Lord, Teach Us to Pray

Jesus had stepped away to pray, as he often did, and when he returned, one of his disciples asked him to teach them to pray. It wasn’t that they hadn’t prayed before. Young Jewish boys and girls in the 1st Century would begin in the local synagogue at 4 or 5 years old with a teacher, a rabbi, who was hired by the community. They would begin to learn the Torah, the first 5 books of our Old Testament – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. By the time they were 13, most of them could recite the entire Torah from memory, and most of them were finished with their schooling. The boys would learn the family trade and the girls would begin helping with the family work.

Their thirteenth year would be celebrated by actually getting to participate in the Passover in Jerusalem. Remember the story of Jesus at the Temple when he was 12 years old, how his parents started home and realized after a day’s travel that he wasn’t among the friends and relatives travelling home, how they went back to find him, and “After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.” Luke tells us that in the years that followed, Jesus continued to grow in wisdom and stature.

We don’t have any more direct information about Jesus’s teenage and early young adulthood years held other than just that he grew in wisdom and stature. We know that the best students continued their studies alongside learning the family business. They studied the prophets and the poetry and hymns and the oral traditions. They memorized more Scripture. I would argue that Jesus’ knowledge of the prophets and quoting of the Psalms indicates that he continued his education while learning the family trade of carpentry.

The very best students, around 20, would try to secure the opportunity to study with one of the expert rabbis, to travel with them as their talmidim, the Hebrew word for disciple. We can ascertain from the information we have in the Gospels that Jesus did not leave home because Joseph had died, and Jesus was responsible for his mother and siblings. Thirty was the age of authority, when a rabbi was old enough to teach others, it was around 30 that Jesus was baptized by John and began his travels as a rabbi, calling his own talmidim, disciples.

Being a talmidim, or a disciple, was much more than being a student. A student wants to learn what the teacher knows – a student wants to earn a good grade or pass the class or get a degree. A talmidim, a disciple, wants to become like the teacher, to imitate the teacher’s lifestyle so that even their thoughts became like the teacher’s.

And so, when Jesus returned from prayer, one of the talmidim, the disciples, asked him to teach them to pray. Teach us, so that we might grow into the same relationship with God that you have.

And Jesus offers them 6 petitions. The first three establish who God is and the second three acknowledge our need of God.

1. First, approach God as the one who provides for you and protects you out of duty and love. Father. Only the word Jesus uses is not the formal word for a male parent, but Abba, the word that babies were taught to babble. My dad became PopPop because when Nic was just a baby, I drove to Dyersburg to my parents’ house and he was babbling in the car seat, and I was copying him, back and forth, keeping him entertained, and he started playing with pa pa pa pa…and when my dad opened his car door as we arrived, he looked at him and said “PaPaPaPa” and ever since, he has gone by PopPop! Abba was that kind of name. Just like we play with our children, PaPa, PaPa, Dada, Dada, Mama, Mama, their word was Abba, Abba.

2. And in the same breath, Jesus addressed God not only as the one so close and trustworthy and loving as a parent coaxing and coaching and laughing with their child over their first word, the second petition, is hallowed be your name. May your name be used to describe you. You are holy, sacred, revered, worshipped.

3. Your Kingdom come. Your kingdom – a world free of hate, a world free of fear, a world free of abuse, a world free of war, a world free of injustice, a world free of disorder, a world free of deceit, a world free of pain. We long for your kingdom, Lord.

4. And until it does come, give us each day our daily bread. Like the Israelites in the wilderness depended on daily manna, falling from the heavens, and were not to store it up. May we trust you for enough to sustain us. Notice that Jesus didn’t pray for himself; we don’t pray for our own sustenance, but for enough for all. Sustain us. Give us each day our daily bread.

5. And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. In Matthew’s Gospel we find a conversation between Peter and Jesus about forgiving. Peter asks Jesus, “When someone has sinned against me, how many times ought I forgive him? Once? Twice? As many as seven times?” And Jesus responds, “You must forgive not seven times, but seventy times seven.” Remember that seven is the number of completion. And to add a zero is like adding an exclamation point. You must forgive to absolute completion.

