LK 11: 1-13 

Laterally Luke… Pentecost +7…New 2019

To do justice to the prayer Jesus teaches us to pray, to our praying it, & to preaching it, we need to read LK’s version in conjunction with MT’s version. And, both in conjunction with Ex 3:13-15. The One we’re holding Holy, whose Rule we’re praying will come, whose Will we’re praying will be done, & from whom we ask enough Bread for each day is our ‘Father’. The One we ask for Forgiveness as we forgive, & that we not be Tried beyond our capacity to withstand, is our ‘Father’. Not only in Heaven, but on earth, too! Let’s not draw too hard a line between heaven & earth -  any more than YHWH God does! The Celts are often rightly credited with emphasising this, but it really goes back to our O.T. roots, &, of course, to Jesus Himself!

Today, rather than suggesting entry points as I often do, I’m advocating we centre our preaching on the nature of the God to whom Jesus teaches us to pray. Anything else we pray or preach needs to centre on that Nature, too!

In shepherding Jethro’s sheep (no doubt looking for strays in the process - how Jesus- like), Moses instead finds YHWH God! In the heart of a Burning Bush! When he asks God’s name, YHWH tells him, “I AM WHO I AM! I understand that to mean, “I AM BEING ITSELF!” “I AM SOURCE of all that is!” YHWH uses the burning bush to catch Moses’ attention. Are we spiritually discerning enough to notice any ‘burning bush’ God may be using to catch our attention today, whether or not we’re out there looking after our sheep? God’s sheep, before they’re ours! 

In teaching us how to pray, Jesus teaches us that praying isn’t at all, isn’t ever about what we want, but all about what God wants of us. God’s Heaven takes in the most down to earth situations like those Jesus quotes in vv. 5-13; situations He quotes to illustrate what He’s teaching us about prayer. Situations that  may even be today’s ‘Burning Bushes’ for us. Illustrations, too, that when we hold God’s name Holy, when we allow God’s Rule to come, His Will to be done, ‘on Earth as in Heaven’, there will be enough ‘bread’ to go around. Sins & debts of every kind will be forgiven. Even the worst tests & trials will be survived. For God’s Authority is being observed, God’s Power is at work, & God’s Glory shines in our midst. All in the Present Tense! 

On recent Sundays we’ve heard Jesus calling people to follow but His Call being declined; His sending out the 70 to rid people of demons; His tale of an unlikely  person coming to the rescue; & two sisters’ hospitality to Him. Jesus means these stories to continue now in us, to illustrate God’s Rule, God’s Power, & God’s Glory. 

Brian

Afterthought:What ‘burning bushes’ are still waiting for us to discern God in them? Have we come close enough, yet, to discern YHWH God, the God of Heaven, is also the God of Earth right now? Not that He will be, or might be one day?