Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Monday, February 18, 2013 Read – Luke 11:1-13 Prayer is an important theme of Luke’s gospel. We have noticed that Jesus is said to be in prayer before many important events. So it is not surprising that Luke would tell us about the disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray. The question comes as they observe that John the Baptist’s followers have been taught, apparently by John, to pray. Once again there is the subtle connection between the followers of John and the followers of Jesus. It would be interesting to have more information about that but we don’t. Luke apparently found the Lord’s Prayer in his “Q” source. Matthew also includes the prayer in his gospel – Matthew includes this prayer at the beginning of his story of the ministry, in the “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 6:9-13) which is Matthew’s way of beginning the story of Jesus. It is interesting to think about how each gospel writer chooses to begin. There are significant differences between Matthew’s version and Luke’s. It is impossible to determine which gospel writer has done the most editing – though it seems logical that the shorter version is more likely the original in “Q” since it is easier to explain why someone would add to the prayer than it is to explain why someone would subtract. We may remember that Luke’s version of the Beatitudes was also shorter than Matthew’s which may be explained in the same way. What is missing from Luke’s version is the petition regarding God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven and the petition regarding the plea that God will rescue the one who is praying from the evil one. The petition regarding the giving of bread is also stated differently – Matthew asks for bread on this particular day and Luke asks for bread every day. Since the word for “sins” and “debts” is the same word in Aramaic it is likely that both concepts are implied by both gospel writers – Matthew uses only “debts” and Luke uses both “debts” and “sins”. As a way of amplifying the Lord’s Prayer Luke attaches two elements. The first is uniquely his – no other gospel writer tells the story of the neighbor’s persistence in getting bread from his friendly neighbor to fulfill the hospitality needs of an unannounced guest. Luke’s point is to be persistent in prayer knowing that God is far more certain to answer prayer than a neighbor. The story is somewhat troubling for some – does God need persuading? Actually a better translation of the word “persistent” is the word “shameless.” The man was “shameless” in his going to a friend in the middle of the night to ask for bread and risking waking up the whole neighborhood. Luke shares the second part with Matthew although Matthew separates the unit from the Lord’s Prayer in his gospel (Matthew 7:7-11). Here the point is more clear – if a parent knows how to give good things then there can be no doubt that God will give those good things quicker and more freely.