). Quite many times exactly
what we asked in prayer we did not receive, what we searched we did not find
and when we knocked at the doors of heaven they did not open. In spite of our
prayer for the safety of our loved ones we lost them in sudden heart attacks or
tragic accidents or in natural calamities. If God is a loving Father who knows
how to give good gifts to his children as per today’s gospel (11:13), why do so
many of our prayers go unanswered? This is the greatest test of faith we face. What
is tested here is God’s purpose or plan for us. He invites us to
place before him all our needs ‘shamelessly’ (this is the word used in original
Greek for persistence) again and again trusting that he alone knows what is
good and not good for us. Even if we do not get what we ask, does it not
enhance our relationship or friendship with God and faith in him? After all,
this is what prayer is!
Prayer may or may not change
our circumstances; but it can change us. Our continual prayer for our enemies
may or may not change them, but it will change our attitudes of hatred, revenge
and bitterness towards them. First of all, can we pray for our enemies with
revenge against them in our hearts? When we do not get exactly what we ask, we
must realize that it may be God’s answer for us. Actually, in prayer we
need to seek God’s answer for our struggles and problems, not our answer. True
prayer is seeking constantly God’s will and not our own. Prayer does not change
God’s mind and will but helps us to change our mind and will according to his. That
is why in Matthew’s version of ”Our Father” (which is used in our daily
prayers) we read: “Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in
heaven” (Mt 6:10). In our thinking what is good for us, may not be
good in
God’s thinking. Prayer does not guarantee that all we ask will be
granted to us exactly the way we have asked. Jesus’ prayer in
Though God knows our needs,
constantly and persistently pleading with him with petitions and intercessions
for our and others’ needs is a sign of our trust, utter poverty (insufficiency), humility and
total
dependence on him. They are not meant to argue our case with God and
convince him of the urgency or genuineness of our needs. We need
to pray persistently and constantly trusting that God loves us, cares for us,
is genuinely
interested in our welfare and will do only what is best for us in
the way and at the time he wants. The example of the midnight’s friend and the
father who never gives snakes and scorpions to his children goes against the
idea of God as cruel,
harsh and revengeful.
With child-like trust we always submit ourselves, our and world’s needs to him
with the prayer, “Your will be done” (Lk 22:42).
God answers all our prayers
the way he
wants or in ways which are best for us, and not exactly as we ask.
Like the man who finally opened the door to the midnight friend, God who is our
Friend will open for us the door to receive the gifts he wants to give us,
which, of course, may be quite different from what we ask. Sometimes we ask in prayers just the opposite:
snakes and scorpions instead of fish and eggs, that is, things that may be harmful
for us in the long run. But God being a loving Abba gives us only fish and
eggs, that is, things which will ultimately be for our good. The most important
of his gifts is the Holy Spirit which includes wisdom, courage,
joy, peace, and enlightenment to know, accept and do his will. We may not ask
for these gifts, but at a given time they may be the best for us according to
God’s design.
Sometimes we tend to be selfish
and narrow-minded
even in our prayer. We straightaway
begin our prayer with our personal needs – “Lord, give me this, give me
that” – instead of first adoring,
praising and glorifying God. While making petitions and intercessions often we
pray for only personal favours for ourselves and for our near and dear ones. We
fail to show our love for neighbours in prayer too. Jesus has taught us that
God’s purpose is to establish a new society (called
5. Response to God's Word
Whose kingdom do we seek in prayer: God’s or ours? Are we selfish in prayer also, praying only for our selfish needs? Do we often pray that there may be peace in the world; that all may live as brothers and sisters; that all may respect and work for human dignity/rights and life-promoting values; that there may be corruption-free and terrorism-free society? Are our petitions and intercessions before God signs of our trust and total dependence on him, or ways of manipulating him or forcing him to give us whatever we ask? Whose will do we seek in prayer: our own or God’s?
6. A Prayer
Dear Abba Father, may your name be sanctified in our thoughts, words, conduct and actions. May your holy purpose to establish a new society of love, peace, truth and justice be realized through us. Though you know our needs even before we ask, we constantly and persistently knock at your door in trust and total dependence on you. Pour on us the supreme gift of the Holy Spirit so that we can know and accept your will with his guidance. For yours is the Kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
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