Reflections on Luke's version of the Lord's Prayer

 Jesus was praying in a certain place, 

and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, 

“Lord, teach us to pray…”

 

And what follows is a deep teaching by Jesus on prayer.

      So let’s look closely at what he is saying to us 

         about the nature of prayer and how to pray.

  Let’s go deeper into this very familiar prayer.

The first thing in this passage, of course, is what we know as the Lord’s Prayer.

 

Certainly it is our Lord Jesus’ prayer that he taught,

  but we could also call it “the disciples’ prayer,” the Prayer of the Disciple.

 

The disciples had wanted a special prayer 

to distinguish themselves as the followers of Jesus, 

  like John the Baptist had done for his disciples.

This follows in the tradition of a long line of spiritual teachers 

  giving their disciples a distinctive prayer 

      that expressed core values or teachings of that particular spiritual master.

So the prayer expresses the values that the disciples hold.

It is expressive of discipleship.

 

Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say: Father…”

  He tells his disciples to dare to address God as he did:

Abba, Father, Daddy – the intimate, personal and child-like term – Abba

That is to say, address God with innocence and in an unsophisticated way,

  with perfect trust and with the openness of vulnerability of a child.

 

“When you pray, say: Father, hallowed by your name.”

The prayer that Jesus teaches them begins in the tradition 

already ancient by the time of the 1^st Century 

in devotion to the Name of God.  

There is a whole spirituality and prayer practice 

based on devotion to the Name of God

  that continues to this day in Judaism.

 

The Name of God, of the One whose Name is “I AM Who I AM,”

  the unpronounceable Name

 

Jesus taking this devotion to God’s Name to its greatest depths

  is living out his own life in what he says and does. 

This speaks of his union with the Father,

  and his perfect self-offering.

 

When we see Jesus,

  we see the very essence of God reflected to us.

      In Jesus we see God.

Therefore we also hallow the Name of Jesus.  His Name is holy to us.

 

Continuing in the prayer:           Let Your kingdom come –

 

This is an expression of surrender and self offering,

  acknowledging who has sovereignty, whose will leads the way.

This is to say, “Let your kingdom come in me.”                                                You are the Sovereign, and I am your subject/your servant/your slave; 

This is the expression of a disciple – surrender.

 

Give us this day – now here is a statement of radical trust.

More literally the Greek reads,

      “give us tomorrow’s bread each day as it come.”

Like  the children of Israel in the desert,

  the manna only came a day at a time, not even for one day ahead.

So this is an expression of radical trust on the part of the disciple,

      trusting for needs to be met only in the current moment.

 

Then the petition of asking for forgiveness for our sins,

      sins being the experiences of separation from God and from others,

  corresponds to our relationship and identity in Christ and with others.

 

“Forgive our sins, for indeed we ourselves forgive everyone owing us.”

  This is a precondition  - that we have committed to forgive –

  because in praying “Let your kingdom come” we surrender.

      In this kingdom there is no separation or alienation of sin.

       So we have already committed to forgiving by saying,

                  “Let your kingdom come.”

 

Lead us not into the place where we will be put to the test,

      where calamity would happen.

In praying that, we recognize our weakness and ask for mercy,

  which is God’s ever-flowing grace, love, compasson and assistance

                           directed towards us.

 

This prayer is both a simple and concentrated prayer

  given for those who are identified as disciples following Jesus.

In obedience we then pray this disciples’ prayer, 

this Lord’s Prayer, the Our Father

  in every one of our liturgies in the Book of Common Prayer.

But Jesus does not just give the disciples a prayer 

  so they can be like John the Baptist’s disciples with their own prayer.

He goes on and shows them how to pray it, how to pray.

 

He tells them a parable:

“Suppose one of you has a friend, 

and you go to him at midnight and say to him,

'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 

for a friend of mine has arrived, 

and I have nothing to set before him.'”

 

Now, isn’t that a rather outrageous request?  

  This is not just waiting until the last moment to ask.

  This is asking after it’s too late to ask!

 

“And [the neighbor] answers from within, 

'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, 

and you’re going to wake the children, 

and I’ve already gone to bed too; 

I cannot get up and give you anything.'”

This is the kind of response we would probably expect.

Even your best friend would be justified in turning you down.

 

Fortunately God loves us more than even our best friend.

It is the shamelessness of such requesting that gets the response,

  asking without modesty, without regard, persistently.

And that is what Jesus instructs his disciples to express in their praying.

 

“Ask, and it will be given you.

Seek, and you will find.

Knock, and it will be opened to you.

