Proper 12 Series C
(July 24-30)
Genesis 18:(17–19) 20–33
Colossians 2:6–15 (16–19)
Luke 11:1–13
The Prayer of the Church Is the Voice of Faith
Jesus catechizes His disciples in the way of faith by teaching them how to pray. He promises us: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9). If earthly fathers know how to give good gifts to their children, “how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Luke 11:13).
Thus, father Abraham was bold in his prayer because he believed the gracious promise of the Lord, that he would “surely become a great and mighty nation” (Genesis 18:18).
When we pray in Jesus’ name, we also hold “fast to the Head” (Colossians 2:19), “rooted and built up in him and established in the faith” (Colossians 2:6–7).
The Lord's Prayer
Luke 11:1-13
Luke 11:1
Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ εἶναι αὐτὸν ἐν τόπῳ τινὶ προσευχόμενον, ὡς ἐπαύσατο, εἶπέν τις τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ πρὸς αὐτόν· Κύριε, δίδαξον ἡμᾶς προσεύχεσθαι, καθὼς καὶ Ἰωάννης ἐδίδαξεν τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ.
Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”
Luke 11: 2
εἶπεν δὲ αὐτοῖς· Ὅταν προσεύχησθε, λέγετε· Πάτερ, ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου· ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου·
And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.
Luke 11:3
τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δίδου ἡμῖν τὸ καθ’ ἡμέραν·
Give us each day our daily bread,[b]
[b] “Or our bread for tomorrow”
Luke 11:4
καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν, καὶ γὰρ αὐτοὶ ἀφίομεν παντὶ ὀφείλοντι ἡμῖν· καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν.
and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”
Luke 11:5
Καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτούς· Τίς ἐξ ὑμῶν ἕξει φίλον καὶ πορεύσεται πρὸς αὐτὸν μεσονυκτίου καὶ εἴπῃ αὐτῷ· Φίλε, χρῆσόν μοι τρεῖς ἄρτους,
And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves,
Luke 11:6
ἐπειδὴ φίλος μου παρεγένετο ἐξ ὁδοῦ πρός με καὶ οὐκ ἔχω ὃ παραθήσω αὐτῷ·
for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;
Luke 11:7
κἀκεῖνος ἔσωθεν ἀποκριθεὶς εἴπῃ· Μή μοι κόπους πάρεχε· ἤδη ἡ θύρα κέκλεισται, καὶ τὰ παιδία μου μετ’ ἐμοῦ εἰς τὴν κοίτην εἰσίν· οὐ δύναμαι ἀναστὰς δοῦναί σοι.
and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’?
Luke 11:8
λέγω ὑμῖν, εἰ καὶ οὐ δώσει αὐτῷ ἀναστὰς διὰ τὸ εἶναι [e]φίλον αὐτοῦ, διά γε τὴν ἀναίδειαν αὐτοῦ ἐγερθεὶς δώσει αὐτῷ [f]ὅσων χρῄζει.
I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence[c] he will rise and give him whatever he needs.
[c] Or persistence
Luke11:9
Κἀγὼ ὑμῖν λέγω, αἰτεῖτε, καὶ δοθήσεται ὑμῖν· ζητεῖτε, καὶ εὑρήσετε· κρούετε, καὶ ἀνοιγήσεται ὑμῖν·
And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Luke 11:10
πᾶς γὰρ ὁ αἰτῶν λαμβάνει, καὶ ὁ ζητῶν εὑρίσκει, καὶ τῷ κρούοντι ἀνοιγήσεται.
For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
Luke 11:11
τίνα δὲ [g]ἐξ ὑμῶν τὸν πατέρα αἰτήσει ὁ [h]υἱὸς ἰχθύν, [i]καὶ ἀντὶ ἰχθύος ὄφιν [j]αὐτῷ ἐπιδώσει;
What father among you, if his son asks for[d] a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent;
[d] Some manuscripts insert bread, will give him a stone; or if he asks for
Luke 11:12
ἢ καὶ αἰτήσει ᾠόν, ἐπιδώσει αὐτῷ σκορπίον;
or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
Luke 11:13
εἰ οὖν ὑμεῖς πονηροὶ ὑπάρχοντες οἴδατε δόματα ἀγαθὰ διδόναι τοῖς τέκνοις ὑμῶν, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ὁ πατὴρ ὁ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ δώσει πνεῦμα ἅγιον τοῖς αἰτοῦσιν αὐτόν.
