Luke chapter 11

vs 1

It's entirely possible that this disciple was a disciple of John the baptist's, so that is why he's asking. Just goes to show you that John the baptist's ministry extended past dunking people.

And so the disciples want to know how to pray. Jesus seems to do plenty of it, can they get a slice of the action?

vs 2

Luke records this prayer in mega-short format, compared to its more verbose listing in Matthew. But it's obviously recogniseable. I'm not sure how quickly it was adopted as a liturgical prayer, but we have to remember that Judaism was a religion of structured prayer, and the culture is very much built around structured prayer.

It's interesting to look at what's left: We call God our Abba, we want his name to be holy, we want his kingdom to come.

vs 3

We thank him for his provision.

vs 4

We pray for forgiveness, because we promise to be forgiving, and we pray not to be led into temptation by God.

vs 5-6

I love this parable, because it is so true to life. It encapsulates reality so well, and is so easily translated into modern times.

vs 7

Which is your first response when you get woken up at midnight. Just because they are your friend, doesn't mean that they can't be bothersome.

vs 8

And yet it is the bothering that gets you out of bed to help, not the friendship. Jesus calls it boldness. NASB says persistance, which is a word I much prefer, because it is more easily definable. Annoyingness.

vs 9

The moral of the story is that you should ask God for stuff, because he will give it to you. You may have to be persistant (although probably not because God is asleep, but because he rewards persistance) but God is more than a friend, he is a father. Which of course changes the giving relationship, too. Fathers don't give their children cigarettes.

vs 10

But if you ask, seek or knock, then you will find that God provides.

vs 11

Here's an interesting point - he calls them fathers. Most of them probably were. I mean, they gravitated to a guy who's about 30, so you'd think that a lot of them would be dads. And he is building up the point I made earlier - God is not just your friend, he's your dad.