Meditations On The Gospel Of Luke For The FamilySample

"MEDITATION 8:The Our Father."

As we advance in our reading of Luke’s Gospel, we discover new traits that define his personal vision of Jesus, and our Lord’s spiritual character and style. Luke is the evangelist who insists, much more than the other three, on the importance that Jesus gives to prayer. Not only does he present Jesus praying in the most important moments of his life: at his baptism (3:21-22); before choosing the Twelve (6:12); before asking the disciples about the people’s and their own opinion of him (9:18); before the Transfiguration (9:28-29); in our text; on the Mount of Olives, before he is arrested and enters into his passion (22:39-46); but he also shows Jesus insisting on the need to pray. A good example of this is in the verses following today’s prayer (11:5-13).

If we compare Luke’s version of the “Our Father” with that of Matthew (6:9-13), we can find some details that reflect two different liturgical contexts, and two communities living in different worlds. The common starting point is the way we address God. Using “our,” not “my” Father, reveals the context. We are not dealing with a private, pious practice, but with a prayer used by a community of believers. As for the word itself, Father (perhaps “Daddy” would be a better translation of the original Aramaic word used by Jesus) reflect the confidence of a child speaking to his or her father, a concept Jesus developed in his preaching.

The different versions about the bread we need (today? each day? tomorrow?) give rise to different interpretations and would also reflect different economic situations. In any case, the stress should be put on the need to trust in God in any circumstance. We must remember that, although those who hunger are blessed (happy), it is because God will satisfy their needs (6:21). Maybe, in Luke’s poor context (we know how often he insists on the reality of poverty), God’s forgiveness of our sins depends on our forgiving, not the sins (spiritual offenses), but the debts (material, monetary, real) others may owe us. In the end, we should be delivered from the temptation of limiting our relationship to God and our brothers to a spiritual dimension without a commitment to our world.

Rev. Fr. Mariano Perrón, Roman Catholic priest, Archdiocese of Madrid, Spain