Seventh Sunday after Pentecost: Gospel, Luke 11:1-13                                     

Luke 11:1-13

Our gospel this week is a familiar passage in that it is “take two” regarding the teaching of the Lord’s Prayer. A different circumstance in Luke than when we encounter it in Matthew’s gospel. Some variants in the texts and the context itself lends to seeing the great variety in the master teacher’s arsenal of truth. And then the larger context of a story, the familiar “ask, seek, knock” themes and a word about the Holy Spirit. It’s that portion I want to point to today.

Christians are Christians because of the presence of the Holy Spirit given to us in our baptism. In my tradition, we receive God’s name and are marked with the sign of the cross on our heads and upon our hearts marking us as those redeemed by Christ the crucified. It is the Word of God in and with the water that so marks us as God’s children for this life and for all eternity. All that to point out that in this wonderful section on prayer, Jesus speaks about us asking for the Holy Spirit.

Now here’s where our Western, science-laden culture rears its head. “Hey, we have the Holy Spirit. Why is Jesus pointing to our need to ask for Him? Again? The Christian walk is not a business transaction. We are not in a tit-for-tat relationship with the Almighty where everything is characterized by “If I do ‘A’, then ‘B’. No. It isn’t like that at all. First, recognize this is Jesus speaking to us. Speaking the very Word of God regarding prayer. We really should listen carefully. And second, the inference here is that the Holy Spirit Himself wants to be integral to our daily living. And we should fight for that in prayer with the dedication of the man asking his friend for bread just a bit earlier in the passage.

Do you? Do I? Is the Holy Spirit imperative to me living a life of faithfulness to our Lord? Is He really all that necessary? If we have to ask that question, we have not learned the lesson our Lord is teaching us. Pray God’s Word. Ask for the Holy Spirit today. Every day. That’s God’s Word on the subject.

Come, Holy Spirit.