And then Jesus tells a story to make his point, “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to collect all the money his servants owed him. 24 As the king began to do it, a man who owed him 10,000 bags of gold was brought to him. 25 The man was not able to pay. So his master gave an order. The man, his wife, his children, and all he owned had to be sold to pay back what he owed.

26 “Then the servant fell on his knees in front of him. ‘Give me time,’ he begged. ‘I’ll pay everything back.’ 27 His master felt sorry for him. He forgave him what he owed and let him go.

28 “But then that servant went out and found one of the other servants who owed him 100 silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he said.

29 “The other servant fell on his knees. ‘Give me time,’ he begged him. ‘I’ll pay it back.’

30 “But the first servant refused. Instead, he went and had the man thrown into prison. The man would be held there until he could pay back what he owed. 31 The other servants saw what had happened and were very angry. They went and told their master everything that had happened.

“Then the master called the first servant in. The king was livid ‘You dirty, rotten scoundrel,’ he said. ‘I forgave all that you owed me because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on the other servant just as I had mercy on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers. He would be punished until he paid back everything he owed.

35 “This is how my Father in heaven will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

When Matthew records Jesus teaching the disciples how to pray, he records Jesus saying about this petition, “If you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your sins.”

It’s pretty clear. Not easy to do, but it is clear. If you struggle with forgiving someone, I encourage you to begin praying each day for that person by name. It will take time, but it will change your heart. If you need some guidance, let’s talk about it. Make an appointment and let’s make a plan together to begin that journey.

6. Finally, the last petition may be the hardest for us to understand. “Lead us not into temptation.” I have been asked many times, “Why would I need to pray for God to not lead me to what tempts me.” The Greek word that has been translated “temptation” is not found in the context of “things that we want that we shouldn’t have.” It has nothing to do with being tempted to indulge ourselves. What Jesus is praying is “Lead us not into trials that test us.” It is a cry for God to give them strength and courage to face the forces that are gathering against them. We may be tempted to give up, to throw our hands up and say we can’t go on, it’s too much; it’s too hard; how could God let this happen to us if there is a God. Jesus said, pray, “Lead us not into situations that test and break down our faith, but deliver us.”

And then he tells them two stories.

Can you imagine having a traveler arrive in the middle of the night and not having enough food left to offer him, then going over to your friend’s house, who you knew had leftovers, at midnight and knocking on the door and your friend not opening it because it was locked and the kids were sleeping?

Here’s the thing, the disciples knew this had to be a joke. NO! They could not imagine it. You would never do it. It would be a disgrace to the community not to show hospitality to the traveler, regardless of what time they arrived. Jesus said, your friend didn’t open the door out of duty. Instead, he opened it because you were shameless in your knocking. We translate it sometimes as “persistent.” The word really has a negative connotation of a person who offends social norms. You didn’t care if you woke the kids, you didn’t care if you woke the whole town, you were going to get food for this traveler who had arrived at your house in need.

New Testament scholar Dr. Sharon Ringe writes, “…the story suggests that the key to getting a response [from God in prayer] is being willing to set aside one’s own prestige and security in pursuit of a request [to be shameless]” for someone else. Ask, search, knock. You know that friend is going to get up, how much more will God respond. We are all sinful and fall far short of the glory of God, and yet, Jesus asks, “Which one of your daddies, if you asked for a fish, would give you a snake? Or if you asked for an egg, would give you a scorpion?” If earthly parents, who are flawed, give their children food rather than danger, how much more will God give you. Just ask.”
And so we pray the Lord’s Prayer, not because the words have power of their own, but because this is the way our Lord Jesus prayed, and we want to be like him.

Let us pray:
Abba, Dada, may your name be honored as holy and your kingdom come. For now, give us, all your creation, what we need to sustain us. Forgive us, for we also forgive those who have hurt us. And lead us not into situations that test us to the point of despair. Amen.