Preaching and the Land - Luke 11:1-13

In the text for July 28th, Luke addresses one of his favorite themes, prayer.  The disciples asked Jesus many things.  Here they requested that Jesus teach them how to pray.  The request was not that unusual between a rabbi and his disciples.  But these men had seen enough that they knew prayer was the constant and the source of Jesus' walk with God.

Details from "the land" that might assist you in preparing to preach or teach from this text are:

• "A certain place" in Luke is somewhere on the road to Jerusalem
• In Matthew's account, the certain place is on the mount where Jesus delivers his Sermon on the Mount
• More specifically, it might be the Eremos or "lonely place" where Jesus according to tradition often retired for prayer
• Like the rabbis of his day, Jesus provided a model for prayer to the disciples
• Jesus illustrated the goodness and provision of God with the story of "the friend at midnight"
• The heart of the story is the 1st century expectation of hospitality
• When one friend threatened to reveal the shamelessness of the other, bread was found and given
• The point in the reassuring words - ask, seek, find - is that God certainly matches and provides far beyond what a shameless friend can
• "How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him"

The final verse teaches more about prayer than perhaps any in scriptures.  For Jesus, prayer was not about the material but the spiritual.  Prayer was growing one's relationship with God.  The disciples were encouraged to pray like this.