“How much more?”
Each new year brings with it new resolutions. In this series, we take a closer look at the Lord’s Prayer to see how this daily practice can shape how we approach the change we want to see in our lives.
Scripture: Luke 11:5-13
After offering his disciples an instruction on how to pray, Jesus then describes to them the why of prayer. Equally important, the why sets the tone for all future prayers as it encourages us to approach God not just when we have to or even want to, but to approach him in the mundane of the everyday because it is a gift to us. Jesus frames this for us in 2 ways:
A Tale of Two Neighbours
Firstly, Jesus contrasts our relationship to God with the relationship of 2 neighbors. In this scenario, there is a neighbor who is in need and a neighbor who cannot be bothered. Yet because of his “shameless persistence” in the middle of the night, the neighbor who is already with his family in bed decides to get up anyway to offer his neighbor some bread. This contrast is profound because it frames God as one who is not too occupied with his children but is more than willing to respond to those in need. And who in this parable might be his children? The most obvious answer would be his chosen people who considered themselves direct descendants of Abraham himself. Also keep in mind this is at a time when hospitality was of the highest virtue and to not be able to provide bread for his guests would be a terrible shame. Therefore in a revolutionary way, Jesus is widening the scope of prayer to include Israel’s neighbors and making God equally accessible to them as well. He is saying that while you may seek God and knock on his door because you have nothing to offer, God will not let you be put to shame when you come to him and he is eager to respond. Indeed, Jesus makes this clear as he emphasizes that “For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” The startling reality in this is that in responding to Israel’s neighbors, the father will be forced to awaken his children as well. The question is now raised, will his children understand this or will they pout at their father’s willingness to help someone at their inconvenience? To be clear, this is precisely what Jesus intends to do as he comes to seek and save the lost of the world and respond to their shame. No longer do we need to feel tentative in prayer based on who we are or what we have done. Rather, God is waiting for us to invite him into our messes so that he can rectify them.
Spirit, Not Scorpion
Secondly, Jesus contrasts our relationship with that of a father who gives good gifts to his children as opposed to giving them a scorpion and a serpent. This is interesting on multiple levels. Just one chapter earlier, in Luke 10:19, Jesus also references both scorpions and serpents as works of the enemy. For context, this is after the seventy-two disciples return from their missions in the surrounding villages where they cast out demons and healed the sick. In the following passage to the Lord’s prayer, Jesus is also accused of casting out demons “by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.” In the middle of all of this, Jesus inserts this statement about God’s good gifts coming in the form of his own Holy Spirit. By bookending this statement with two stories about casting out demons, Luke is making an extraordinary statement about the work of Jesus which is to undo the evil of the world by making the Holy Spirit accessible to all.
Building the Kingdom
To sum it all up, this is the power of prayer as it participates in the unraveling of the kingdom of this world so that God’s kingdom can come and he can indwell all believers, regardless of whether they consider themselves mere neighbors of God or his own children. Once again, Jesus wants to awaken us to this reality through prayer. He is calling God’s people to wake up to the power of prayer! Prayer isn’t merely an act of worldly necessity but it is a weapon that undoes strongholds and is a gift to God’s children. But while we might be eager to ask God for good gifts in the form of a job or promotion so that we can achieve our own kingdoms, God is calling us to much more as he offers us his own Spirit so that we might join him in building the kingdom of heaven here on earth. Therefore, to ask for anything less is to expect God to give us scorpions and serpents when he would rather give us what is truly good; which is himself. The problem, according to Jesus’ statement in verse 13, is that we’re evil and stuck in our own ways. We may have an idea of what a good gift is to the world around us but apart from the Holy Spirit indwelling us, our work is futile and ineffective. Thanks be to Jesus that God does not always give us what we want but gives us the greatest gift of all because he loves us. He is a good father who knows what his children need and he is more than willing to give us it. We don’t need to be ashamed of our asking because he is eagerly waiting for us to “ask, seek, and knock”.
Study questions:
How does this passage change your view of prayer?
In your own life, how have you experienced the power of prayer? Do you believe prayer to be powerful?
Have you ever felt uncertain about prayer? Why?
What are you currently praying for?
Why is it important that the Holy Spirit is accessible to everyone now through prayer?
