If you, as boneheaded as you are, are able to give good gifts to your children, how much more will our heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask?
When I was 10 years old, I remember being dissatisfied with my life. I don't remember what the source of dissatisfaction was, but I remember having this internal unease. I remember that we were about to move, and I was really looking forward to a "do-over." I was looking forward to a new town, a new school, new friends, new neighborhood, new house, new everything. Then we moved, and when we arrived I did an internal inventory, and realized that I was still dissatisfied. The unease that I felt inside me, had moved to our new house with me! I was very disappointed.
I realized at that moment that my internal dialogue stayed with me, even when I changed all of my exterior surroundings. That was reaffirmed shortly thereafter, when we went to Disney World. I thought that that would surely cure my dis-ease. But I went to Disney World, and I was still unhappy. I realize that my internal self would stay with me, and wouldn't be changed when the external circumstances of my life changed.
In my ten-year-old wisdom, I came up with this phrase -- "Wherever you go, there you are." The you that is you, will be there still. So, if you're sad, and you go to Disney World, you're just sad in Disney World. One can't just medicate it away, the way I thought I could by going to Disney World.
I am wondering if that is the disciples’ frame of mind in today's Gospel. The disciples had changed everything in their external world; they had left their homes, their families, their friends, their jobs, their neighbors, to follow Jesus. They were listening to his teachings, watching his miracles -- and yet, they were still the same old disciples. They were having the same arguments with one another, they had the same posturing, they were making the same stupid mistakes, the same stupid comments, they were just as unhappy inside.
So they went to Jesus, and said, "Jesus, teach us to pray." I imagine that Jesus’ first internal response was, "Thank God! They're finally wanting something that is going to change them on the inside! They're finally wanting something that is going to change who they are."
Jesus teaches them to pray. He starts this lesson by giving them the only prayer that Jesus gives his followers. We call it the Lord’s Prayer. Luke's version is just a little shorter than the one in Matthew. The one in Matthew is the one we are all used to praying every Sunday in church. Jesus gives them this prayer. It is the only one he gives, and it is all that they need. It's all that we need. If we pray this prayer, and we understand this prayer, it will change us completely.
Let's take a look at this prayer. Every clause, every word, is important. It starts with the word "Father." Not Lord, but Father. That one word has a couple of profound implications. Jesus called God "Father," because Jesus was God's son. But if Jesus is inviting us to call God "Father," then Jesus isn't the only “God’s son” around. If I call God "Father," then I am God's son. If you call God "Father," then you are God's daughter. We are all children of God. And if God is "Father," and then God is Father to all, everywhere in the world. We're all siblings.
Just that one word has huge implications. And there's more. "Father," my father, our father, "your Name is holy." You are holy. Well, if God is holy, and God is our Father, then we somehow share in God's DNA. If God's DNA is holy, then we all somehow share in this holiness of God’s. Isn't that something?
"Father, holy is your Name. Your kingdom come." This prayer is trying to get us to desire God's kingdom. Not my kingdom, not our tribe’s kingdom, but God's kingdom. What is the nature of God's kingdom? "Give us today our daily bread." Today. Our daily bread. Bread for today. The sustenance we need for today. It's not about praying for sustenance for the rest of my life; it's not about praying for a barn full of bread. There is a simplicity to God's kingdom, a trusting in sustenance for today. And it's not just my sustenance; the pronoun in this prayer is plural -- give us our daily bread, not give me my daily bread.
If I get this prayer, if I embody this prayer, then I will care as much about you getting your daily bread as I do about me getting my daily bread. "Give us our daily bread." There's a communality to it. It is all of us together.
"Forgive us -- us! our trespasses, as we forgive everyone indebted to us." The nature of this community is of mutual forgiveness, which means that I don't get to nurse my anger. I don't get to look at you through the lens of the worst thing that you have done to me. I don't get to bind you to that sin. I have to set you free, and you have to set me free. In this mutual unbinding, in this mutual freedom, we live together.
"Save us from the time of trial." Not "save me," not to make me safe, but mutually, save us, and sustain us through difficult times.
That's the prayer. "Father, holy is your Name. Your kingdom come; give us our daily bread; forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those indebted to us, and save us from the time of trial."
If that prayer soaks in deep enough, not only are we changed, but the world is changed. However, the prayer is not enough. Jesus gives additional teaching, because not only do we need the words, but we need to change our idea of what prayer is, and who God is.
Often, I think of prayer as being me asking God for what I want. This is an important aspect of prayer; if God and I are in a relationship of love, it makes sense that part of that relationship would be me communicating my desires to my beloved. The problem is, that when my desire isn't granted the way I want it to be granted, I think that either God doesn't care, or God is just too busy. You know how sometimes if you're talking with someone who speaks a foreign language, sometimes you'll just talk louder, trying to make them understand? Similarly, with prayer there's this feeling that I just need to pray more, or with more faith, or more earnestly, and then maybe God will grant my wish. There is this sense of banging against the door of a reluctant God.
That's not the idea that Jesus has of God. In Jesus’ mind, God only has one nature, and that is to give, and to give all the time. So Jesus tells a story. Imagine if you went to your neighbor’s house at midnight, and your neighbor is a friend. You knock on the door, and you say, "Friend, someone just showed up at my house, they're starving, my pantry is empty -- can I have three rolls?" Now, even if your friend’s a jerk, your friend is going to give you the bread, right? Even if it’s just to get rid of you, your friend is going to give you the bread.
Well, if your imperfect friend is going to give you bread, how much more is God going to give to you, because God's nature is entirely giving? So ask! Seek! Knock! The problem is not God's unwillingness; the problem has to do with us not asking, or seeking, or knocking.
There is a story in the monastic tradition about prayer, which goes like this. Water is soft; stone is hard. But, if you take a jug of water and suspended over a stone, and poke a hole in the jug, and the water drips down, eventually the soft water will wear a hole in the hard stone. That is prayer.
Now, the unhelpful interpretation of that story is that the stone is God, the water is our prayers, and that if we are persistent enough, eventually we will wear a hole in the hard stone of God, and we will get what we pray for.
The helpful interpretation of the story is this: The stone is our hearts; the water is our prayer. If we pray this prayer consistently, persistently, faithfully, it will wear a hole in our hearts. It will open our hearts, so that we can receive what it is that God wants to give. What does God want to give?
How many of you, if your child asks for an egg, would give a scorpion? If you, as boneheaded as you are, would give good gifts to your children, how much more will God give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? What God has to give, what God is dying to give, is God's own self, God's Spirit, God's life. If we pray this prayer enough, if our hearts become open to enough, then God's Spirit flows in and fills us, and our desires change.
No longer do I desire my safety; no longer do I desire my little red wagon, or whatever toy it is; I desire God's kingdom. I desire bread for today, for us all. I desire forgiveness, and I give forgiveness. I desire safety for all, support for all. As God's Spirit flows in me, and my desires change, I become, we become, the answer to prayer. We become the source of daily bread. We become the source of forgiveness and freedom. We become the source of support in times of need. We become the answer to the world's deepest longings. That's how it works. It has to do with us changing from within, by praying this prayer persistently. Letting the words and the intention of the prayer soften our hearts, so that we are filled with God's Spirit, so that we become the answer to prayer!
Father -- our Father. Your Name is holy. Your kingdom come, where all receive their daily bread. We give their daily bread. Where all receive forgiveness, and we share forgiveness. Where all are supported in the times of struggle, and we give that support.