Year 2, Week 32, Day 1 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 32, Day 1

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Luke 11.

Today’s reading continues recording a range of Jesus’ instructions and interactions. Luke 11 notes the request from Jesus’ disciples to be taught to pray: “Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples” (Luke 11:1). Not only does Jesus provide a model for how to pray, but also an emphasis upon the Father’s willingness to grant His children’s requests: “And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” (Luke 11:9-10). Today’s reading also notes the Jewish religious leaders increased opposition to Jesus: “As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say” (Luke 11:53-54).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading is the focus of Jesus’ instructions on how to pray: “And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come” (Luke 11:2). The introductory orientation of Jesus’ instructions focuses on God as a Father who has a Kingdom, which implies that the Father is the King of the Kingdom. The instructed way to pray begins with a simple acknowledgment that God is a Father. Jesus spoke of God as His Father: “But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:17-18). But here, Jesus is inviting His disciples to address God as their Father. God is revealed as Father in the Old Testament: "For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name” (Isaiah 63:17). God as Father suggests at least two important realities that should help shape prayer. First, God as Father points to a father’s compassion: “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:13-14). Jesus directs His disciples to see that in approaching God in prayer, they are approaching a compassionate father. But another reality that is seen in God as Father is one of authority: “But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Be not so terribly angry, O LORD, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people” (Isaiah 64:8-9). Thus, approaching God is not only done with an awareness of His compassion, but also with an acknowledgment of His rule. God is to be approached with a sense of His Fatherly love: “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God” (Galatians 4:6-7). But God as loving Father is also to be approached with reverence and honor.

Connected with addressing God as Holy Father is the petition for His Kingdom to come. With the arrival of Jesus, at least something of the Kingdom had already come: “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Luke 11:20). But the fullest experience of the Kingdom is still to come: “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:25-28). Therefore, the petition is for more of the Father’s Kingdom to come. The prophets spoke of not merely a local or regional dimension of God’s Kingdom, but a global one: “And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one” (Zechariah 14:9).

Even though there is much to be realized in terms of the Kingdom, the Father, with great compassion and authority, already provides for His children to experience the Kingdom: “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!” (Luke 11:13). The Father who is over His Kingdom, currently supplies to His children the Holy Spirit, who is actually a crucial, essential aspect of the Kingdom in its present dimension: “So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 2:6-8). The indwelling Spirit in the hearts of His children is the Father’s good gift of the Kingdom: “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe