Text: Luke 11:1-13
Lectionary: Year C, Proper 12
Five years
ago Elise and I took a vacation in Italy, spending about a month there. The
first third of the trip was a group tour around the country on a bus. It was at
the very end of that trip, the very last evening, as the group’s luggage was
being unloaded from the bus, that I discovered that my luggage went missing and
probably was stolen.
It was a
rather unexpected, nasty surprise. But it could have been worse. I had
fortunately carried all important documents and credit cards and such on my
person. If the thief was looking for valuables in the luggage, they would have
been sorely disappointed, save for a bit of US currency that I had in there
since I didn’t need any while in Italy. Probably the most valuable thing was
the luggage itself.
I was
amazingly Zen about the whole affair. Retrospection wouldn’t change things, and
the immediate future was somewhat dictated by having to file police reports and
get a couple of changes of clothing. Taking the perspective that this led to
some new experiences that I wouldn’t have otherwise had, to invoke curiosity
about them, might have been factors that helped get through it without getting
too stressed or annoyed.
It was
decidedly inconvenient, but the sudden cutting loose from stuff that I had been
carrying, albeit not my choice, was surprisingly freeing. Looking back on it
now, it seems that I was suddenly forced to be more in-the-moment, to have to
work through the new circumstances of the here-and-now.
Mindfulness: Being Present
Mindfulness
has become quite the trend and buzz in wellness circles over the past couple of
decades. It is most frequently associated with the practice of meditation, but
the two are not the same. Meditation, particularly the types focusing on
breathing and being aware of one’s own body, is a practice that is used to lead
toward mindfulness. But mindfulness is the result of meditation or any other
practice that leads to a state where one’s focus is on the present, rather than
on retrospection (past oriented) or prospection (future planning).
Social
scientists and psychologists have found that people who are happy tend to be
focused on the present; i.e., they are mindful. They certainly do look back in
history for lessons and make plans for the future, but they have learned to
live in the present.[1]
On the other
hand, those who ruminate in retrospection or are overly fixated on prospection
tend to be less happy. Retrospection might be the result of regrets about the
past or the preference for nostalgia, where the mind diminishes or erases the
bad parts memories. Prospection might be the preference of an idealized future
in which everything goes according to plan. In both cases, there seems to be
significant felt dissatisfaction with the present.
Lord's Prayer and Mindfulness
I think the
Lord’s Prayer, at least in part, is telling us to be present and to be mindful.
The version
found in Luke is quite terse and direct, when compared to the version we most
often recite from Matthew. Here it is again to refresh our memories.
2b “Father, may your name be revered as holy.
May 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.” (Luke 11:2b-4 NRSVue)
The prayer
begins and ends with what could be seen as future oriented: a desire to see the
fulfillment of God’s kingdom on earth and a petition to be spared the time of
trial.
But the
central portion of the prayer is about the present, one day at a time. This is
most clearly seen in the petition for provision of today’s needs, “Give us each
day our daily bread.”
Debt Erasure and Not Keeping Records
But notice
that the clause about forgiving is stated in the present tense: “And forgive us
our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.” Notice too, how Luke
uses sins and debts interchangeably.
I think that
there is an important principle here that we often overlook or ignore. Followers
of Jesus don’t keep a ledger of debts, either formally or informally.
Keeping a
record of debts means always having reminders about something owed to you from
the past, and always looking toward a future time when the debt will be repaid
in some manner. Relationships become transactional. Our interactions become
accounting and mathematical problems. Will what I say or do be a credit or a
debit on this relational ledger? Will we be owing someone, or will this be a
repayment on some debt owed? Are they doing me a favor because of some past
debt, or will they now expect repayment from me in the future? Even if we don’t
explicitly think in these terms, I think that there is a part of us that wants
to keep this kind of ledger.
Our social
and economic structures, the ones we are immersed in from birth, perpetuate and
reinforce this kind of thought process. These systems are the very air we
breathe. We don’t even think about it. The exchange of goods for other goods
and services, meritocracy, lending and borrowing, contracts, expectations of
full repayment – these are all not just economic concepts, but they color how
we approach community and relationships. Even participation in church can become
transactional: am I getting out of church what I am putting into it?
Through the
Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us a different economy. One that can free us from
being trapped by the past and from limits debt often places onto future
possibilities. An economy that is achieved by eliminating ledgers altogether; by
forgiving everyone of all debts, where this is done by all for one another.
Could such
an economy actually work? Wouldn’t there be some who just take and take without
ever giving back, taking advantage of those who give? Perhaps we can’t imagine
anything like this working because we are unable to imagine beyond our culture
and societal norms. Perhaps we are so steeped in the economy of scarcity and
power that we can’t imagine people not taking advantage of one another to
acquire more and amass power over others.
Parable of the Friends at Midnight
Immediately
after the Lord’s Prayer, Luke records a parable told by Jesus. It does not come
through in most English translations, but the first large portion of the
parable should be read as a question posed by Jesus.
