Lord, Teach us to Pray

Luke 11:1-13

9th Sunday after Pentecost ~ July 29, 2007

“Lord, teach us to pray.” The disciples ask Jesus this question after He has prayed. “Lord, teach us to pray like John has taught his disciples.” They were asking, like any disciple or student of a Rabbi, the proper way to pray. And Jesus utters the words we are all familiar with and call “The Lord’s Prayer.” Both Matthew and Luke include Jesus’ teaching about prayer and the Lord’s Prayer. But they are also slightly different too.

Now I don’t think it was a coincidence that over the last month, month and a half, I have been asked on several occasions, “Why do Lutherans say, ‘forgive us our trespasses,” and other churches say, ‘forgive us our debts’?” My first answer has always been that these are two different words to describe sin and both words are fine to use as we speak this prayer. But then it got me to thinking why the different choices? First I looked at both texts in Matthew and Luke and see that both used ‘debt’ in their prayers. Matthew, which has the longer of the two Lord’s Prayer, has these words to say after the prayer, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, you’re heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15, ESV) Here the text uses “trespasses” (in the Greek it is a different word then debt used in the prayer). So we see here the first indication of why “trespasses” was used. But it still doesn’t full explain why it changed in our form of the prayer we use.

Digging a little deeper I found that the first English translation of the Lord’s Prayer as used in worship (not the translation of the Gospels) occurred in the 1600’s English translation of what we know today as the Book of Common Prayer. This was the text used for worship and its form of the Lord’s Prayer included “trespasses” and not “debts.” As more people spoke English and were becoming Christian there was more study of the Scriptures. Some groups wanted to have a text of the Lord’s Prayer closer to the Gospels and so used “debts” instead of “trespasses” and so today we have the two forms of the prayer in use.

After all this I still go back to my original answer – both words are good in trying to convey sin. Why do I go back to that after digging into some of the history of the Lord’s Prayer? Because I believe Jesus wasn’t teaching an exact formula for prayer but was focusing more on what prayer is about than what we say. Even Matthew and Luke record slight variations in what Jesus taught. And this is important; prayer isn’t a formula but a relationship.

Too often I think we fall into the trap of seeing prayer as a formula, something we have to get right. We think we have to have the right words, right attitude, right timing, etc for our prayers to be any good. The problem with this view of prayer is that it diminishes God. Now this may sound crass but when we think of prayer this way we reduce God to a vending machine. You know those machines that you find that snack or drink in that you want. You come to the machine with a desire and you make a choice. You put in the right amount of money, push the right buttons and then you get what you desired. When we think of prayer as a formula we have to get right it reduces God to a vending machine – if you do it right you will get the right results. But that was not what Jesus was teaching His disciples. He was teaching them that prayer is part of a relationship with God.

Jesus, after teaching the Lord’s Prayer, continues to teach using two parable-like examples. The first focuses on two friends. One comes to the other at midnight asking for some bread for a visitor that came to his home. The other friend is reluctant to get up and give him bread but does so after the persistence of the one friend. This parable isn’t so much about the friend in bed with his family but in the fact that the friend felt comfortable asking over and over again because of the relationship they had. Who of you would go up to a total stranger and ask over and over again for something? We don’t. But we do with people we know, because we have a relationship with them. Jesus wants the disciples to know that God wants a relationship, one in which they feel comfortable to come to God with everything.

Then Jesus uses the example of a father and son. He says, “What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?” (Luke 11:11-12, ESV) This is a rhetorical question knowing full well that fathers would give good things to their sons. But this story I can relate to well. My son Josiah has been in love with Transformers as of late. Each day I hear about the latest Transformers, what ones he has, what ones he wants and who each of the characters are. He will ask me each day when we can go and buy another Transformer and each day he asks if he can play the online games (which are ads for buying Transformers). Every day for the last month or more I have heard about transformers from Josiah and to be honest, sometimes it gets old, but that is my problem not his. Let me explain. Even though my son is overjoyed with Transformers and lets me know it you would be hard pressed to hear him talk about it with a stranger. Even with people he knows only a little bit he doesn’t share to the extent he does with me. Why? Because we have a strong relationship of father and son and he knows that he can come to me with anything. So, even if it seems “old” to me, I still consider it a great joy that my son shares his life with me.

Jesus goes on to say that if earthly fathers, who are sinners and can fail in their relationships, know how to give good things, then think of our heavenly Father, who is perfect, and imagine what he will do for us! We have a God who has perfect love, perfect patience, perfect will, and perfect knowledge of what is good for us. He wants us to come to Him and He will listen! That is what Jesus is conveying to His disciples and to you and me. Not a formula to get something out of God but a way to approach God in a relationship with Him. The prayer begins with “Father” establishing a loving relationship with God. God doesn’t get annoyed with all our petty requests. He doesn’t lose his patience when we come to Him all the time. He doesn’t turn a deaf ear when we say the wrong thing. He always listens and so Jesus invites us to ask, seek and knock. God wants us to be open and honest with Him, to come with our whole lives and build a relationship that trusts Him, trusts that when we ask, seek and knock He is there He is listening and He is granting us what we need according to His good will. Amen.