Asking in Prayer

   Written for Dr. James Prothro's New Testament Course, March 28, 2020

         In Luke 11:5-13, Jesus tells a short parable, illustrating that if a friend wants something from you at an inopportune time, you may first say no, but in the face of persistent requests, you will ultimately accede. He continues, stating that when we ask, we receive; when we seek, we find. He then adds that a father will neither offer his hungry child a serpent instead of a fish, nor a scorpion instead of an egg. The passage ends with “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to those who ask him?”[1]

This passage comes immediately after the teaching of the Our Father. It is followed by Jesus expelling a demon, whereupon the question arises as to whether he casts out demons by the power of Satan or the power of God. The chapter itself is placed after Jesus’ preaching in Galilee, and is part of the journey to Jerusalem, “the city where God’s redemptive plan is destined to unfold.”[2] Luke’s Gospel emphasizes the salvation message; Jesus has come to gather all peoples of all nations. He has given us here a teaching on prayer.

            In this passage, Jesus is continuing this discourse on prayer. When we correlate this passage to Luke 11:1-4, we illuminate both passages. Jesus says “When you pray, say…”, and immediately following the teaching of the Our Father, teaches that we should pray with persistence. Just as the man opens the door to the one who keeps knocking, so does God respond to those who are persistent. Casey states that this parable, “and ‘The Woman and the Unjust Judge’ (Lk 18:1-8), remind us that persistence is a necessary part of prayer.”[3]  Harris tells us that these two parables appear only in Luke,[4] which suggests that Luke may have already known Paul’s lesson from Paul to “pray constantly.”[5] 

            To consider the reference to the snake and scorpion, we need to know Jewish dietary law. Leviticus states “Whatever goes on its belly, and whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet, all the swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, you shall not eat, for they are an abomination.”[6] Jesus’ audience knew dietary law, and would know that a father offering a serpent or a scorpion shows a parent giving their child something unlawful to eat, thus leading the child to sin. Faley tells us that Luke’s Gospel has a “Gentile orientation [and] often avoids details of Jewish law.”[7] That Luke does include this particular reference here must then have specific meaning and reason. When we correlate that reference to the phrase in Luke 11:4, “lead us not into temptation,” we may read Luke 11:4 not as suggesting that the Father would ever lead us into temptation, but rather as a statement of faith that He will only give us things that are good for us.

This section also correlates to the phrase “give us each day our daily bread.”[8] A footnote in The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible points out that the phrase “daily bread” means “food for the whole person: for the body, God gives us daily necessities and for the soul he gives us the eucharistic ‘bread of life.”[9] In his discourse on the Our Father, Pope Benedict states “We have the right and the duty to ask for what we need. We know that even if earthly father give their children good things when they ask for them, God will not refuse us the good things he alone can give.[10] Jesus speaks of the earthly father giving good food; what he promises from our heavenly Father is not bread, but the Holy Spirit. “The Father’s greatest gift to us is his own divine life. Through the Spirit, he sanctifies his children and distributes the graces of salvation won by Christ.”[11]  A footnote in the Bible at the USCCB site states “Luke presents the gift of the holy Spirit as the response of the Father to the prayer of the Christian disciple.”[12] Our daily bread is not simply food for our bodies, nor even simply food for our soul. It is rather the share in God’s own life and love.

            The parable of the friend asking for help, which shows us the necessity of being unflagging in prayer; the statement about how a father would feed his child, which shows us how our heavenly Father will only give us that which is good, and the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit, the greatest gift: Luke has packed so much into nine short verses.  As Gadenz states, “Jesus himself prays in the Spirit to the Father, so his disciples who imitate him in prayer can similarly share in the life of God.”[13]

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Benedictus. Jesus of Nazareth. San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 2007.

Casey, Michael. Fully Human, Fully Divine: an Interactive Christology. Liguori, Mo: Liguori/Triumph, 2004.

Faley, Roland J., TOR: From Genesis to Apocalypse: Introducing the Bible. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2005

Gadenz, Pablo T. The Gospel of Luke. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, a division of Baker

            Publishing Group, 2018.

Harris, Stephen L. Understanding the Bible. 3rd Edition. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1992

The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. San Francisco, CA:

            Ignatius Press, 2005.

The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, Revised Standard Version. San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press,

            2010.

scripture. Accessed March 28, 2020. http://www.usccb.org/bible/luke/11.

[1]      The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press,

2005): Lk 11:13

[2]      The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, Revised Standard Version (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010) .99

[3]      Fully Human, Fully Divine: an Interactive Christology. Michael Casey. Liguori, Mo: Liguori/Triumph,

2004):.258

[4]     Understanding the Bible. Stephen L. Harris. 3rd Edition. (Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company,

1992):  311

[5]      The Holy Bible: 1 Thessalonians 5:17

[6]      The Holy Bible, Leviticus  11:42

[7]      From Genesis to Apocalypse: Introducing the Bible. Roland J, Faley, TOR. (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press,

2005): 199

[8]      The Holy Bible: Luke 11:3

[9]      The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible:.130

[10]      Benedictus, Jesus of Nazareth (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 2007):.151

[11]      The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible:.130

[12]      scripture, accessed March 28, 2020, http://www.usccb.org/bible/luke/11

[13]      The Gospel of Luke. Pablo T. Gadenz. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, a division of Baker

                Publishing Group, 2018: 224