  For EVERYONE asking…” (the text states) EVERYONE will get an answer.

 

Keep on asking.  Why? …  Here’s the deal:

You continue to ask until you get the prayer request right.

  Keep on asking until you have figured out how you are supposed to ask

                           and what you are supposed to ask.

Then the answer you get will be only for your good, not for ill.

  It will be praying within the will of God, within the Kingdom come.

      Continue to ask until you figure out what really needs to be asked for.

 

To pray repeating your request is an act of trusting,

  trusting in the relationship and trusting in the outcome.

 

Jesus continues teaching about the nature of 

this kind of persistent, continual praying:

“Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, 

will give a snake instead of a fish? 

Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? 

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!"

 

Good gifts –  and the best gift is Holy Spirit who directs all asking, 

      the One who fills all as answer,

      the One who prays within us with “sighs too deep for words.”

 

Are we afraid in what we ask of God that it will be harmful for us?

                  Surely not!

It’s not just good gifts, like nourishing food/manna out there in the desert 

instead of harmful snakes and scorpions  that God gives us.

  God also gives the best gift, the Holy Spirit

       who directs all asking, who fills all as answer.

 

So there is a lot here in this Gospel reading about the nature of prayer,

  of continuing persistence in prayer,

  and deep trust in the One to whom we make our audacious requests –

      deep trust that we will be nourished in all good,

                  and indeed in God’s Spirit.

 

This is the prayer we memorize as children, 

         the go to prayer when we don’t know what else to pray.

Think about this when in today’s Eucharist 

         we come to the place at the end of the Great Thanksgiving Prayer

         and before the bread is broken

when we pray this Prayer that Jesus taught us

                  for our sake as would be disciples.

An Interrupted Birthday Party

Friday was my sister’s birthday, 

         and we went out to dinner with dearly loved friends at Anthony’s.

We chose the place and the time so that we could linger over dinner

         until the Fourth of July fireworks began,

                  seated on the deck where we had a wonderfully unobstructed view.

It was perfect!

 

And then only seconds into the display the fireworks stopped,

         and then we saw people running, heard sirens 

                  and knew that something had gone terribly wrong.

The manager of the restaurant called those of us on the deck 

         to come back inside the restaurant

                  and then he locked the doors.

Those of us in the lock down speculated about what had happened.

         a fireworks malfunction?         an active shooter?         a bomb threat?         

 

Everyone was checking their cell phones.

The atmosphere was tense; people were edgy and afraid.

 

I prayed for the first responders and that no one was trampled.

And I thought to myself, 

         this fear and threat of violence has reached even here.

 

While I am very grateful that the incident and the panic it created

         did not cause damage or injury,

I also experienced my own upset internally.

         Some of those around us were in shock.

Just viewing this caused trauma.

 

This is a time that seems precarious, an unsettling time 

         full of confusion, uncertainty, fear and even despair.

What had been loved, what we had relied on and counted on

                  seems to be slipping away

         and society itself appears to be breaking down.

 

But here we all are, here within the walls of this church building

         as our gathered faith community.

We come for comfort, for hope, for discernment and guidance,

         and for strength to meet new challenges in our daily lives.

 

So here is some comfort – in the scripture readings for today.

         We have everything we need right here, right now 

                  for dealing with the world around us.

 

The passage from Isaiah is what  Richard Rohr in his book,

                  The Tears of Things, calls the third stage of the prophet’s mission.

The first is to see the problem and exclaim over it.  Woe to us!

The second is the lament, the grieving over the catastrophe, 

                           the tragedy of what human sin has caused.

And the third is comfort and hope, the assurance of God’s steadfast love.

 

And in the Isaiah passage for today,

                  we find a tenderness of love, like a mother for a precious child,

   showered on a people traumatized by the Babylonian exile and captivity.

 

The nature of God is revealed to us as abundant in mercy,

                  never giving up on us.

 

Now the Gospel reading – I want to bring out something that perhaps

                  may seem like a new reading of it,

but, trust me, I believe it is there.

 

This is about Jesus sending out 70 of his followers,

         not just the 12 who were specifically called 

                  and commissioned later to become the Apostles.

Jesus is sending them to places where he himself was about to go.

         The Greek does not say “where Jesus intended to go,”

                  but “where Jesus was about to go.”

 

Here are the instructions in preparation for their mission.

“You will be like lambs sent to wolves.”

         In other words, you will be vulnerable, 

         but you will also be food/nourishment for those you meet.

How can I say that?  Because the word for lamb here 

         means specifically the lamb that will be sacrificed and eaten.

