Seventeenth Sunday in ordinary time - Year C
PRAYER: A STRUGGLE WITH GOD
Whatever their religion, those who believe in God pray. Even Christians pray. They pray for the sick, for those without a job, for a son who got into bad company, and for families with discord. They ask God for rain, a blessing for crops, and protection from misfortune. Today, this type of prayer is derided by some; it leaves others indifferent and raises many questions even among the believers. Why pray if God already knows what we need and is always willing to give us every good?
Even in the face of the most heartfelt pleas, God is often silent. He lets the events take their seemingly absurd course. Everything proceeds as if he does not exist. His inexplicable silence makes one cry: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Ps 22:2).
The dialogue with God sometimes assumes dramatic tones: discussion in some cases and open disputes in others. Jeremiah makes almost a blasphemous accusation: "Why do you deceive me and why does my spring suddenly dry up?" (Jer 15:18). “You are like the seasonal water. They were but melted ice, running from under the snow. But summer comes, and the river dries under the blazing sun, no water is left. The caravans of Sheba look for them, in vain they expected, they are frustrated on arriving there (Job 6:15-20).
We would like a compliant God who guarantees our dreams. Instead, he tries to free us from our illusions, rescue us from misery, pettiness, vain desires, and involve us in his plans. Prayer is thus a struggle with the Lord, as sustained by Jacob, for a whole night, at the river Jabbok (Gen 32:23-33). Whoever surrenders to God comes out a winner.
- To internalize the message, we repeat:
"Our Father knows what we need."
First Reading: Genesis 18:20-32
In those days, the Lord said: “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin so grave, that I must go down and see whether or not their actions fully correspond to the cry against them that comes to me. I mean to find out.”
While Abraham’s visitors walked on farther toward Sodom, the Lord remained standing before Abraham. Then Abraham drew nearer and said: “Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty? Suppose there were fifty innocent people in the city; would you wipe out the place, rather than spare it for the sake of the fifty innocent people within it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to make the innocent die with the guilty, so that the innocent and the guilty would be treated alike! Should not the judge of all the world act with justice?” The Lord replied, “If I find fifty innocent people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”Abraham spoke up again: “See how I am presuming to speak to my Lord, though I am but dust and ashes! What if there are five less than fifty innocent people? Will you destroy the whole city because of those five?” He answered, “I will not destroy it, if I find forty-five there.” But Abraham persisted, saying, “What if only forty are found there?” He replied, “I will forebear doing it for the sake of the forty.” Then Abraham said, “Let not my Lord grow impatient if I go on. What if only thirty are found there?”He replied, “I will forebear doing it if I can find but thirty there.” Still Abraham went on, “Since I have thus dared to speak to my Lord, what if there are no more than twenty?” The Lord answered, “I will not destroy it, for the sake of the twenty.” But he still persisted: “Please, let not my Lord grow angry if I speak up this last time. What if there are at least ten there?” He replied, “For the sake of those ten, I will not destroy it.” —The Word of the Lord.
Abraham is not only a model of faith and hospitality—as we saw last Sunday—but also of prayer. One day—the story narrates—the Lord reveals his decision to go to Sodom to verify the rumors about the wickedness of its inhabitants. In that city, Abraham has a nephew and worries about what might happen. He addresses the Lord and begins to intercede so that Sodom be spared for the sake of the righteous who are in it. He speaks to the Lord as a friend; his prayer is not a succession of formulas memorized or read from a book, not a nursery rhyme uttered casually; it is a spontaneous and sincere dialogue.
The scene is described with the typical flowery language of the Orientals. It seems to witness the meeting between two merchants of the old city of Jerusalem. Abraham pulls on the price. First, he lowers it from fifty to forty-five. Since the Lord is willing to make a deal, he dares to lower it not by fives but by tens. The theological message of the passage is profound: it wants to emphasize the generosity of God, the infinite mercy that man gradually discovers through prayer. One wonders why Abraham has stopped at ten.
