¹ He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” ² He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, holy is your name.  Your kingdom come.  ³ Give us each day our daily bread.  ⁴  And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.  And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

⁵ And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶ for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ ⁷ And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

⁹“So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. ¹¹ Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish?

¹² Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? ¹³ 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!”

      Jesus taught the disciples how to pray.  He used the example of people asking for what is immediate and mundane: three loaves of bread, a fish, and an egg.  These sustain life on one level. But Jesus instructs us to pray persistently for what also sustains life spiritually.  Our prayers should be for what is near and dear to our heart: for justice, kindness, and to walk humbly with God.  What we receive through these acts of prayer is the Holy Spirit. Our response, as followers of Jesus, is to live a life filled with joy and praise.

      Often we think of persistence in negative terms… nagging and sheer stubbornness, whining, self-centeredness, and carrying on about insignificant desires.

I have a small sign, somewhere in a box of office books, yet to be unpacked, that says:

“Thou Shalt Not Whine”

      I usually have it displayed in a conspicuous place near where people sit when they visit me in my office.  Most people look at it and chuckle.  What I like about the sign is, in a subtle way, it sets the stage for productive pastoral counseling.  After seeing it, rather than complaining, people usually work at being self-reflecting.  They examine what they can do to change their behavior.  Whining has to do with complaining about the behavior of others.  Self-examination, even complaining, has a positive side when we move from whining to examining what actions we can take to make things better. 

      Jesus helped the disciples move from whining to action.  He helped them to see that persistence has a positive side.  In the political realm, the persistence of the masses will lead to Social Justice.  Justice does not happen through whining and self-destructive behaviors.  Justice happens when leadership learns how to respect the poor because of their actions.  Social change happens occasionally through dialogue (reason); more often through protesting and the fear of uprising; and especially when the voice of the people is experienced through their actions at the voting booth, like what happened in our last election. 

Imagine the possibilities…  What if our government officials respected the power and desires of the unemployed, the uninsured, the elderly, and the homeless.  Imagine what would happen if the powerless became a voting block.  Things would be different.  

      Let me assure you, this change won’t happen because of the goodness of the heart of our leaders.  It will only happen when leadership respects the power and desires, and the nagging persistence of the people.  This revolution is especially important in these days when our leadership thinks that the power of wealth (the lobby) is more important than the power of the masses.  We have allowed this to happen, and its time to take our power back.  Jesus understood the power of persistence.

      In prayer, persistence leads to God’s response.  When we pray from the heart, earnestly, and persistently, not in a half-hearted, defeatist way, it will open our very being up to new possibilities.  God will respond.

I imagine that God hears a lot of whining, non-committed, half-hearted whimpering about insignificant things; and I doubt that God responds to it (no response is a response).  But I also expect that God also hears a lot of heartfelt prayers.  It’s interesting how faith and prayer is so closely related. 

Faith is not about having the “right philosophy”, or the “right knowledge,” or the “right experience”, or even about being part of “the right religious group.”  Faith is more about having the “right heart!”

      Jesus taught the disciples about prayer through example when he made it his habit to withdraw regularly to deserted places and pray (5:16), and when he prayed before choosing the Twelve (6:12), when he prayed before Peter's confession at Caesarea Philippi (9:18), when he prayed at his transfiguration (9:28, 29), when he prayed during his agony in the garden (22:41, 44), even when he prayed from the cross, when he said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”  (23: 46). 

He also urged his disciples to pray (22:40, 46).
      In addition, to what we heard in our gospel lesson today (in Luke Chapter 11), Jesus used parables to give them examples of prayer to move the disciples from whining, self-destructiveness, or conceited prayers, to productive prayers of the heart; as in the parable of the unjust judge (18:1-8)

 “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people.

³ In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ ⁴ For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, ⁵ yet because this widow is persistent, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually confronting me.’ ” ⁶ And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who petition God day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? ⁸ I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them.”

      And Jesus used the Parable about the Pharisee and the tax collector (18:10-14) to teach about the importance of having the right heart in prayer.

 ¹⁰“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹² (I’m good) I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ ¹³ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

      Prayer is not about whining.  Prayer is about change, listening, repenting, and seeking new direction.  And Prayer is not an occasional event when things are difficult in your life, but rather a regular part of life, coming from the heart, as God leads you into the ways of God’s Realm.

      Ask for a better world, says Jesus, and you shall receive; seek a better world and you shall find; knock at the door of a better world and it shall be opened to you. For whoever asks, receives; whoever seeks, finds; and whoever knocks, is admitted.