Reading 1
Jon 4:1-11
Jonah was greatly displeasedand became angry that God did not carry out the evilhe threatened against Nineveh.He prayed, “I beseech you, LORD,is not this what I said while I was still in my own country?This is why I fled at first to Tarshish.I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God,slow to anger, rich in clemency, loathe to punish.And now, LORD, please take my life from me;for it is better for me to die than to live.”But the LORD asked, “Have you reason to be angry?”
Jonah then left the city for a place to the east of it,where he built himself a hut and waited under it in the shade,to see what would happen to the city.And when the LORD God provided a gourd plantthat grew up over Jonah’s head,giving shade that relieved him of any discomfort,Jonah was very happy over the plant.But the next morning at dawnGod sent a worm that attacked the plant,so that it withered.And when the sun arose, God sent a burning east wind;and the sun beat upon Jonah’s head till he became faint.Then Jonah asked for death, saying,“I would be better off dead than alive.”
But God said to Jonah,“Have you reason to be angry over the plant?”“I have reason to be angry,” Jonah answered, “angry enough to die.”Then the LORD said,“You are concerned over the plant which cost you no laborand which you did not raise;it came up in one night and in one night it perished.And should I not be concerned over Nineveh, the great city,in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand personswho cannot distinguish their right hand from their left,not to mention the many cattle?”
Gospel
Lk 11:1-4
Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished,one of his disciples said to him,“Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.”He said to them,
“When you pray, say:Father, hallowed be your name,your Kingdom come.Give us each day our daily breadand forgive us our sinsfor we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test.”
Meditation:
Luke 11:1-4
Father! (Luke 11:2)
The disciples ask Jesus how to pray, and the first thing he tells them to say is, “Father.” He points them to the God who is their creator and their leader, to the One who nurtures and watches over them and is in a close relationship with them as his children.
This is our Father. We are his children, born of his own will, raised and cared for by him, chosen by him before the creation of the world. From the very beginning, he destined us to be his children. He chose to be our Father. And like any good Father, he delights in pouring his love upon us.
So who exactly is our Father? He is holy, pure, irresistible, full of vitality, and blameless. He is powerful: He need speak only one word, and things that don’t exist come into being. He is a sovereign ruler with authority and power over a kingdom that will never pass away. He is generous, graciously giving us everything we need for life and holiness. He is forgiving: If he counted our sins against us, none of us could stand. And most of all, he is love.
Now that is a Father to have! Some of us may find it hard to imagine such a father, because our earthly father was nothing like that. He may have hurt you in some way. Maybe he abandoned you, ignored you, or failed to protect you. Or maybe he was never able to show you the love he really did feel for you. To some degree, this is true for all of us. That’s why Jesus began his teaching on prayer with this one word, and that’s why he continued his teaching by telling us what kind of Father our God is.
Do you believe that right now, your Father is waiting for you to call on him? He wants to tell you about what’s on his heart—and he wants you to tell him what’s on your heart. The prayer that Jesus taught is not a formula that invokes God and promises endless happiness. Rather, it is a picture of a relationship that teaches and restores and nurtures. Today, ask Jesus to teach you to pray. Let him give you a fresh understanding of “Father.”
“Jesus, teach me to pray as you prayed. I want to share in the tender, loving relationship that you enjoy with the Father.”
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