Big Idea: It is our personal relationship with God that should take priority in our lives; those who know God as Father can pray to him with full confidence.

Understanding the Text

Prayer, and especially Jesus’s practice of prayer, is a prominent theme for Luke. He has portrayed Jesus at prayer already in 3:21; 5:16; 6:12; 9:18, 28–29, indicating that this was an important part of his way of life. Those passages record the fact of Jesus’s frequent prayer rather than its content. But in 10:21–22 we have heard Jesus in prayer to his Father, and we have been told of the intimate relationship shared by the Father and the Son. The disciples have become aware of this special relationship expressed in Jesus’s prayers, and they want to share it. Remarkably, without compromising the uniqueness of that relationship, Jesus now encourages them also to address God as Father and to draw on that relationship in what they pray for.

The story of Martha and Mary takes up the theme of the women who followed and provided for Jesus (8:1–3). While it does not refer to prayer to God, Mary’s personal devotion to Jesus perhaps foreshadows what later becomes a central element in Christian prayer and devotion.

Historical and Cultural Background

Set forms of prayer were familiar among Jews at the time of Jesus, both in the synagogue service and in the recitation of the Shema (see on 10:27). An Aramaic synagogue prayer or doxology known as the Qaddish begins with the clause “Exalted and hallowed be his great name” and continues “May he let his kingdom rule . . . speedily and soon.” The prayer that Jesus here teaches his disciples (a longer version of which appears in Matt. 6:9–13) would thus have had a familiar ring, though the Qaddish had no parallel to the petitionary second half of the prayer. There are, however, further parallels between the Lord’s Prayer and the Eighteen Benedictions of the synagogue liturgy.1

Jewish thought had adopted from the Old Testament the idea that God is the Father of his people, but to approach him in prayer simply as “Father” (Aramaic “Abba,” a familiar but respectful form of address) is less clearly evidenced in surviving Jewish records and apparently is a distinctive innovation by Jesus that became a treasured spiritual privilege among the early Christians (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6).

Interpretive Insights

10:38 a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. According to John 11:1, the village was Bethany, just outside Jerusalem, and Jesus was already a friend of the family, known to them as “the Teacher” (John 11:28). Jesus and his disciples regularly depended on the hospitality of friends and well-wishers as they traveled (see Luke 8:1–3). Luke does not name the village. If he knows it was Bethany (near the end point of the journey that began in 9:51 and ends in chap. 19), he has placed this incident here, out of chronological order, for its contribution to the overall portrayal of discipleship.

10:39 Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet, listening. The Twelve were males, but here is a woman who fully fits the pattern of a disciple. Jewish society would not expect a woman to be so privileged, and neither did Martha!

10:40 Lord, don’t you care? This displays the natural frustration of a busy woman who sees her sister “shirking,” and she blames Jesus for encouraging her. Presumably, she has no objection to listening to “the Teacher” in itself; it is a matter of priorities.

10:42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Most English versions (including the earlier NIV) follow those manuscripts that read simply “but only one thing is needed,” a more direct contrast with the “many things” (many chores or many items for the meal?) that Martha was busy with. On the latest NIV reading,[2] however, Jesus apparently asks for a simpler meal (“few things”) rather than the more elaborate hospitality that Martha feels obliged to offer, and then he changes the subject by focusing on the “one thing” (listening to the word of God) that Mary has chosen. On either reading there is a deliberate word play on what is “needed” for the meal and what is spiritually most necessary.

Mary has chosen what is better. Spiritual food takes priority over physical food. Martha’s desire to provide the best hospitality was not wrong in itself, but she had her priorities wrong.

11:1 teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples. Here is one of several incidental indications of a continuing group of followers of John the Baptist, seen as an uneasy parallel to the Jesus movement (cf. 5:33; 7:18–23). John had taught his disciples to fast and pray often (5:33), but we are not told what form those prayers took. Note that the prayer that Jesus teaches is for disciples to use corporately (“Give us . . . forgive us . . . lead us . . .”) rather than in individual devotion.

11:2 When you pray, say. This suggests a set form of words, but Matthew’s equivalent introduction, “This is how you should pray,” may indicate more a pattern of prayer than a set formula. The fact that the wording of the two versions differs indicates that the formulation was not rigid. In practice, Christian devotion has always found a place both for the verbatim repetition of the Lord’s Prayer (in whichever version) and for its use as a template for more extended prayer.

Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. On “Father,” see “Historical and Cultural Background” above. This first part of the prayer (which closely resembles the Qaddish [see above]) focuses on God, before 11:3–4 addresses our needs. The additional third clause in the Matthean version (“Your will be done” [Matt. 6:10]) does not differ significantly from the coming of God’s kingship—that is, his effective rule over human society. This whole first section is, quite simply, a prayer that God be God, and that he be seen and honored as such on earth.

11:3 Give us each day our daily bread. “Daily” represents a Greek word, epiousios (a term apparently coined by the Gospel writers to translate Jesus’s Aramaic), that probably derives from a phrase meaning “for the coming day.” On that basis some have argued that this is a prayer not for everyday sustenance, but for provision for the future (eschatological) “day of the Lord.” But Luke’s very precise phrase “each day” and the tense of the verb, which implies “keep on giving,” make that view unlikely. The believer here recognizes that daily survival depends on God’s gracious provision. We live, under his care, one day at a time (cf. the provision of manna in Exod. 16:4).

11:4 Forgive us . . . for we also forgive. Physical need is balanced by spiritual need, and we are as dependent on our Father for the one as for the other. The parallel between God’s forgiving and ours may suggest that our forgiveness is “earned” by forgiving others, but the rest of Luke’s Gospel (notably in the parable of the lost son [15:11–32]) emphasizes that forgiveness is by grace, not by merit. The point is rather that there is a fundamental insincerity in asking for forgiveness if we refuse also to forgive; the Father’s grace should be mirrored, however inadequately, by his children.

everyone who sins against us. This is literally “everyone indebted to us,” but the use of this metaphor in the second clause can hardly indicate a different sort of “forgiveness” (the verb is the same), since in the Matthean version the debt metaphor is used in both clauses.

lead us not into temptation. “Temptation” and “testing” represent the same word in Greek (see on 4:2), and the latter is perhaps the primary sense here, since God does not tempt anyone (see James 1:13–14). A weaker sense of “lead us not” is possible: “do not let us be tempted” (cf. 22:40, 46), envisaging an experience that, like that of Jesus, is both (negative) temptation and (positive) testing. Disciples, aware of their human weakness, naturally pray to be spared such an ordeal if possible. Luke’s version of the prayer omits the balancing “worst-case scenario,” appealing for rescue when things do get the better of us (cf. Matt. 6:13b).

11:5–8 Suppose you have a friend. This homely parable teaches that it is not a waste of time to ask God for what you need. If even a reluctant neighbor can be prevailed upon to help, how much more so we can count on help from God, who both knows and wants what is best for his people. Compare the similar parable of the persistent widow (18:1–8).

11:9–10 Ask . . . seek . . . knock. This explains the point of the parable. The present imperatives probably indicate repeated asking, seeking, and knocking. We should keep on praying with confidence that God will respond. This is the practical reality of our experience of petitionary prayer; the philosophical puzzle of why we need to ask at all if God already knows and cares is simply not raised.

11:11–13 you fathers . . . know how to give good gifts to your children. Jesus now draws on the opening word of the prayer, “Father,” to encourage our confidence in prayer. Even human fathers, who are, by comparison, “evil,” do good not harm to their children. The snake and scorpion, which might be superficially mistaken for a fish and an egg (the scorpion can roll itself into a protective ball), are symbols of evil (10:19).

give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. Whereas Luke speaks of the Father giving the “Holy Spirit,” Matthew’s version uses the more obvious term “good gifts” (Matt. 7:11). Luke perhaps thinks of the Holy Spirit as the source of all that is good rather than envisaging a specific petition to be “given” the Holy Spirit (an idea that has no parallel in Luke’s Gospel before 24:49, though it might anticipate what he will record in, e.g., Acts 1:4; 2:1–4).

Theological Insights

The story of Martha and Mary is one of the most prominent examples of Luke’s concern to emphasize the role of women among Jesus’s disciples. If 8:1–3 might have suggested that their sole function is to look after the material needs of Jesus and the disciples, Mary represents a less mundane calling; she is a disciple in the fullest sense, and she is a model for men as well as women.