Jeremiah and Ezekiel dare go lower it even more. They perceive by intuition that God would forgive his people if he met even a single righteous person: "Go through the streets of Jerusalem: observe carefully and take note … even if one man who acts justly and seeks the truth, that I may forgive this city" (Jer 5:1; Ezk 22:30). Today we have already found that righteous one, and we are sure of God's forgiveness.
Second Reading: Colossians 2:12-14
Brothers and sisters: You were buried with Christ in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. And even when you were dead in transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he brought you to life along with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions; obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims, which was opposed to us, he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross. —The Word of the Lord.
If a judge archives a document of our transgressions of the laws is kept, we would not live peacefully and quietly. One day this document may be disclosed and could cause our condemnation.
Paul says that the book in which all our ‘debts’ were marked were filed in heaven. There were so many. What did God do? He took the document and tore it up; he nailed it on the cross. We no longer need to fear (v. 14). In baptism, our old life and sins were destroyed and risen with Christ; we lead a completely new life.
Gospel: Luke 11:1-13
Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test.”
And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,’ and he says in reply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’ I tell you, if he does not get up to give the visitor the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.
“And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” —The Gospel of the Lord.
No evangelist insists so much on prayer as Luke. He remembers that Jesus prayed seven times. He was praying—Luke says—at baptism (Lk 3:21); "He withdrew to the wilderness to pray" during his public life (Lk 5:16); he prayed when he chose the disciples (Lk 6:12), and before asking them to say something about his identity (Lk 9:18). He was praying at the time of the Transfiguration (Lk 9:28-29) and when he taught the Our Father (Lk 11:1). He prayed especially in the most dramatic moment of his life, in Gethsemane (Lk 22:41-46).
In addition to these records, Luke also reports five prayers of Jesus. Of these I want to recall the two moving prayers, uttered on the cross: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing" (Lk 23:34) and—his last words before he died—"Father, into your hands I commend my spirit" (Lk 23:46). It is enough to show that the whole life of Jesus was marked by prayer. The clarity of his choices, his psychological balance, his sweetness combined with firmness can be explained by his perfect relationship with the Father, a relationship established through prayer. He did not pray to ask favors, to get a discount on the difficulties of life. He did not ask God to change his plans but let him know what God’s will was to make it his own and fulfill it.
Today’s passage is a catechesis on prayer. It starts by presenting the circumstances in which Jesus taught the Our Father (v.1). Then it shows the Lord's Prayer (vv. 2-4) followed by a parable (vv. 5-8). It ends with the words with which Jesus assures the efficacy of prayer (vv. 9-13). Let us examine each of these parts. In ancient times, religious movements were characterized not only by the truth they believed and the ethical standards they were observing but also by a prayer in which their faith and proposal of life are synthesized. The Baptist, too, had taught it to his disciples.
One day the apostles approach Jesus and ask him to compose a prayer for them (v. 1). Responding to this request, he teaches them the Our Father. Here—many Christians exclaim—is the most beautiful of all the prayers! It was better than the Hail Mary, the Salve Regina, and the Requiem Aeternam because Jesus spoke it. This thought comes from the presupposition that the Our Father is a formula of prayer to add to others. That is not so.
The Our Father is not to be juxtaposed with the other prayers, but to the Apostles’ Creed because, like the Creed, it is a complete compendium of faith and Christian life. In the early Church, the catechumens directly learned it from the mouth of the bishop. It was the surprise, the gift he gave to those who were accepted to be Christians. He consigned it to the catechumens eight days before their baptism, and these, during the celebration of the Easter Vigil, gave it back; that is, they recited it for the first time together with their communities. For this, it would be nice to repeat it sometime at the baptismal font.
Father (v. 2). Tell me how you pray, and I will tell in which God you believe. The atheist does not pray because he has no one to converse with. He believes it is alienating to seek from another those solutions that one can find by himself. Believers pray, but in different ways, according to the different image of God in their respective religious beliefs. For some, God is a blind, impersonal force, sometimes benevolent, sometimes maleficent, unpredictable, even capricious. For others, he is an anonymous interlocutor, or a ‘supreme entity,’ or a severe judge, or the absolute owner of all things who can only be approached in the company of an angel or a saint who acts as mediator.
