Today’s Gospel is the story of Jesus praying and in turn teaching his disciples to pray. Today’s Gospel begins: “Jesus was praying in a certain place…” Throughout his Gospel Luke notes how Jesus spends time in prayer especially before times of crisis or before making key decisions such as selecting the Twelve:
“In those days he departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve…” (Luke 6:12-13).
Although Jesus is the Son of God, he submits himself to the will of his heavenly Father. He discerns God’s will through prayer:
“After withdrawing about a stone’s throw from them and kneeling, he prayed, saying, ‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done.’” (Luke 22:31-42).
Jesus disciples want to learn to pray like Jesus as we hear in today’s Gospel: “When he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.’” Jesus gives them words to use in their prayer, the prayer that we know as the Our Father although in a slightly shorter version. The version that we know and is commonly used at Mass and other Liturgical Celebrations is the version in Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 6:9-15). The expansions in Matthew’s Gospel are mostly explanatory glosses which help us to better understand the meaning of the words and petitions in the prayer.
Luke: “Father, hallowed be your name, your Kingdom come”
Matthew: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your
kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
Matthew’s gloss helps us to understand that God’s Kingdom “comes” when God’s “will be done.” Jesus is teachings us that prayer is aligning our mind and our will with God’s will. As Jesus himself does in his prayer, we submit ourselves to the will of our heavenly Father.
Today after watching Jesus praying, let us ask once again: “Lord, teach us to pray…”
Image: “4-Jesus-praying-at-Gethsemane” by liyang127 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.