First reading: Genesis 18:20-32
Psalm: Ps 138:1-3,6-8
Epistle: Colossians 2:12-14
Gospel: Luke 11:1-13

For everyone who asks, receives;—¨
and the one who seeks, finds;—¨
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. —¨

Earnest and persistent prayer

Today, St. Luke tells us of Jesus instruction on prayer. Luke’s narrative is different than the one found in Matthew. It is shorter, and written in simpler language. It is also followed by examples of the need for earnest and persistent prayer. Keep on asking, keep on knocking, keep on seeking — and God will provide.

Praying for?

Jesus’ words as recorded by St. Luke describe the simple things we might ask for: bread, fish, an egg. To understand Jesus’ focus on our prayer and God’s provision, both being focused on the simple, most basic things, we need to look at the situation on the ground in Jesus’ day.

The Greek language has two terms for —poor—: penes and ptochos. Penes refers to a person who does manual labor — the working poor. These penetes were people who needed to work in shops or in the fields. They didn’t have time for anything else, for the leisure of the rich gentry, who were free to give their time to politics, education, or other pursuits.

A ptochos, on the other hand, was a person reduced to begging. They were destitute, without farm or family. They were wanderers — outsiders who could only impose on the generosity of a community for a short time before moving on. Communities consisting of the working poor and less than a handful of the gentry couldn’t support them long-term.

In Jesus’ time the gentry – the rich aristocrats made up 1 to 2% of society. The middle class, the tax gatherers, police, scribes, priests, 5 to 8% of society. The bulk of the population, about 75%, were the working poor. Below these, the untouchables, about 15% of society who were ptochos — beggars, cripples, prostitutes, and criminals.

Poor and getting poorer:

Now, in Jesus day the working poor weren’t just people who couldn’t get ahead. Factually, they had no ability to get ahead. We can imagine that the working poor and the beggars would be inclined to pray, and to pray for their most basic needs because they might not have them tomorrow.

For every step forward, the aristocratic class forced the working poor and the beggars two steps backward. They did this through plunder and taxes. There were many kinds of taxes: a head tax, land tax, tax via seizures of goods so that the government could house and feed soldiers and their animals, or to make younger family members impressed laborers, a tolls tax on all produce and manufactured good brought to market, and tithes.

Let’s look at Jonah the fisherman and his sons, the Apostles Peter and Andrew. They paid a fee to fish in the lake, not anywhere, but in a specific area; they paid a tax to the toll collectors just to take their catch to market; when the fish was sold, that too was taxed. On top of all of this, the tax collector came annually to collect the other taxes. Even if they caught a boatload of fish (Luke 5:6-7), after tolls and taxes there would not be much left. The taxation system might take 30 to 40% from the working poor.

Life was at best —subsistence,— and the wolf was always at the door. With this system of heavy taxation, the working poor, the penes, slid back to become the new ptochos. The Roman historian Tacitus noted: —The provinces of Syria and Judea, exhausted by their burdens, were pressing for a diminution of the tribute.—

As the tax burden grew, the tax debts grew. As the penes could not stay one step ahead of that tax debt, the aristocrats created their large estates by the annexing their small plots. The new ptochos were made homeless wanderers, disconnected from family and community because of their debt.

The poor were getting poorer and they knew there was no answer from the aristocrats.

Having something to pray for:

The people well knew that they might not eat tomorrow, that tomorrow there would not be bread, or fish, or eggs. That tomorrow, no neighbor would knock on their door because they wouldn’t have a door to knock on.

They had something to pray for. They needed to know something about the heavenly Father. They needed to be connected to Him, to know He would hear them and answer their prayers. Jesus showed that this was true.

Why, for what, and for whom?

So when we pray, do we have certainty that we have reached someone who will help us in our need? Are we sure we are talking with someone who will provide at least the most basic of needs? Will He stop our slide from the working poor to the begging poor?

Prayer is remarkably powerful, and here is just one example of where we might take Jesus at His word. Surprising that more people don’t do that. We have God, come to earth, giving us the approach we are to use, and the guarantee of what will happen when we do it. Unfortunately, we often fear it will not happen. We think, if I pray for this or that, for healing, for bread, for my uncle or cousin who is in need, to have my sins forgiven, well God might not be listening. If I knock and knock it is unlikely that He will open the door. But He does, and we do have that guarantee. He will give us that chunk of bread, the fish and egg — He will give us our daily bread. And so we do not slide backwards, He will forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

In this place, this parish church, those prayers are answered, and I can attest to the truth of that. I have seen it in my life and in the lives of parishioners as well as those whose prayers come here through your voices.

A guarantee without cost

St. Paul takes this a step further in helping the people of Colossae to understand God’s generosity to we who are poor. He reminds them as he reminds us — we were dead. We have nothing to offer to God. We weren’t even in the position of Abraham who could offer God a place to rest, some curds, milk, meat, and bread. We were completely dead in sin and apart from God — and God, in His remarkable generosity, made us His friends, people who could knock and ask — and who will receive.

And even when you were dead—¨
in transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh,—¨
he brought you to life along with him,
—¨having forgiven us all our transgressions;—¨
obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims,—¨
which was opposed to us,—¨
he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross.

God listening

God is listening and we have His guarantee. Christ has intervened as our sole source of hope and path to the Father who answers our prayers.

The Very Rev. Józef L. Zawistowski in his booklet Polski Kościoł Narodowy Katolicki Jest Swięty [The Polish National Catholic Church is Holy] tells us that our Holy Church is a serious, important, and fundamental religious reform movement calling its members to reconnect with the God who is in the world, the God who listens to us and answers our prayers. That had been all but forgotten when our Church was organized, as it is often forgotten today.

Jesus tells us that we are not apart from God, and that our God is the God that does more than listen to us. He stands at our side, hears us, answers our needs, suffers with us, and together — He with us — we constantly move forward in the creative process of raising ourselves and the world to eternal perfection.

This is God’s guarantee to all of us who knock, seek, and ask. We begin in asking, knocking, and seeking after the simple things — bread, a fish, an egg, and in the end know:

how much more will the Father in heaven
—¨give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.

Our prayer and God’s provision, are still focused on the simple, and really the most basic of all things — our eternal life. In that is God’s answer and our salvation, for in heaven we will all be rich. Amen.