luke 11:1-13

He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.” And he said to them, “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.’ And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs. “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 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!”

Oh how the lectionary study group struggled with this text! Of course it’s Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer (we’re more familiar with Matthew’s version), along with some teaching about perseverance in prayer. We spent a lot of time discussing the reality of unanswered prayer: someone who prays with perseverance but the hoped for result does not come. To the great dissatisfaction of everyone, we didn’t make much progress in cracking this conundrum. (Of course people have been working on that one for thousands of years.) Our attention was drawn to the “corporate” dimensions of the prayer: Our Father (not “my” Father). This is not a private prayer. It’s a prayer we pray with others—and not just the people sitting around us, but all of God’s children in need of daily bread—and that means everything in all creation! We recalled that for the people who first prayed this prayer, it was more of a life-or-death matter for them. They really prayed for daily bread because they couldn’t just run to the store and buy some. Most of us in our more settled and fortunate existence cannot imagine that kind of utter dependence and uncertainty. So, as we pray for our daily bread, we’re praying for and on behalf of all those folks for whom daily bread is in doubt. And, as we pray, we are making ourselves available to God to BE the answer to this prayer for others.