The readings for Sunday, 24 July, are as follows (to read them, click HERE):
Hosea 1:2-10
Psalm 85
Colossians 2:6-15 (16-19)
Luke 11:1-13
“Lord, teach us to pray,” the disciples say to Jesus. After all, they had repeatedly seen him go away, often to a deserted place, to pray for a while. They say to Jesus: John the Baptist taught his disciples how to pray. So how should we pray?, they want to know.
And Jesus gives them a very simple prayer. We know it as the Lord’s Prayer. What we know and include in every single one of our worship services is a bit longer and comes from the Gospel according to Matthew. This is Luke. But it’s no matter. It is still a simple, basic prayer that Jesus told us to pray. It is his command.
But then Jesus goes on to give other instructions about prayer. He tells a parable, a story, about a person who goes to a friend’s house asking for some bread to feed to some guests. The friend first tries to send the man away but eventually gives in simply because of the man’s persistence.
And next Jesus gives more instructions about prayer. It is also about persistence, in a way. “Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find.” The door will be opened because God cares for you.
In all these instructions from Jesus, we see a paradox — two things that seem completely opposite but are nevertheless both true. The first is that underneath all the petitions in the Lord’s Prayer is a theme of humility. And the second is that nevertheless, despite being humble before God, we are to persist, to pound on God’s door, so to speak.
First, the humility. This is a word that is basic to the Christian faith, but it is not a word we human beings tend to like. Many people think of humility, or being humble, as beating ourselves up, or saying that we are worthless. Or people think that when someone compliments us for doing something well, we should say, “Oh, it’s nothing. I didn’t do well at all.” People think that’s humility, but it’s actually something called false humility.
Humility is simply recognizing our place in relation to God. It includes forgetting about ourselves and turning over control to God. Humility is behind everything in the Lord’s Prayer.
We start off saying, “Father, hallowed be your name.” Basically, we are saying, “God, you are a parent to us, and you are holy.” You are far beyond us in power and in holiness. You are supreme.
Next, “Your kingdom come.” In other words, you rule, God. And may your ways be done; may they come to be. This means giving up control of what we might want and giving over power to God.
And then we pray, “Give us each day our daily bread.” This is essentially asking God to give us what we need each day. It’s not just about bread, but everything that we might need: food, clothing, shelter, job. It is acknowledging that we depend on God for our daily needs, and all that we have comes from God. As we say at times in our worship, “For all things come from you and of your own we give you.”
And then we pray, “Forgive us our sins.” Now this takes a real dose of humility, to admit, first of all, that we have done wrong, and then to ask God to forgive us. But it is a mighty thing to ask the Creator of the universe to forgive us for what we have done wrong, to stand (or kneel) before all that is true and right and holy and admit that we goofed.
But an even greater step in humility comes next. “For we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.” Or as we usually say when we pray the Lord’s Prayer, “As we forgive those who sin against us.” It can be very difficult to do, to forgive those who have done us wrong. We can feel justified, feel that we should not forgive someone at all, that the wrong was too great. It is sometimes a very hard thing to do. So to actually forgive someone, and then also to say to God that we have forgiven someone, and mean it, is a huge letting-go, a momentous exercise in humility — meaning we let go of control, we forget ourselves, we acknowledge that we are small in relation to God Almighty, to all that is true and right and holy.
And finally we pray, “Do not bring us to the time of trial.” In other words, protect us and guide us, O God. Keep us on the straight path. Let nothing afflict us. This is humility because it is acknowledging that we need help, we are not dependent on ourselves alone. Even to accept help from another person is being humble, and much more so to accept help from God.
So, behind all the petitions in the Lord’s Prayer is humility. We must forget ourselves, give over control to God, admit we do wrong, and acknowledge that we are not as great and powerful as we might like to think. As we say in the Lord’s Prayer when we pray it, in words that were added, “For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.”
This is how Jesus taught us to pray. But then come those other things he said about prayer: be persistent, keep asking, because God cares for you. No, we don’t sit back and say, “I don’t dare ask God for what I need. I don’t dare speak at all. I am nothing.” That is not humility, and that is not how we are meant to be with God. Jesus told us to be persistent.
Well, that’s an odd thing, isn’t it? It’s a paradox: two things that seem completely opposite but are nevertheless both true. We are to be humble before God, but yet be persistent in our prayer.
But that’s the way it works. Otherwise there is no relationship — no connection between God and ourselves, and God always has the door open to us. Even our human relationships need a mix of humility and persistence. We must be humble with each other: acknowledge that we do wrong, we are not always right, forgive each other, give and receive help from one another, and many times give up what we want for the sake of the other. But at the same time, we are meant to be persistent in our relationships: to be true to another person and not to forsake them, keep communication going.
And so if we are to have a connection with God, if we are to be in right relation, we might say, with the Creator of the universe, then we need both sides of the paradox: We need to be persistent in our prayer (for prayer is how we communicate with God). And at the same time, we need to be humble and say, “You are God, mighty and holy. I give control to you. Help me to admit my wrongs and to forgive those who have wronged me. Watch over me, protect me, please give me my daily needs. And may your kingdom come, your ways be done.” Amen, amen.