Teach Us to Pray, Part 3

Hello everyone.  

After telling a parable of the bold friend's request in Luke 13:5-8, Jesus applies it with three imperatives.  Ask, seek and knock.  In The King Jesus Translation , Dr. G. Steve Kinnard translates these imperative phrases this way, “Keep on asking", "Keep on seeking", and "Keep on knocking." 

I like Dr. Kinnard's translation and it led me to think.  I remembered learning about something in my Intermediate Greek class.  There are different uses of the present tense.  According to Daniel B. Wallace, one of these uses was called "iterative."  It means a repeated action.  Given the context of the parable, this translation makes a lot of sense.  We, as disciples of Jesus, are to be continually asking, seeking and knocking. 

Darrell Bock says that in these three imperatives we are receiving three invitations: (Bock, 1060-1061)

• Αἰτεῖτε (Aiteite) - Ask, an invitation to pray.

• Ζητεῖτε (Zayteite) - Seek, an invitation to pursue God and His will. 

• Κρούετε (Krouete) - Knock, an invitation to enter into God’s presence. 

Each action has a result that comes with it:

• In asking, we will receive. 

• In seeking, we will find.

• In knocking, the door will be opened. 

In verses 11-13 Jesus continues, telling us of his Father, who wants to answer our prayers.  He talks to those among them who are fathers, and asks them whether they would give a snake or scorpion to one of their children who asked for a fish or an egg. Think about it, what kind of father, when asked for general sustenance, would give his child a venomous animal? That would be a terrible father, and God is not a terrible father.  He is a good and kind father. Who wants to answer our prayers.  (That does not mean that He grants our every desire.  Even here, Jesus is not saying that.) 

Jesus makes the point that these men, even though they are sinful, know how to take care of their children, how much more does God know.  (The word sinful is translated from the Greek word πονηροὶ (ponēroi), which can be translated as “wicked, evil, bad, degenerate.” I don’t think Jesus was trying to be mean here, but his audience understood that compared to God, this is what they were.) 

God is a good father, who gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask. If we ask for the Holy Spirit to sustain us, would He send us a demon, instead? He wants to give the Spirit to us. Bock says this about it: “The specific good gift Luke has in mind is the Holy Spirit.  Since the prayer comes from a disciple, the request is for God’s presence, guidance and intimacy.  God will provide a specific good thing for his disciple.  The one who walks with God should be bold and diligent in asking for such benefits”. (Bock, 1062-1063.)  Think about the ‘shameless audacity’ that I wrote about in my last post.  Can we ask God to fill us with His Holy Spirit with shameless audacity?  Can we seek to be in His presence, or to have His guidance like that?  This is how Jesus is teaching his disciples to pray.  Let us all, keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking for the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Tom 

G. Steve Kinnard, The King Jesus Translation, Luke 13:9. 

        Daniel B. Wallace, The Basics of New Testament Syntax, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Zondervan, 2000. 

Darrell Bock, Luke: Volume 2: 9:51-24:53, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Baker Academic, 1996. 

Teach Us to Pray, Part 2

Greetings

Today, I will continue to look at how Jesus teaches his apostles to pray. In the short parable that Jesus tells in verses 5-8, the disciples are presented with a terrible problem.  One of them receives a visitor late at night, but they do not have food for them.  According to Bailey, this was a serious breach of hospitality, not only for the individual, but for the whole community. (Bailey, 123)

In this story, the guest arrives late at night, and the host has no food for him.  According to custom, he has no choice but to get food from somewhere.  Without the modern convenience of 24 hour stores, he must turn to his neighbors for help. 

The man who is being petitioned initially says, “No.”  He expresses his annoyance, Μή μοι κόπους πάρεχε. (May moi kopous parache) “Do not cause me trouble,” or perhaps, “Don’t bother me,” is his first response. He and his family are in bed. Likely, these villagers live in a small one-room house with everyone sleeping together on a mat.  So getting up to take care of this neighbor would likely wake everyone in the house.  This whole situation was very inconvenient for the one being petitioned. 

In similar fashion, God doesn’t grant our every request.  He often says, “No.” Sometimes, however, like the man being petitioned here, God grants the request later.  

Jesus says that the man eventually will get up and give the petitioner whatever he needs. He doesn’t do it out of friendship.  He does it because of the man’s Ἀναίδειαν (anaideian) Ἀναίδειαν is an interesting word.  Darrell Bock tells us that the word is difficult to translate into English, but that its meaning is something of a combination of boldness and shamelessness.  According to Bock, the word does not stress persistence or repetition, as much as it stresses the boldness of the request. (Bock, 1059.) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament defines the word as “lack of sensitivity to what is proper, carelessness about the good opinion of others.”  The petitioner did not care what other people thought.  He was desperate to get food for his guest.  

