Bible Study Notes: St Luke's Gospel
Session 27 Chapter 11:1-13
1 One day he was praying in a certain place. When he finished,
one of his disciples said, "Master, teach us to pray just as John
taught his disciples."
2-4 So he said, "When you pray, say, Father, Reveal who you are.
Set the world right. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven
with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil."
5-6 Then he said, "Imagine what would happen if you went to a friend
in the middle of the night and said, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of
bread. An old friend traveling through just showed up, and I don't have
a thing on hand.'
7 "The friend answers from his bed, 'Don't bother me. The door's
locked; my children are all down for the night; I can't get up to give
you anything.'
8 "But let me tell you, even if he won't get up because he's a friend,
if you stand your ground, knocking and waking all the neighbors, he'll
finally get up and get you whatever you need.
9 "Here's what I'm saying: Ask and you'll get; Seek and you'll find;
Knock and the door will open.
10-13 "Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need.
This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in. If your little
boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on
his plate? If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with
a spider? As bad as you are, you wouldn't think of such a thing - you're
at least decent to your own children. And don't you think the Father who
conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask him?"
Luke's gospel is a gospel of prayer. Luke shows us Jesus at prayer before the great events of his life. Jesus prayed at his baptism and before his first conflict with the Pharisees and his choice of the twelve apostles. In Luke we see Jesus praying just before he asks the disciples who he is and prior to his first prediction of the passion. Jesus prays at the Transfiguration, on the cross, and he promises to pray for Peter when Peter faced the hour of his great temptation. Only in Luke are the prayer parables of the friend at midnight and the unjust judge. Luke remembers for us the fact that Jesus did more than invite us to pray. Jesus witnessed prayer over and over again at significant stages in his ministry and regularly in deep meditation.
Christ's disciples had ample opportunity to observe Jesus at prayer. He prayed often and for long periods of time. The gospels generally say little about what his prayer was like. Was he reciting or singing psalms? Was he whispering a series of short prayers as in a mantra? Was he absorbed in the long deep silences of meditation?
We do have some clues. In John's gospel records Christ's Last Supper discourse in which he publicly speaks to his Father with warmth and intimacy. In this eleventh chapter of Luke we hear Jesus teaching us to pray the Our Father. One thing is clear, the apostles were so moved by the beauty and obvious depth of Christ's prayer that they asked him how to do it themselves.
Jesus responded by teaching them the Our Father. This was not simply another prayer formula. It was a lesson in the attitudes that should accompany our praying. The Our Father deserves some extensive commentary, but a few preliminary thoughts should precede this reflection.
Our lead comes from St. Augustine's letter on prayer, addressed to a prominent woman of his times, the Lady Proba. Augustine's basic message is that prayer is the expression of our inborn desire to be happy. The quest for happiness is the greatest motivator in the world. The thirst for happiness moves some people to seek it by getting rich, acquiring power, or participating in unlimited sexual pleasure. Money, power, and sex have mobilized the energies of millions of people because they believe these goals are the secret of happiness.
At first these methods seem to work and some happiness is obtained. Yet, after every million earned, every power position plundered, and every sexual object attained, there follows a sadness and futile emptiness. These goals supply only a temporary joy, not enduring happiness. Worse yet, the more money, sex, and power one obtains, the less reward there is in real satisfaction.
It is all an illusion. It always was. It always will be. These well known facts of life teach us two lessons. First, our undying need to be happy makes many of us look for it in the wrong places, such as in money, power, and sex. Secondly, this type of quest never works.
Jesus was the happiest human being who ever lived, despite setback, disappointments, and sufferings. He never sought happiness in wealth, position, and sexuality. He had no money to pay for a house. He rejected power when people wanted to make him a king. He chose a celibate lifestyle. Jesus was not opposed to people having enough money for a decent way of life, or reasonable control over one's life situation, or sexuality in marriage that reflected the lifelong love of the spouses. He did not stand against the propriety of these things, so much as their abuse.
He showed us, however, that he was happy because he equated his personal desire for joy with his desire for God. It is the same reality. God is happiness. God is the source of all true and lasting joy. Each act of getting closer to God is progress in personal happiness. Money, power, and sex are happiness substitutes. God is the real producer of contentment. The day we see our desire for absolute satisfaction is truly our desire for God, then we will be on the authentic path to bliss. Then we will realize why prayer is important. Then we will unlock the mystery and meaning of the Our Father.
Prayer time is time devoted to nourishing our desire for unlimited happiness, because it intensifies our desire to be nearer to God. Prayer is meant to enlarge our capacity for happiness. It opens our hearts wider to receive God. After all, it was the Lord who invented happiness and created us to enjoy life with God on earth and in eternal life hereafter.
No eye can see this, for it has no color. No ear can hear it, for it has no sound. Happiness is a spiritual gift that comes from a spiritual source. Prayer is an exercise of our inborn desire to be happy. The more we exercise that desire, the more we can receive this gift that God very much wants to give us. Such happiness does not come easily.
Praying is hard work. Praying leads us to lose the self and take the cross and follow Jesus. Prayer moves us to search for happiness in these acts that at first glance would seem to make us unhappy. Yet all people, whose faith, hope, and love moves them to try this despite all appearances, tell us that it works. We must use spiritual means to get what is essentially a spiritual gift. All other efforts are illusory and will fail.
Jesus knows we are not angels. Each day we will need prayer words to remind ourselves of our desire for happiness and the way to achieve it. This is the purpose of prayer words and formulas. This is why David wrote the Psalms, the greatest collection of prayer words ever composed. This is why Jesus gave us the Our Father, the greatest single prayer in the world.
Besides vocal prayer, we also need time each day for silent meditation. The stress of modem life will cool our conscious desire for God. Specified times for daily prayer stir up our desire for God and increase our yearning for enduring contentment. Lots of words are not necessary. Plenty of fervent desire is. Augustine tells us that more is accomplished through sighs than speech, more is achieved with tears than words. Such prayer creates the most pleasant of all discoveries - that we can find the secret of happiness.
The above reflection is the necessary background for understanding Christ's teachings on prayer in the eleventh chapter of Luke. Our desire for happiness is the pre-condition for appreciating the petitions of the Our Father.
© Fr Michael Fuller: May 2010