Do your children imitate the things they see you do? The disciples see Jesus at prayer, and they want to do what he does. Jesus is a role model. The heart of today’s gospel is — pray like Jesus: ask for what you need, every day.
So: what did Jesus pray about? We can probably discover this if we look at what Jesus teaches his disciples.
First: “Hallowed be your name.” He acknowledged God’s holiness. Then: He asked to be delivered from temptation. After that: “Your Kingdom come.” He was working hard to bring about his Father’s kingdom. After that: “Give us this day our daily bread.” One translation puts it: “the kind of bread we need.”? What was the bread He needed? He probably needed patience with the Pharisees and the Scribes who were always trying to trip him. He probably prayed, too, for physical strength because his daily walking, healing and teaching made him tired. He needed His Father’s help to sustain Him.
“Our Father.” Most importantly Jesus called God ‘Father.’ This shows a close relationship. His Father is not a far away God.
Jesus often asks those who come to him: “What do you want me to do for you?” The heart of prayer is this: asking for what I want – like a child. That’s the point of calling God ‘Father’, Abba, as Jesus did.
Now the question for you is: What do you need — daily? Your answer is your daily bread. Jesus tells us we must keep asking, every day.
And ask for what you need –-your bread, the bread you need – persistently, daily, as Abraham, our father in faith did.
This week a share of the bread we all need is the good of our nation. Today, with one political convention just concluded, and another just about to begin, we pray for the good of our country; that God will find many “innocent people” as he did in response to Abraham’s pleading for Sodom and Gomorrah. Thomas Merton once said that God was sparing the world in response to prayers of the monks at Gethsemani. This was during the dark days of World War II. As we look at what has happened in our world in the past two weeks, we might wonder what God feels as he looks upon us. the parable tells us that God is merciful; that he wants to give us good things – nourishing food, not a stone. But he does want us to ask. Let us ask for our world and our country – that we might turn to God as a nation and that God will have mercy on us, guide, guard and protect us. That’s a good part of the bread we need. That’s a good way to pray this week!