For Christians, God is the Father, by whom they have been thought of and loved "before being formed in secret, woven in the depths of the earth" (Ps 109:15). When Christians turn to God the Father, they do so directly and with confidence; they feel no need for mediation or recommendations; they enter His house because the door is always open and if like the prodigal son, they sometimes stray from Him, they know that they can return and are always welcome (v. 2).
"Hallowed be thy name" (v. 2). It is the first greeting that emerges on the lips of a Christian when he turns to the Father. It reveals the irrepressible desire to see the dream of God come true. The passive form of the expression is equivalent—in biblical language—to sanctify, O God, your name. Not us, but he has to manifest the holiness of his name. How?
Down through the centuries—the Bible says—Israel has profaned the name of God, not because she was swearing. Still, her infidelity prevented God from expressing his love and accomplishing his salvation (Ex 36:20). The name of God is not ‘hallowed’ or glorified when many applaud him, when the number of those who participate in solemn liturgies and ceremonies in the temples increases, but when his salvation reaches man. A poor person who obtains justice, a heart freed from hatred, a sinner who becomes happy, and a family that has rebuilt understanding and peace ‘sanctify the name of God’ because they are proof that his word performs wonders.
In the Our Father, a Christian hope that God will soon bring to fruition the promise made through the mouth of Ezekiel: "I will make known the holiness of my great Name, profaned among the nations... For I will gather you from all the nations and bring you back to your own land … I shall give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I shall remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh ... You will live in the land I gave to your ancestors; you shall be my people and I will be your God" (Ezk 36:23-28).
When a disciple says: ‘hallowed be your name,’ he declares to the Father his willingness to get involved and to collaborate with him because this promise of God will come true. He does not know "neither the day nor the hour" (Mk 13:32), but he is confident his prayer will be answered.
"Thy kingdom come" (v. 2). The experience of the monarchy in Israel was disappointing, as evidenced by the dramatic denunciations of the prophets: "Your rulers are tyrants, partners of thieves. They love a bribe and look around for gifts. No one protects the orphan or listens to the claim of the widow" (Is 1:23). The people feel the need for a new kingdom in which the thoughts of God guide the destinies of the country, not greed, the frenzies of power, and selfish interests.
The wait for the day when the Lord will personally hand the fate of his people and become king starts. The Psalmist sings the wonder of that kingdom: "Justice will flower in his days, and peace abound till the moon be no more. May grain abound throughout the land, waving and rustling as in Lebanon, may cities teem with people, as fields with grass" (Ps 72:7,16). Even the prophets dream of that day: "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who herald peace and happiness, who proclaim salvation and announce to Zion: ’Your God is king.’” (Is 52:7).
The waiting, at the time of Jesus, is feverish. In the third of the eighteen Blessings, devout Israelites ask God: ‘From your place, oh our king, shine and reign over us because we are waiting for your reign in Zion.’ The hopes raised by the prophecies also generate illusions, false expectations, misunderstandings from which insane riots take a start leading to bloodshed.
The Kingdom which is at the center of the preaching of Jesus is “not of this world.” In the New Testament, the “reign of God” is mentioned one hundred twenty times and ninety times on the mouth of Jesus. He says: "But if I cast out demons by the finger God would not this mean that the Kingdom of God has come upon you?" (Lk 11:20) and he proclaims: "the Kingdom of God is within you" (Lk 17:21).
The waiting time is over; however, a Christian continues to beg its coming because the Kingdom of God is just beginning. It must develop and grow in every person as a seed of goodness, love, reconciliation, and peace. Prayer makes him avoid tragic misunderstandings, helps him to discern between the kingdoms of this world (by which he is always flattered and seduced) and the Kingdom of God.
"Give us each day our daily bread" (v. 3). The bread was much more than just food to consume among the Oriental people, where every family had its oven. It evoked feelings, emotions, relations of friendship that we now ignore. It was a reminder of the generosity and sharing with the poor. Bread could not be eaten alone (Job 31:17); it was always to be shared with the hungry (Is 58:7).