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Footnotes:
ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition. Copyright © 2010 by Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software
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Lutheran Sr. Care Reflection
Proper 12
Luke 11:1-13
The Lord’s Prayer
The Bible is a resource that can help us learn how to pray. The Lord’s Prayer is a model prayer that Jesus gave to his disciples. It includes thanking God. Asking for what you need. And forgiveness. God wants to hear from his children and will always be there for them.
Law/Gospel Theme: The Law and commandments can seem to come down heavily if we do not understand what they are for. The Lord’s Prayer is a positive helper to remind us that God wants to hear from us. And that He has given us grace and enabled us to approach Him.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, healer of soul and body. You have taught “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Teach us to come to the aid of the needy in a spirit of love. As we have been received and strengthened by You and to You be the glory and praise now and forever. I’m sure most
of you have at one time or another used a cookbook! That means there are a list
of recipes.
And we’ll need
our cookbook soon because we have so many tomatoes coming out of our garden.!
So, if I want
to make something, like maybe a casserole which calls for tomatoes. I can look at
the recipe, and it will tell me how. A cookbook is full of recipes: lists of
ingredients and how to put them together to make a dish.
I don’t always
have to do exactly what the list says. Sometimes I can make substitutions or
switch ingredients. But following the
recipe will help me if I’m not sure how to make something.
Now, did you
know that God has given us a recipe book?
The Bible gives
us some amazing directions for living. Did you know that it also gives us
instructions for prayer?
Sometimes we
have prayers that we like to use or say. But sometimes we have a hard time
coming up with the right words to say when we pray.
We might be
uncertain or confused. The good news is that the Bible helps us!
There are some
great prayers we can find in the book of Psalms, which has some awesome praises
and struggles to pray through.
Jesus also gave
us a great blueprint “recipe” for prayer. In the New Testament, some of His
disciples were asking Him how to pray.
He gave them
some words to try. We call this “The Lord’s Prayer.” And we can use it to help
us pray.
We don’t have
to say the exact words of this prayer, but we can keep it as a guideline if we
are not sure how to talk to God.
First, Jesus
said to open up by saying “Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name.”
This means we recognize Who we are talking to. God is our Father and wants us
to be part of His family. We recognize that He is holy and very special.
"With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father."
Next, the
prayer says: “your kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as in Heaven.”
That means we want God’s will to be done, and we want what He wants for our
lives.
The next part
of Jesus’s prayer says: “Give us this day our daily bread.” That says we
want the Lord to give us what we need each day. Sometimes we want things that
we don’t need. But when we ask for “daily bread” that means we ask God to give
us what we need one day at a time.
Martin Luther explains what is included in daily bread. What is meant by daily bread? Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.
Look around. These are all gifts which come from you heavenly Father!
Then the prayer
says: “forgive us our debts as we forgive others.” We are glad that God
has already forgiven everything we have done, and everything we will do. We
also ask for help in forgiving other people.
Then the prayer
says: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” God does
not tempt us to do bad things, but Satan does sometimes. So we ask for God’s
help to stand strong in His will.
The prayer ends
with: “yours is the kingdom and power and glory.” That reminds us that
God is powerful.
He will always
be powerful and we want to serve Him and honor Him with everything and anything
we do.
This is a great
“recipe” if we need help coming up with the words or topics to pray about.
We might pray
it just like this. Or maybe use our own words and phrases. But isn’t it great
that God helps us when we don’t know what to say?
We can thank
Him for that now!…And don’t forget, He is our father. He wants to hear from us
all the time.
We can pray
anywhere and everywhere, and He loves us and hears us no matter what!
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