27th Week in Ord. Time, Wednesday – 07th October 2020 — Gospel: Lk 11,1-4
Disciples’ Prayer
Luke, more than any other evangelist, demonstrates Jesus as a powerful man of prayer. In his gospel, he sketches the importance of prayer in Jesus’ life and ministry (3,21; 5,16; 6,12; 9,18.28; 10,2,-22; 11,1; 22,41-44; 23,46). Jesus is found to be always in communion with God. Given the disciples’ exposure to Jesus’ practice, and their awareness that John had taught his disciples to pray, Jesus’ disciples must have found something particularly attractive about the way Jesus prayed. It is only natural that they would request Jesus to teach them to pray. Luke’s version of Jesus’ response is briefer and more to the point than that found in Matthew. Luke shares with Matthew some elements of eschatological nature – “your kingdom come” and “do not bring us to the time of trial,” but omits some phrases – God’s “earthly and heavenly will” and “deliverance from the evil one”.
Given the intended audience and its usage, this prayer, what we call as the Lord’s Prayer, could be better named as the Disciples’ prayer. This model prayer is thoroughly Jewish in character – doxology followed by petition. In this prayer, Jesus invites his disciples to have a deep personal relationship with God, the Holy one of Israel. He encourages them to address God in familiar terms, “Abba Father”, the same name he uses to call upon God. They would call upon God like children call upon a loving parent, trusting that they belong to God and that God wants for them what is good and life giving. Jesus also invites his disciples to pray that God’s name be hallowed. The petitions that follow explain what this means. When God’s name is hallowed and God’s kingdom comes, the down-to-earth concerns that are emphasized will be realized – securing daily bread for all, forgiveness is practiced, and God delivers the faithful from the time of trail.
