When the phrase “The Lord’s Prayer” jumps through my ears and into my consciousness something happens. That something is a shortcut, a heuristic: “I already know about this.” Down from a shelf in my mind pour recollections, quotes, etceteras. That decanting usually starts with verses like those which Luke recorded after his study of the life of Christ:
2He said to them, “When you pray, say:
Luke 11:2-4 (NIV 1984)
“‘Father,
Hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come.
It is easy to compartmentalize these verses effectively unlinking them from the fabric of this Christ-and-the-disciples moment. By zooming our camera back two things come into focus.
Snag some context
1…one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
Luk 11:1 (NIV 1984)
I suspect that our special familiarity with the Lord’s Prayer extends to knowing it in the context of the disciples. They asked for this lesson, right? Note my ellipsis in that quote just above, though. I have intentionally cut out some context because that is how the Lord’s Prayer is framed in my psyche, my conceptualization. Look, now, at the full first verse.
1One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
Luk 11:1 (NIV 1984)
Can you see the scene now? the richness of the moment? This is no sterile moment. It is no, “Umm, we are disciples and we need a prayer formula.” Neither is it Christ saying, “Students, today we will learn to pray.” No, the moment went along so much more naturally. Jesus was praying openly, and the experience, him doing that prayer thing, evoked awareness, feeling from the disciples. “Ummm,” the knew, “I can’t pray like that.” With that rattling around in their brains it conjured desire. “I want to pray like that.” Then tumbled out a request, a yes, and then something else.
The specifics of Christ’s prayer that day are buried in history; not so the impact. It splashed upon the walls of the disciples minds much as Christ’s teaching did upon the people of Capernaum. Amazement. Distinction. For the disciples there was more: inadequacy. “I am not able to pray that way.”
But that is not all. The crucial bit was, “I want to.” From the want came the request. Playing out here is the very lesson Christ would include a bit further on: “For everyone who asks recieves.” Godly desire gave birth to a lesson.1
Prepare for speed bumps (that something else)
Zooming our camera back we have seen that Christ’s manner in prayer generated thirst. The second thing to note is on the other side of the prayer, down in verses 5-8 and in verses 11-13.
At that point Christ’s disciples were novices in the art of communicating with God the Father (aka prayer). Jesus foreseeing that maturity in prayer will be naturally accompanied by hard lessons. A.B. Bruce in his book The Training of the Twelve points out that people tend to think ill thoughts of God when the answers to prayer seem much delayed. Knowing this Jesus appended two stories, stories which if recollected could assuage disciple’s prayer doubts.
I will not dive into the lessons on persistence, good fathers and bad here. Note, though, the care, the pro-active grace Christ took as he taught both a manner to pray and a manner to cope with what will be coming with steps toward God in prayer. Apparent mismatches between prayers and answers and cause speed bumps. Jesus knew it–and sought to prepare those after him for it.
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