Gn 18:20-32
Ps 138:1-2, 2-3, 6-7, 7-8
Col 2:12-14
Lk 11:1-13
What gives Abraham the guts to bargain with God? I mean… in life we try to sheepishly bargain with God, but look at what Abraham’s boldness! If God is determined to do something, something tells me it’s gonna happen. He wants the earth round; He’s got a round earth. He wants to give a giraffe a long neck, we’re gonna have a giraffe with a long neck. If He wants the male seahorse to have the baby seahorses, the male seahorse is going to have babies. That is the sovereignty of God. So if God, in His righteousness, wants to destroy a city – that’s His prerogative right?!?!? But Abraham talks Him down! He is able to save a wretched city if he were to find ten innocent people. Abraham is not really invested in this city; it’s not even his home, why does he care and yet he is able to save it. Few people in scriptures are able to do what Abraham does right here.
And as I think about how amazing Abraham is in bargaining with God and getting what he wanted, I also wonder what “convinces” God to do what He did. God doesn’t really work like that does He? Do you think that Abraham really “convinced” God to do something? This is God we are talking about here!! The Divine Eternal Being that created everything and is beyond all the “linear timey-wimey goobledegook string theory and parallel universes.” Do you think this Being would let some schmuck in the desert change His mind? I don’t think so… but yet let’s think about it some more.
If man cannot change the mind of God, then what good is prayer? What good is it to pray to God? This is where a lot of people quit religion; they give up. And this is where they are wrong! To subscribe to this beautiful faith means we must also accept the offer and invitation of Jesus Christ – the Son of God. In Christ we see efficacy of prayer, but we must pray the way He exhorts us to pray.
In the Gospel, we hear of the disciples asking Jesus how to pray. If prayer was ineffective, He wouldn’t have said anything – He would have told them that they didn’t do anything. But no, He gives them the Lord’s Prayer: the powerful prayer that has been passed through the ages: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. And then He gives them some examples and further reinforcement on the importance of prayer: persistence or perseverance in asking.
Let us take a closer look at these two examples: the first one is almost hilarious. Because all you have to do is go to the supermarket and stand in the checkout line with little kids running around. Kids ask for something that they want from their parents. What’s the first answer? No. The second? No. The third? No. Eventually through some sort of cuteness and persistence and sometimes arm-twisting tantrums they eventually get what they want. They wear ‘em down. Perseverance: it’s powerful stuff. It’s probably happened to you before, a simple beggar on the street asks for some change and they just keep asking until you hand whatever is in your wallet over just to get them off your back. If it worked for a stranger… imagine if we did it to God, who is not a stranger but one who loves us unconditionally.
Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened…. These again are powerful words. And as we reflect upon them – we see the power of prayer in Abraham asking on behalf of the people. Prayer is as far off as asking for that help and assistance from God. But lest we turn God into our own genie in a bottle – for He is certainly not. Remember that Christ teaches us to call God “Father”, not “slave”. We must discern first what we are asking. He is a Father who loves us and desires the best for us; His will be done because we trust in Him. When we ask God and we pray to God and it is not happening the way we would like we must stop and think: Are we asking for snakes and scorpion? Our Father will give us our daily bread, but sometimes we are asking for the wrong thing, which is like asking for snakes and scorpions, which any good father will not do [unless you are the Crocodile Hunter].
We are assured that prayer works, but now the task at hand for us is to find out how to pray and what we are praying for. Prayer is our conversation with God – one that is familiar and also one that seeks to better understand His will and desire. Ultimately, He already knows what we are asking – but the benefit of prayer allows us do a few things: 1.) to explicitly understand what you are praying for, 2.) to discern whether or not you really need what you are asking for, and 3.) to trust in His providence.
At the heart of prayer is communication and relationship. Here’s an experiment and exercise for you: record your prayer and play it back to yourself. (Nobody else needs to hear it.) You may notice that it is not polished, that’s okay – you can work on that. BUT - Are you praying from the heart or are you just giving lip service? Is it just fluffy words or are you able to relate the very core of yourself to Him?
For some of you, this exercise may be quite embarrassing because what you are praying about and praying for are exactly those scorpions and the snakes that Christ refers to in the Gospel – and God, for your own good, is not gonna give them to you. But perhaps you really are asking for something good and proper – perhaps you are praying for that daily bread, that fish, or that egg. Here is where perseverance comes into play, where you must discern further: How is He answering your prayer? Do you trust in His good providence?
There is no magical formula in prayer – because that is not how God works. Ask and you shall receive is not a blank check. Abraham was able to do what He did because He was asking for THE good, he persevered, and his request was very much in line with God’s will. Prayer is not so much about changing God’s mind, but having our minds change to match His. He is the Father who loves us and desires the best for us. When we pray we are asking Him to open that goodness to us – that we may always seek and unite ourselves to His will. As we continue this celebration of the Mass, let us turn our hearts to Him, uniting ourselves in communion in the Holy Eucharist.
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