5
And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has [Can you imagine] 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
This entire
section should be preface as, “Can you imagine a friend doing this with your
request?” The expected response from Jesus’ hearers would have been an
emphatic, “No, we cannot.”[2]
I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him
anything out of friendship, at least because of his persistence [shamelessness]
he will get up and give him whatever he needs. (Luke 11:5-8 NRSVue)
Translation and Interpretation Alternatives
Here we get
into one of the very confusing translation and interpretive problems in the New
Testament. The word, here, translated as persistence leads to the
interpretation that it is because of the persistence of the friend in need that
the friend with the means finally acquiesces to the demands. And the frequent
application is that we should be just as persistent in prayer to God. But that
opens up a whole new can of worms in regard to answers to prayer, which we do
not have the time to get into right now.
A better translation
is shamelessness. But once more, this is applied to the one asking for
bread, leading to the interpretation that one should or must be bold in asking
God in prayer.
But other
interpreters apply the shamelessness to the friend behind the locked
door, the one with means. In this interpretation, the friend finally gives in
because to refuse the request would be to bring shame and dishonor not only to
himself, but to the entire community, for refusing to be hospitable to the
guest who has arrived from outside the community.
A problem
with this interpretation is the question about God and shame and honor. Those
who object to this interpretation object on the grounds that God isn’t subject
to shame and honor, and therefore, this interpretation is unsound. But when we
see this and the latter part of today’s reading (which we will not specifically
discuss here) as parables of “how much more is God willing” then the
interpretation fits. If humans can be motivated by a sense of shame avoidance
to do the right thing, how much more is God, who is completely righteous and
good, willing to respond to requests from God’s people?
But there is
yet another way to look at the parable. In most interpretations we assume that
we are the friend asking for bread. But what if we turn it around such that we
are the one behind the locked door, with the bread, being asked to get out of
bed and get bread for the person outside? We are being asked because we happen
to have the resources to fulfill the community’s need at this moment. How will
we respond?[3]
Distribution of God's Gifts
It might
seem to you like I’m wandering over a lot of territory today that doesn’t seem
to connect. I hope that in these last few minutes I can bring it mostly
together. First let’s review the final verse from today’s reading.
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!” (Luke 11:13 NRSVue)
The specific
mention of the gift of the Holy Spirit to those who ask reminds me of the gifts
of the Spirit that are found in several of the Epistles. Here is one such list
and description from 1 Corinthians:
4
Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, 5 and there
are varieties of services but the same Lord, 6 and there are
varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in
everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the
common good. 8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of
wisdom and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9
to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one
Spirit, 10 to another the working of powerful deeds, to another
prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of
tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are
activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just
as the Spirit chooses. (1 Corinthians 12:4-11 NRSVue)
What I notice
is that the gifts are distributed among the community for the common good. No
one person has all the gifts, and the Spirit determines how the gifts are
allocated.
Can We Imagine Better?
What if the
answering of prayers to God is most frequently, by God, intended to be answered
through God’s community on earth? What if the community of believers, globally,
has been given all the resources and gifts necessary to respond to nearly every
request that has and will be petitioned through prayer? What if all believers
fully believed and trusted in the abundance of God’s provisions? What if we
fully trusted that God provides sufficient resources to offer one another with
our daily bread? What if we trusted that on some days we would be the ones
blessed with abundance, but on other days we would be the ones asking another,
but together we could meet one another needs for the day? What if we didn’t
keep tallies of who was giving more and who was asking more, but rather,
understood that all resources come from God to be used for the common good?
Honestly, I
don’t know if this vision is realistic. In all reality, I seriously doubt it
could work at all. But maybe just being able to imagine something different is
a start.
I think
there are briefs moments when each of us has experienced such grace from the
community around us. Many of us have probably had opportunities to extend such
grace. But then we quickly get back to the ways in which the world actually
works.
Letting go
of the baggage of living in this world, according to the ways of this world, is
a difficult thing. Jesus says to us,
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I
will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for
I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 NRSVue)
Jesus won’t
take away our baggage without our consent. But he pleads with us to allow him
to take them, because he knows it will be so freeing for us.
This sermon does not have answers, only questions. But what I do hope is that it will ignite some small part of our spiritual imaginations to ponder the kind of community that Jesus began to build, and what it will take to continue that work, to create a community that operates from a sense of abundance and cooperation, rather than scarcity and competition.[4]
[1]
How
to Know That You Know Nothing - The Atlantic (https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2021/10/mindfulness-curiosity-arthurbrooks-ellenlanger-howto-2021/620283/).
Also the entire “How to Build a Happy Life” podcast series, from which this
episode is taken, explorers what happiness is and how to build a life that can
experience more of it.
[2]
Bailey, Kenneth E. Poet & Peasant, Chapter 6, “Exegesis of Luke
11:5-13”.
[3]
Feasting on the Gospels – Luke, Volume 1. Commentary on Luke 11:1-13, Pastoral
Perspective.
[4] Although I do not specifically reference the New Testament reading for this week, Colossians 2:6-15, in this sermon, I think there are thematic touchpoints. 1) An ongoing, daily, present walk with Christ (v.6-7). 2) The exhortation to not conform to the "elemntal principles of the world" (v.8). 3) God forgiving "all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us" (vv.13-14).
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