Lord, Teach Us to Pray (Luke 11:1)

Is there more hungering and thirsty plea than this one, "Lord, teach us to pray?" In the beginning of Luke Chapter 11, one of the disciples asked the Lord Jesus to teach them to pray. 

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” (Luke 11:1)

What is this disciple really asking? It isn’t asking to know what to pray but how to pray. The disciples had been with the Lord over two years of time now. They spent most of time with Jesus, listening to the teachings of the kingdom, witnessing the healings of the sick and driving out the impure spirits, and eating and walking together on the streets and roads in all towns and villages in Judea and Galilee. During the course of time, Jesus was always praying to the eyes of the disciples. Most of all, they couldn’t deny the fact that Jesus never lost even an iota of moment the perfect peace of mind and spirit. They didn’t see any hint of unrest and frustration in Him at all. They didn’t understand fully who He was yet. But even the glimpse of the Person of Jesus thus far was amply impressive and fascinating to the group of mundane men.

What is prayer? Praying is simply asking something needed. Babies and children are always asking something for parents. Why? It’s because they are always in need. Well then, what was lacking to our Lord Jesus that He was in continuous prayer? In fact, nothing was short for Him. He was always provided in full by the Father in heaven. He owned nothing but had everything. He had to borrow everything, from the birthplace, tax, five loaves and two fish, boat, house, to the tomb. He wasn’t educated in the medical school but no disease was not cured by Him. He didn’t attend any seminary school but His teachings amazed the people who heard.

But do not forget that He became in the likeness of man, a perfect human being just like us. The Gospel of Luke portrays Jesus as Man, the Son of Man. So, we see Jesus in prayer in this Gospel more than any other gospels. He came into the world as Adam, not as the first one but as the last one. Although He was sinless, He was bound to time and space, tired and weary in body, and stressed and pressured from all sides. In the midst of weaknesses and limitations, Jesus demonstrated such a fascinating and marvelous life, the life that every human being is intently looking for generations after generations.

More specifically, how could Jesus do that? The answer is prayer. As a man he knew that he could do nothing by Himself (John 5:19). It is true that all needs sunshine and rain to sustain the bodily life. In addition, all needs companions, friends, families, and neighbors to sustain the social life. Most importantly, all is in need of living water to live the spiritual life. The living water is the Holy Spirit who indwells in the hearts of believers in Christ. Our Lord Jesus was always in prayer, which means He was filled with the Spirit of the Father as the manifestation of the perfect union with God. The seven words beautifully and perfectly summarizes the life of Jesus who says, “I am in Him, He in me.” (John 17:21)

The life of Jesus shows that our humanity is in constant and perpetual need bodily, socially, and spiritually. Some may say that they can maintain life with their wits and strength. It seems they can and sounds attractive but it is not true. No one can live life outside of God. Staying alive bodily doesn’t mean to live life at all. The opposite of life is death, the absence of life. While physically breathing, it is much possible to live under the sheer boredom, emptiness, dryness, meaninglessness and lethargy and weariness. Bodily alive but spiritually dead! We are in need of constant supply of that life, the life of excitement, vitality, liveliness, delight, enjoyment, and fulfillment.

So, praying is the essential part of human life. In fact it is everything for us to live a truthful and genuine life in Christ Jesus. Praying is like breathing for Christians. It is the expression of our dependence on the One who morning by morning supplies that life.

“The Lord within her is righteous;

he does no wrong.

Morning by morning he dispenses his justice,

and every new day he does not fail,

yet the unrighteous know no shame.” (Zephaniah 2:5)