Ask, Seek, Knock
Luke 11:5-13 I don’t specifically remember being taught to pray; it is something that my mom taught me when I was too little to remember. I do remember thinking that my cousin Chad was really spiritual because he used really grown-up language like “beseech” in his prayers. Even in modern times, there is confusion on how to pray, so Jesus’ disciples ask him to teach them to pray. The most well-known aspect of this teaching is the Lord’s Prayer. We pray this prayer all the time, but then we stop. When we look at the Lord’s Prayer in Luke’s gospel, there is no break between the words of the prayer and the discussion that follows. In fact, the language suggests continuity rather than a break. “Then Jesus said to them” connects the former to the latter. So we have the Lord’s Prayer followed by the parable of the friend in need and the question to fathers, all strung together in one teaching. Then Jesus said to them,“Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight a...