the best of gifts
28 July 2013
There’s a short story from the desert monastics from the 4th and 5th centuries that I really like. I can identify with it. These were people who went out into the desert (mainly Egypt, but also other places) to develop their spiritual practices. Many of them fled what they saw as the corruption of the city.
“Once upon a time the disciples asked Abba Agathon, ‘Amongst all good works, which is the virtue which requires the greatest effort?’ Abba Agathon answered, ‘I think there is no labor greater than that of prayer to God. For every time we want to pray, our enemies, the demons, want to prevent us, for they know that it is only by turning us from prayer that they can hinder our journey. Whatever good work a person undertakes, if they persevere in it, they will attain rest. But prayer is warfare to the last breath.’” (Joan Chittister, The Rule of Benedict: Insights for the Ages (New York: Crossroad, 1992), 75.)
I don’t know that we have to believe that there literally are demons bent on keeping us from prayer, but when you—if you—try to enter into prayer, thinking of it as “warfare to the last breath” is a pretty good description! I think my experience is a fairly common one, which is: if you want to dredge up the most random thoughts and impulses…if there’s a song you’ve been trying to forget…if there’s a task that you just have to do and need to make a note of…then spend some time in prayer. All kinds of mental distractions will appear. We don’t need demons to keep us from prayer!
What’s so important about prayer, anyway? Why would demons, literal or figurative, want to keep us from it?
In Luke 11, we see Jesus praying. Throughout the gospels, we see Jesus praying again and again. Jesus is presented as a man of prayer. He understands where his strength and his life come from.
Luke 11:1-13 give us three themes to the request, “Lord, teach us to pray” -- The Lord’s Prayer,” a parable about a midnight visitor, and lessons to be learned about the parable.
The Lord’s Prayer is brief in Luke's version unlike Matthew's... It isn’t meant to be recited robotically without any thought to what the words say. Chapter 20 of the Rule of Benedict, has something to say about this:
“We must know that God regards our purity of heart…not our many words. Prayer should therefore be short and pure, unless perhaps it is prolonged under the inspiration of divine grace. In community, however, prayer should always be brief.”
Maybe I’m alone in thinking this, but sometimes it seems like prayer is a beauty contest. We can feel challenged to come up with the most eloquent language. Or sometimes it seems like an athletic competition, with the goal of going on and on and on. (It’s like the long distance runners.) When that stuff happens, we’re actually praying to ourselves, not to God. Our inner life isn’t strengthened by showing off, least of all, by showing off during prayer.
Some translations have a footnote in verse 2 that indicates an alternate, or a variant, reading. In this case, when Jesus prays, “Your kingdom come,” the alternative reading is, “Your Holy Spirit come upon us and cleanse us.”
I really like that. “Your Holy Spirit come upon us and cleanse us.” What does it mean for the Spirit to cleanse us, to purify us? I certainly don’t have the final word on this, but I would think it has a lot to do with the well-known phrase that it substitutes for: “Your kingdom come.”
Being aware of God’s kingdom, longing for it to be realized in our lives—that has everything to do with desiring the Holy Spirit to come upon us and cleanse us.
Jesus continues his teaching on prayer with the parable about the midnight visitor. Here’s a guy who himself has received a late night visitor, and unfortunately, the pantry is running low. But he says, “Wait! I know what to do! I have a good buddy nearby! He won’t mind giving me something. You don’t have to go to bed hungry!” Of course, things don’t go quite according to plan.
Upon hearing the knock at the door, the friend whose food has been volunteered drowsily grumbles, “Go away! The whole family is in bed. Come back at a decent hour!” The knocking continues. Finally, amid some muttered expletives, the bread is delivered to the neighbor who it seems is determined to prevent any sleep from occurring! This lack of courteous behavior doesn’t go unnoticed by the scripture text.
The word in verse 8 translated as “persistence” (anaideia) comes from two words meaning “without shame” or “without respect.” So, Jesus could also be translated as saying, “even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his audacity (or, “his shamelessness”) he will get up and give him whatever he needs.”
Does that mean that it is rude to persist in prayer? Does it display a lack of good manners? No, but we should still be shameless and act like it does!
In the third section, where Jesus expounds on the parable, he seems to be saying the same thing. He makes the point in verses 9 and 10: “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
When Jesus speaks of asking, seeking, and knocking, he’s not saying to do this in a half-hearted way. He’s not suggesting that we be timid or nice. There’s a difference between being nice and being kind. Niceness exists at the surface; kindness plunges into the depths. It is the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Ga 5:22).
Jesus is talking about giving oneself over completely to this business of loving God with all of our being. When we maintain that as our focus, as our goal, we avoid the trap of viewing God as a vending machine. It helps to avoid seeing our Lord as Santa Jesus. It can be easy to take these scriptures, as well as others in the Bible, and use them to turn prayer into a business agreement. That mentality is one of the key parts of what’s known as “prosperity theology.” A less flattering description is “name it and claim it,” and even less flattering, “blab it and grab it”!
Jesus finishes up with scenarios that would definitely keep you out of the running for being named parent of the year: serving your child a snake sandwich instead of fish filet or scorpion soup instead of scrambled eggs! He says, “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!” (v. 13). There’s a parallel with Matthew 7, which says “how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (v. 11).
The Holy Spirit is the best of gifts. The Spirit is the best of gifts because the Spirit is God. Just as Jesus, Emmanuel, is God with us, so the Holy Spirit is God within us. There’s no contradiction with the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 when he says that “faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love” (v. 13). There’s no contradiction because God is love.
The Holy Spirit is the best of gifts because the Spirit is all that is beautiful and courageous and inspiring. The Holy Spirit is the best of gifts because the Spirit is the fire within us that burns away the fear and hate that would keep us small.
The Holy Spirit is the best of gifts because the Spirit enables us, not to be nice, but to be kind. Like those disciples of long ago, we also have that need: “Lord, teach us to pray.” It is warfare to the last breath.
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