Breaking the Word

He was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples."…

I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.  "And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Lk 11:1-13)

The disciples see Jesus praying. They have seen him praying and he has been praying many times. They have seen him getting up in the morning to go for his prayer and they have also seen him praying late into night. He has been praying before doing anything special or important. So they come to know that prayer is one of the major activities of Jesus and they asked him to teach them.

The prayer ‘Our Father’ is a model prayer. It has the basic elements of any prayer. Prayer is to praise God, to thank God, to welcome his kingdom and also to express our needs and desires. The persistence with which one prays shows the trust and the faith one has in praying. Prayer itself is a mystery which reveals the relationship that exists between the one who prays and God. Prayer cannot be measured by our human calculations. But it should reveal our faith and trust.

We believe that we receive whatever we pray for. Sure we will not receive negative thing and if we pray for negative things then it is not prayer. Prayer will always produce good effects. Because God is good and only good things will come out of God. Whatever comes out of God will in fact be good for us, even if, it may look negative in human calculations.  Evil cannot come out of God. 

He proposed another parable to them. "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?' He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' His slaves said to him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, "First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn."'" (Mt13:24-30)

 “Do you want us to go and pull them up?” said the slaves. We are truly his disciples like the slaves in the gospel when they asked this question. We regularly ask God this question: why God permits evil? Why evil doers thrive?  Why there is so much of calamity etc? Any why doesn’t God enter in and do something about it? Why doesn’t God stop this evil?

 This parable is only a sort of an answer to the many more questions that are in our hearts. God’s lordship over the world and God’s intervention in the world is not so much as we want or as we expect or as we dream. We want God to conform to our plans and desires. Yes, we want to be gods or god of (also of) God.

 This parable is about waiting. And this is very difficult for all of us. Wait like the farmer who waits with frustration when weeds grow with wheat. This parable speaks of the patience of the farmer and in fact the patience of God. We have to live with the tension that the kingdom of God is arriving (now and not yet). God is not inactive or uncaring.  Jesus was very active, compassionate and battling with evil (this revealed how God would be in such situations). God’s timetable is different.