The simple question that the disciple of Jesus asks is the same question each of us asks; it is the question that many who come to pray with the monks of Gethsemani ask. “Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples”. It would be interesting if some archaeologist discovered the parchment that says what John taught about praying.
The response of Jesus is almost disappointing in its simplicity. And even a bit disconcerting! The prayer Jesus gave his disciples which in the context seems to have been the prayer that Jesus just praying.
Our Liturgy of the Word sets the stage for the Jesus lesson on praying in a rather dramatic manner. Abraham wants to save his son and families from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. In the best Jewish tradition, Abraham is going to bargain for the desired result. As presented in Genesis the meeting is classic. If you have ever haggled over the price of scape metal with a local junk dealer the scene is very real. But the outcome is more consequential than the scape price; to obliterate a city. The only saving grace for the city can be the number of just persons who can be found. So Abraham pleads, “Please let not my Lord grow angry if I speak up this last time. What if there are at least ten there?” The response, “For the sake of those ten, I will not destroy it”!
(There is a meaningful novel of many years ago entitled “Ten Just Men”. It is based on this Jewish tradition, if there are ten Just Men, the world will not be destroyed. The novel traces these ten men through the trials of the last centuries and their suffering to save the world.)
The response of Jesus to the request to be taught how to pray is clear and simple. It is so simple that most of us have learned it and use it frequently. How effective it is, that is our concern. But then why would Jesus give us a bogus way to the Father?
“Ask… seek… knock” – these verbs emphasize the insistence of the call to prayer and the assurance of being heard if we persevere. You will receive, you will find, it shall be opened to you. Above all, to not become discouraged. Prayer requires a long patience, but through perseverance, it obtains an answer. Jesus uses the example of earthly parents who despite their faults give to their children only good things. All the more our heavenly Father will give the most precious goods to those who seek for it.
Jesus himself gave his disciples and all of us the supreme example of his prayer not being answered as he hoped yet being the greatest of all responses. Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemani that the chalice of his impending suffering be taken from him. And he prayed; not my will, but yours, Father, be fulfilled. The chalice of suffering and death was not taken from him. In response to his prayer, Jesus received the resurrected life, he received our eternal life in response to his accepting his unfulfilled prayer.
In showing us God’s response to prayer, Jesus helps us to understand prayer itself. To pray is not impose our will on God but to ask him to make us open to accept his will. To pray is not to change God but to ask him to change us.
God in creating us has one desire that we freely share in is infinite love. Our prayer is our search into that love that has created us. Jesus as one of us also is wanting to enter into that same fullness and so bring us into the infinite love of the Father. Jesus has brought us into the Father’s eternal life by his entering the mystery of death as each of us will. And in that moment know the infinite and eternal love of God for us. The Eucharist we gather to celebrate is that mystery of Jesus giving his life so that we can live in eternity.