                  This is the only place it appears in the Gospels,

                  so its use here was deliberate and specific.

 

His instructions continue about traveling without provisions,

         not even sandals!                  barefoot?!

That means that when you arrive at your destination,

         you are going to enter that town as a beggar.

The people there will have to take care of you and provide for you

                  as though you were children.

         As though you were children!

 

That is a cue to look at what comes before today’s text in Luke’s Gospel.

Luke 9:46-48

It is about the argument that arose among the disciples about who is greatest.

Jesus takes a child,

         “Whoever receives this child in my name, receives me…

         the least among you is the greatest.”

So they are to present themselves like children, the least,

         so that when the townspeople receive them,

                  they are receiving Jesus.

 

What’s the connection?

The instructions from Jesus continue: when you arrive say, 

         “Peace to this house!” as they enter it.

 

The translation gets too loose here,

         and therefore misses a key point in the passage.

“…if anyone is there who shares in peace, 

         your peace will rest on that person…”

rather         “…if there is [the] son of peace there,

         your peace will rest on it [the house]…”

 

Who is this “son of peace”?  -  Jesus!

Jesus is going ahead of them by the Spirit;

         he does the work of preparing hearts, opening the way.

 

So in actuality, if we are to follow up with this passage,

     to engage in sharing the Good News that the Kingdom of God is at hand.

         it will be done by the Spirit of the Risen Christ.

 

Jesus goes before us and is present in each of our attempts

                  to proclaim the Kingdom/the Reign of God at hand.

It’s his work, not ours, BUT we are to be like life-nourishing lambs.

 

I am talking about this because now more than ever

         those of us who call ourselves Christians need to be those

who are channels of life-giving sustenance for a desperately hungry world.

 

Where we go, Christ goes ahead, 

         the Holy Spirit, the Resurrection Presence of Christ precedes us.

 

But now, what about us being fed, being strengthened?

 

It is now more important than ever before

         that this house of God be a sanctuary of peace.

May our homes be grounded in peace.

May our conversations be motivated by peace.

 

This peace is NOT quiescence, being inactive or submissive.

This peace is a sense of solid grounding in what is unshakeable:

                  which is God’s love for us,

                  God’s presence with us

         that empowers us for Spirit-led action for the good of ALL persons.

 

There is no enemy to fear or hate,

         only that agape love, that perfect love that casts out fear,

                  that calms the soul, that delivers realistic hope in a time of unrest.

 

A good source of this Peace that passes all understanding

         is in the Eucharist.                  Come eat peace here at this table.

The source of Peace is also in our daily prayers and spiritual practices,

         and it comes in caring for each other – now more than ever

                  so that people will say, “See how these Christians love one another.”

 

Now, if you need more instructions on how to care for each other,

  you might want to  re-read the Epistle for today.      (Galatians 6:1-16)

That’s your home work.

Resurrection Got-cha Events

 Today we have two accounts of resurrection appearances

         each of them focused on the response

                  of the two most prominent apostles,

         how each of them was encountered by the risen Lord,

         and how each responded:

                                                      Peter and Paul.

Here are two very different apostles,

         but both of them very much in the grips of

                  the commanding spiritual power of the Resurrection Jesus.

 

Let’s look at them 

         and see if we can see anything of ourselves and our world in them.

 

Paul first, or Saul as the name he was first known by:

 

I have always wondered about Saul,

         a good, religious person,

         a very highly observant Pharisee,

         scrupulous in conforming his life to Torah, 

                                                      the commandments of God.

What was it that caused him to become such a zealot

         and in such opposition to this new budding sect of Jesus followers

that he would resort to violence and jihad,

that he would pursue them and seek them out

         in order to harass and imprison and even kill them?

 

We see too much of such religious extremism today,

         such intolerance and exclusiveness in dogma and right belief.

Saul, the terrorist.

But God’s mercy and love is so incredibly great

         that instead of waging war on the terrorist,

God’s wrath endures but the twinkling of an eye, 

         as it says today in Psalm 30  -  the briefest nanosecond,

but God’s favor/God’s grace/God’s mercy/God’s love 

                  goes on and on for a lifetime.

 

And the Resurrection Jesus appears to Saul on the road to Damascus,

         an appearance like what Peter and James and John must have seen

                  on the Mount of the Transfiguration,

a resurrection appearance so blindingly brilliant

         that it sears Saul’s eyeballs.

 

And I always have a special fondness for Ananias,

         a disciple of Jesus put in a very difficult position when he is told:

“Go and minister to the very enemy who is seeking to do you harm.”