In 11:1–13 the twin themes of prayer and of the fatherhood of God are brought together and are shown to be inseparable. Prayer that is merely a religious routine has missed the point. Prayer arises out of and expresses the confidence of those who know God as Father and therefore can rely on his loving care. It is not a “shopping list” of demands that need to be pressed on a reluctant deity. We persist in prayer not because we need to persuade God but in order to foster that relationship of dependent trust.

Teaching the Text

These two passages share the common theme of devotion to God, demonstrated through discipleship (10:38–42) and prayer (11:1–13), and so may be profitably taught together. They are distinct and important enough individually, however, that most will want to teach them independently.

1. Martha and Mary. Many will sympathize with Martha. So encourage listeners to consider or discuss Jesus’s apparently one-sided response. What does it do to our sense of fairness? Why was Mary’s choice “better”? Does this mean that the many Marthas in the church are second-class disciples? Is it relevant to apply this passage to the question of differing vocations? How do we guard against the twin dangers of mere activism versus being so heavenly minded as to be of no earthly use?

Although the importance of discipleship and the priority and privilege of sitting at Jesus’s feet as a learner are the primary points that ought to be developed in a lesson or sermon, Jesus’s countercultural approach to women is also worth discussing. As throughout the Gospel of Luke, Jesus lifts up and treats as equals those who occupy the lower (“outsider”) positions of society (the poor, the sick, lepers, tax-collectors, sinners, prostitutes, Samaritans, women, children, etc.).

2. Prayer. Every clause of the Lord’s Prayer is a potential basis for teaching. The teacher may use it that way, encouraging listeners to consider what aspects of prayer each clause illustrates. But it is important also to see both the balance of the prayer as a whole and the importance of the focus on God as being prior to the focus on our needs. The first two petitions concern God’s glory and kingdom, not our needs. And the whole thing needs to be set within the theme of God as our Father in heaven, which is illustrated especially in 11:9–13.

Another theme that could be considered and discussed is that of persistence in prayer. If God already knows and cares, what would be lost if we did not go on asking, seeking, and knocking?

Illustrating the Text

Let Jesus work on your heart before you work your heart out for Jesus.

Personal Testimony: Invite a “Martha” or two to share their testimonies of how their service to the Lord became more than just keeping busy or working hard. Have them tell about how they came to a “Mary moment” in which Jesus transformed their heart and freed them from keeping score, comparing to others, and feeling used when serving in church. The key here is to find a volunteer or staff member who is known for excellence and a great attitude. You want a testimony that shows how love absorbed while sitting at Jesus’s feet frees them to scrub dishes joyfully and willingly. The illustration is to show that Mary and Martha need not represent irreconcilable tribes—they can be united within the same heart, as long as the Mary moments come first.

Prayer is not merely about airing a shopping list of needs and desires; it is an expression of childlike trust and gratitude.

Theological Reference: One sixteenth-century confession of the Protestant Reformation (the Heidelberg Catechism, question 116) declares that prayer is actually “the chief part of the gratitude which God requires of us.” What this statement means is that in God’s eyes, prayer is not really a matter of his creatures’ narcissistic begging for selfish desires. The mere act of asking God for anything expresses faith and gratitude that pleases him in and of itself. When we pray, we are acting on a faith that declares that (1) God exists and is listening, (2) he is good, and (3) he can be trusted to answer generously and wisely now as he has in the past. Praying is thanking, then, regardless of the petitions being expressed.

The Lord’s Prayer is not just a rote prayer—it is a template and teaching resource that can expand our heart’s vocabulary and experience of conversation with God.

Theological Resources: Throughout the history of the church, the Lord’s Prayer has been used as a model for praying and a pattern for teaching important aspects of prayer. Make use of it and teach your people to pray the pattern Jesus taught his disciples, not just a rote repetition of the Our Father. This could be in the form of a message series, Sunday school class, or handout. If your theological tradition has a teaching tool to help you flesh out the truth contained in the Lord’s prayer, such as a catechism or classic teaching, this would be a key opportunity to draw on such a resource. One possibility would be to explore this truth using the Heidelberg Catechism’s teachings on the Lord’s Prayer (questions 116–129). If you are not familiar with its breakdown and explanation of the petitions in the Lord’s Prayer, it may be worth your time to check it out.