The Gospel of Luke
Lord teach us to pray: Lk 11,1-4
Given the dominance of Matthew's "our Father" in the Christian Church, it may be surprising that Luke's version has survived at all. The Authorised Version for example repeats Matthew's version in Luke. The Douay-Rheims translation which was based on the Latin Vulgate has kept the shorter (and perhaps more original) version of Luke for this all important prayer.
Luke places the teaching of prayer within the setting of Jesus' own prayer and his commentary then stresses the importance of perseverance and persistence in prayer (11,5-13).
In Matthew, the prayer comes in the Sermon of the Mount and is part of a presentation in chapter 6 of almsgiving, prayer and fasting as central to the Christian life. Matthew's comment which follows picks up the theme of forgiveness, a message important for him (Mt 18,21-22).
The disciple makes his request in verse 1 so that they could have a prayer which marked them out as followers of Jesus, a prayer which establishes their identity as his disciples. This is what other religious leaders have done, such as John the Baptist. Though we use Matthew's longer version, the primary purpose of the Lord's prayer even today is to be the identity prayer of Christians, a prayer shared by all the baptised.
Jesus frequently calls God "Father". Here he enables all his disciples to call God "Father".
Yet the name Father is also a holy name. It is not to be used lightly (Ezekiel 36,22-28)
The coming of God's reign or kingdom is at the heart of Jesus' own preaching (6,20) as well as that of his followers when he sends them out (9,2.60; 10,9).
The first two petitions of the prayer are therefore about God himself, who he is (holy) and how he is present in the world (his coming kingdom).
The theme now changes from "your" to "us" for the next three petitions.
"Bread" is a recognition on our dependency on God our Father to provide all our needs (as we will see in 12,22-31). Continuity is highlighted by Luke because "give" is in the present tense whereas in Matthew it is a past definite.
The woman in the Pharisee,s House (7,47-49) is only one of a number of examples of the forgiveness of sins in this Gospel
"Testing" is the same word as for Jesus at the temptation following his baptism (4,12-13) and in the garden where Jesus himself is tested and prays that the disciples may not be tested (22,40).
Commentary on Prayer: 11,5-13
The story here of the friend at night is not dissimilar to the persistant widow later on in this Gospel (18,1-8). Both are good examples of Luke's ability to draw graphic pictures in a few words.
Note that the cause of the request is the late night visitor. The friend has gone to the other friend in order to help another. This is about the power of intercessory prayer, that we pray for each other, always as a community.
Persistance in asking is then taken up: we are encouraged to constantly make our needs known to God. Compared to Matthew, Luke says clearly in verse 11: "which of you who is a father" (though the NRSV has changed this to "anyone"). Then in verse 13, the Father is called "heavenly", marking the gift of the Holy Spirit who will be guiding events in the Acts of the Apostles.
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The Sunday Gospel
Abraham bargaining with God may on its own give the wrong impression about prayer. Prayer of petition, asking for what we need, is prominent for many people. Prayer though is about our on-going relationship with God and petition forms part of that. This reading from Genesis therefore needs to be seen within the whole of the relations between God and Abraham as the man of faith. This highlights the point of the Gospel concerning perseverance in prayer.
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