 

And Ananias reaches out to Saul 

         calling him brother and offering him healing,

“and immediately something like scales fell from [Saul’s] eyes…

         and he got up and was baptized…

         and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus…”

 

Whatever it was that had been behind Saul’s extremist religion and terrorism,

         was reconciled, forgiven and healed in this resurrection encounter.

 

Well, it’s easy now-a-days to point fingers at other groups 

                  and to call them extremists and terrorist,

         THEM and not us.

But don’t think for one moment 

         that there isn’t a latent terrorist buried beneath your skin too.

The potential is there.

Every act of domestic violence, 

         every occasion of verbal abuse even,

                  shows us how close we are to becoming terrorists ourselves.

 

But our risen Lord intervenes in our lives with mercy,

         and oftentimes through some modern day Ananias,

someone who doesn’t play the “them and us” game,

         who returns evil with love.

 

Watch out.           Maybe we too will be called upon by Resurrection Jesus

                                    to be Ananias to someone we are on the outs with.

 

Now for the other resurrection appearance,

         this in a more peaceful setting:

Peter going fishing with his old buddies.

 

Well now, have you ever wondered why Peter suddenly wants to go fishing?

 

Sure, he was a fisherman, that was his occupation, so it seems natural,

         but is that the sort of thing you would expect of someone

                  who had been through the whole events of Holy Week

                  and who had seen the risen Lord

                  and upon whom that risen Lord had breathed Holy Spirit

                           and entrusted to them the ministry of reconciliation?

 

Did Peter just say to himself, “Well, that was an interesting experience.

Now I might as well go back to what I was doing before all this began.”?

 

I wonder if Peter might still have been feeling remorse 

                  for his denial of Jesus that fateful night, 

         if he felt that he had so blown it 

                  that he no longer had the right to consider himself Jesus’ disciple.

He better just go home.

                                    And, notice, he wasn’t alone.

 

But this professional fisherman and his fisherman colleagues

         apparently had lost the knack, 

         couldn’t do what they had done so often before,

         couldn’t go back to the way things were.

 

And so this resurrection appearance comes with 

loving, and even maternal, compassion and caring on the part of Jesus:

         with a touch of humor 

                  – try throwing your net on the other side of the boat -

         and then directing the fish to come swimming right up to them,

         and having breakfast waiting for them on the beach.

 

Jesus meets them where they are 

         in their confusion and difficulty in recognizing him.

 

Yes, this is something we can more readily identify with.

How often do we experience confusion in our faith about 

                  who Jesus is,

                  where is God, 

                  why is this happening to me, 

                  how am I then to live?

How difficult does it seem at times to recognize the risen Lord

                  present and active in our lives?

 

But if we were to pause at frequent intervals and say to ourselves, like John,

                           “It is the Lord!”

what might be revealed to our hearts, 

         how would the eyes of our faith be opened to us?

 

But this Gospel story doesn’t stop here.

Peter is led right back into discipleship

         with dreadful resoluteness by Resurrection Jesus.

He may not have been struck blind like Saul was on the road to Damascus,

         but he too was experiencing intervention in his life

                  so that he would never again deny he knew Jesus,

                  so that he would be a faithful witness to the Resurrection,

                  so that he would be faithful even to a martyr’s death.

 

Three times Peter had denied knowing Jesus,

and three times Jesus asked him, “Do you love me?”

         Three opportunities for restoration…

 

The passage contains a number of subtle references

         to the process of calling a disciple.

Peter is being called again into discipleship with Jesus,

         a fresh start, a new beginning

                  in the new creation of resurrection.

 

And this is not just so that Peter can get it 

         that he is restored to right relationship with Jesus.

Discipleship with Jesus is for a purpose, a job, a ministry,

         and Peter’s is pastoral leadership among the followers of Jesus.

 

Okay, where are we in this story?

Do we want to be considered as disciples of Jesus?

Are we afraid about what this might entail

         if we were to let ourselves really answer that call?

 

Are we confusing discipleship 

         with being active church members?

You know, much of what we do as “ministries” around here,

         is simply sharing the chores.

Discipleship ministry goes out from this safe, comforting space

         and engages us in reconciliation in the world,

                  in our homes, in our workplace, in the marketplace,

                  in our associations,

                  in our outreach and volunteer activities in the community.

 

And do we understand that discipleship includes, indeed, is mainly 

                  being a witness to the Resurrection?

 

Being a witness to the Gospel good news that there is new life,

         a new creation possible in each of us,

         an abundance of love to be experienced and to give.