The bread was holy; it could not be thrown in the garbage. It was not cut with the knife but gently broken. Only man's hands were worthy to touch it because it had something sacred: man's work and God's blessing that had given to his people a fertile land and had sent in his time rain and dew.
It is the toil of the farmer that gives us the bread. So, what do we ask of God: that he works instead of us? Does it make sense to ask him what we can procure for ourselves? Don’t we run the risk of falling back into alienation and obscurantism?
We examine every detail of the question: we ask for our bread. Manna is never said to be ours: it fell from the sky; it was a unique gift from God (Ne 9:20). Bread, instead, is both a gift of God and fruit of man’s sweat, of man’s toil and sacrifice, and for this reason, people can rightly say it is ours. The bread blessed by God is the one produced "together" with the brothers, the one obtained from the earth that God has destined for all and not just for some, that which does not contain the tears of the exploited poor.
Reciting the Lord's Prayer means constantly checking oneself because one cannot pray sincerely and genuinely if thinking only of his own bread, forgetting the poor, and neglecting social justice. Whoever does not work and exploits others cannot ask God for our daily bread. To ask for the daily bread means refusing to hoard food for the next day, while the brothers and sisters lack today’s necessity; it means freeing one’s heart from the greed of possession and the anguish of tomorrow. It amounts to saying: ‘Help me, Father, to be content with the necessary, to be free from the bondage of goods and give me the strength to share with the poor.’
"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive" (v. 4). We can say any prayer (Hail Mary, the Angelus, the Requiem Aeternam) with hatred in our hearts, but not the Lord's Prayer. A Christian cannot hope to be heard by God if he does not cultivate feelings of love for brother and sister. It is not enough to forget the injury received; something more is asked for. A Christian cannot open up to the Father’s love if he refuses to be reconciled with his brother and sister.
"And lead us not into temptation" (v. 4). The temptation from which we ask to be saved does not refer to asking ourselves to be saved from minor weaknesses, miseries, and daily fragility (which are also not included), but to be saved from the abandonment of the "logic of the Gospel" and the adherence to the ‘logic of this world.’ Tribulation or persecution can make us stumble and go into crisis; the worries of life and the deceitfulness of goods can choke the seed of the Word of God. A Christian does not ask to be kept safe from these ‘temptations,’ but from giving in to the temptations of this world, not to be touched by the idea of abandoning the Master.
After having presented the model of Christian prayer, Jesus tells the parable of a man who, with great insistence, went to ask a friend to give him three loaves (vv. 5-8). This story intends to teach that prayer gets results only if it is prolonged. Not because God wants to be asked for a long time before granting something, but because man is slow to assimilate God’s thoughts and feelings.
Our prayers seem to attempt to persuade God to change his plan. We would like him to comply with our ideas and correct the ‘mistakes’ committed. If we talk with him at length, we eventually understand his love and accept his designs. Prayer does not change God; it opens our minds, changes our hearts. This inner transformation cannot be realized—except by improbable miracles—in a few moments. It is hard to give up our way of reading the events. We find it hard to accept the light of God. We are blind; we are not able (or do not like) to see. The ways of God are not always easy and pleasant; they require conversions, efforts, renouncements, and sacrifices. To reach the interior adherence to the will of the Lord, to get to see with our own eyes the events of our lives, we must pray ... for a long time.
And so, we come to the last part of today's Gospel (vv. 9-13). Christian prayer is always answered—Jesus says—but our experience does not seem to confirm this statement. The theme of the insistence in prayer is resumed through three images: to ask, seek, and knock. Prayer always produces prodigious and unexpected results. But we do not cultivate false hopes. Outside of ourselves, the reality will remain the same as before (the disease continues, the grievance will remain, the wounds of betrayal will be painful), but inside, everything will be different. When our mind and heart are no longer the same, though the look with which we contemplate our situation, the world and the brothers become different, purer, more "divine," the prayer got its result; it has been heard.
Having recovered serenity and inner peace, even the moral and psychological wounds and organic diseases will quickly heal.
