Day 286 (Luke 11) - Year 4
07:30 Share

Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. If you've ever felt like a JV prayer, you're in good company. Even the apostles asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. The good news is, just like any conversation you have with a person, it's a skill you can learn. We don't have time to dig in deep on this, but there are a few things worth noting in the prayer Jesus teaches his followers that I want to highlight.

First, Jesus tells them to pray to the Father, not to him. If we aren't careful, we end up putting the three persons of the Trinity in a blender and mixing them all up together as though they're the same. While they are one and they are unified in their will and purpose, they're also distinct in their roles.

In Scripture, the most normative way we see prayer modeled is to pray to the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit. Jesus is the mediator between us and the Father, and the Spirit empowers our prayers through the Son to the Father. That's not to say we can't or shouldn't pray to the Son or Spirit. It definitely enriches our relationship and deepens our understanding of God when we think intentionally about which person of the Trinity we're praying to and talk to them according to their roles.

The more we get to know him, the more natural this will become. In today's show notes, we'll link to two articles about this, as well as our favorite book on the topic of the Trinity. What Jesus is pointing to here that is so huge is that we can boldly approach the Father, the supreme authority of the universe.

For some people, though, this can be challenging. Maybe you had an absent dad or a terrible dad. Maybe it feels easier to you to pray to a different person of the Trinity, the Son or the Spirit, instead of the Father.

There is grace for you in this. He knows. If that's you, my hope is that he'll draw you in and that by beginning to talk to God the Father, it may unlock some healing for you, that he'll redeem the word Father for you by being all that your earthly father failed to be. And I know this sounds crazy, but reading the Old Testament helps. If you didn't make it through the Old Testament with us this year, I hope you will next year because going through that has transformed so many people's views of the Father.

In this prayer today, Jesus also demonstrates yielding. He

He prioritizes the Father and His kingdom in the prayer, which gives everything else its proper landing spot. All our praise and repentance and asking falls under the heading of submission to God and His kingdom. While prayer is submitting to God, it's primarily talking with God. I never want to stop being in awe of the fact that I get to talk to the God who has always existed, who made everything, who knows me better than I know myself, and who loves me more than anyone.

In the next section, we encounter a scene we've studied before, where the Pharisees accuse Jesus of being demon-possessed. But the part we haven't seen yet is what happens right after that, where a woman in the crowd cries out, blessing his mother. Then verse 28 says, But he said, Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it.

So to have a balanced view of what's happening here, we have to say that Jesus doesn't show Mary any special reverence. But he's not demoting or disrespecting her. He's just rightly positioning her alongside everyone else. She's a sinner in need of a savior, just like all of us. This is similar to what we read in Mark 3, where Jesus elevates those who are in the family of God, showing that kingdom relationships have greater significance than genetic relationships.

As he's talking, the crowds ask him for a sign to prove he's the Messiah, and he basically rebukes them. When Jesus performs miracles, it's to help people in need, not to prove himself.

He's not doing those things to be flashy or the center of attention. He always has the purpose of helping people in mind. He doesn't have anything to prove. And we've already seen that his miracles weren't enough for the people of Capernaum or the other cities he pronounced woe to. Signs don't soften hearts. Jesus tells them that the only sign they'll get will be the one of his death and resurrection, the sign of Jonah, as he calls it.

We first read about this sign in Matthew 12. Matthew gave us a little more of Jesus' explanation than Luke does today. In Matthew's account, Jesus says he'll spend three days and nights in the grave, just like Jonah spent three days and nights in the fish. Put a pin in that. We'll come back to it in the days ahead.

The final story we encounter today is similar to one we read earlier in Luke's Gospel, back in chapter 7, where a Pharisee invites Jesus to dinner. We don't know if this is the same Pharisee, and we don't know the motive behind this invitation. But even if they have an amicable relationship, Jesus doesn't hesitate to rebuke him in his own home. The host is shocked that Jesus doesn't wash up before dinner. It's not a law, it's just a tradition of the Pharisees. And Jesus is like,

Let me tell you a thing or two about washing up. You're so concerned with being clean on the outside, but you're dead inside. You bring your tithes, and that's great. Keep it up. But also, give to the poor. Stop being greedy. God values love and justice.

A lawyer who is also at the dinner party pushes back and basically says, well, that's harsh. And Jesus says, do you want to know what's really harsh? You make burdens unnecessarily hard for some people and you refuse to offer any help at all. You're harsh and God is holding you responsible for what you've done. Jesus saves his strongest words for the people who are self-righteous, who have entirely missed the mark of God's heart.

I love that he speaks up for those who can't speak for themselves, those who would never get a seat in the home of a Pharisee or share a table with a lawyer. He pushes back to his own detriment. We don't know if these two guys ever repented, if they ever came around, but Jesus seems to speak truth at every table he's invited to.

Today, my God shot was in the way Jesus explained prayer to his disciples. He wanted them to know how much the Father loves to communicate with his kids. Depending on your life circumstances, it may be natural to feel like you're bothering God when you pray or that he has better things to do than hear your prayers over menial things. But did you notice that the examples Jesus uses are things like eggs and fish and bread?

Apparently, God wants us to talk to him about little things. And Jesus says to be persistent in prayer, to beg God, essentially. He says the Father can be trusted to hear your prayers, sift through them, and answer them with whatever is best. He says everyone who asks receives. That means there's no such thing as an unanswered prayer. He answers all of them, either with yes, no, or wait. We tend to forget that no and wait are answers to.

God doesn't always give us what we ask for, because sometimes he has better ideas. But he always hears and he always responds. Tim Keller says it this way, God will either give us what we ask for in prayer or give us what we would have asked for if we knew everything he knows. That's a good father, and he's where the joy is.

Each week, a team of people from The Bible Recap spends about 200 hours putting everything together for you. Each episode is researched, written, and recorded by me, Tara Lee Cobble, and sound engineered by Allison Congdon. Laura Buchelt and Olivia Ramsey handle content management for the podcast, Patreon, and YouTube. Sarah Yochum leads our incredible social media team. And Morgan Young creates all the encouraging daily messages we post.

Omar Cardenas and Arlette Blackwell handle our Spanish content. Courtney Vaughn handles our ASL videos. And Landon Wade designed our logo. We're so grateful we get to partner with you in so many ways. Thank you for being here, Bible readers.