The NIV translates this word as “Shameless audacity.”  I like it and used it for my translation as well.  The man has some audacity.  He has a need and is shameless in his request, disturbing other people in the middle of the night in order to get what he needs. Remember that this is within the context of Jesus teaching his apostles how to pray.  

I notice that Jesus uses the word χρῄζει (chrēzei), or 'needs." here. The man gets what he needs.  This is not a parable about praying to get what we want, but about getting what we need. We see Jesus  instructing them (and us) to pray for their needs to be met, with shameless audacity. 

Tom 

Teach Us to Pray

Hello everyone.

We are going to continue our journey through the Gospel of Luke, today, by starting the exegesis of chapter 11. In Luke 11:1-13, Jesus talks about prayer.  In this post, we will look only at the first four verses. 

Jesus prays a lot.  This is the sixth time that Luke records Jesus praying.  This time, when Jesus finishes his time of prayer, one of the disciples asks him to teach them all how to pray. Here is my translation of his response, 

" “When you pray, say: 

     'Father, all reverence to your holy name.

       Let your kingdom come.

3   Give us the bread that we need today.

4  Forgive us of our sins, as we forgive all of those who are indebted to us. 

   And do not lead us into temptation.'"

Jesus' prayer begins by recognizing his intimate relationship with God.  God is Jesus' Father.  He is our Father, as well.  We are fortunate to be able to call upon a kind and compassionate figure, a Father, as God.  After calling upon God as our Father, the statement in Jesus’ prayer is ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου. (hagiasthētō to onoma sou), It is a call to hold God’s name in reverence and awe. Often translated as ‘hallowed be your name.’ But, 'hallowed' is not a word we really use much in modern English.  The Greek word ἁγιασθήτω (hagiasthētō) means to sanctify, consecrate, make holy, to hold in reverence.  I translated it as “all reverence to your holy name.’ 

So we begin with intimacy, 'Father', but we quickly move on to recognize God’s holiness and greatness. We are indeed fortunate that such a holy and powerful God is also benevolent and kind. Even His name is holy. It is spoken with reverence and awe. 

After declaring that God’s name be made holy, he then asks for God’s kingdom to come. According to Darrell Bock, this is a request that God visibly manifest Himself.  Jesus is indeed bringing the kingdom of God, and His kingdom will “show to all the greatness of God’s love, justice and righteousness." (Bock, 1053.) Bock also points out that, in prayer, Jesus begins by setting a tone of worship and awe, establishing God’s character and authority.  After we have done this, then we can make our requests.  In his prayer, Jesus makes three. 

First request: Give us the bread that we need today. 

According to Alan Thompson, the use of the word ‘bread’ here represents ‘food’ in general.  This is then likely a request that God meet our daily provision of necessities. (Thompson, 182-183.) This reminds me of the whole “turn bread into stone” conversation when Satan was tempting Jesus, back in Luke 4.  Jesus had been led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit and he refused to use his miraculous powers to feed himself.  Instead,he trusted God for his provision.  Now, Jesus tells us that we are to lay that request before God, each day.  It also reminds me of Matt. 6:25-33, where Jesus tells us not to chase after food and clothing, but to seek his kingdom and his righteousness and allow God, who knows what we need, to take care of those things for us. 

Second request: Forgive us of our sins.  

This second request, our forgiveness, comes when a condition.  We are to ask God to forgive us, as we are forgiving toward other people. Jesus uses the word ἁμαρτίας (amartias)- sin, when talking about us and our relationship with God.  When he is talking about our relationship with others, he uses the word ὀφείλοντι (opheilonti) which is a participle meaning “those who are indebted to us.”  Jesus also puts word παντὶ (panti) in there.  This means “all” or “everyone.” We are to forgive all who are indebted to us.  What does this mean? Darrell Bock says, “The request shows that forgiveness is not presumed but comes with awareness: a forgiven person is a forgiving person. In fact, the right to ask assumes a willingness to respond similarly.” (Bock, 1055) This attitude takes humility.  In order to be that forgiving, we need to have the correct view of our own failings.   

Third request: Do not lead us into temptation.

This is a request in which the ultimate goal is that we do not sin against God.  Sin is powerful and we are, on our own, generally pretty weak.  We need God’s help to live righteously.  Perhaps, with God guiding our path, we will avoid some of the temptations that could lead us astray. 

In three short requests, Jesus has given us great instruction on prayer, as we seek God’s provision, protection, guidance and forgiveness. Jesus has more to say about prayer in Luke 11. Part 2 will be coming soon. 

Tom 

     Darrell Bock, Luke: Volume 2 - 9:51-24:53, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Baker Academic, 1996.

      Alan Thompson, Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament: Luke, Nashville, Tennessee, B&H Academic, 2016.