Week 3: Jesus The Healer
Matthew 6:5-14, Luke 11:1-13
Have you ever admired someone, wanting to be like them, to learn from them, but they wouldn’t let you? Maybe they didn’t have time for you, or they simply didn’t know you, but learning from them was out of reach? The Savior of the world would have had every reason not to have time to teach His people simple things, yet He lived an interuptable life, and we, those who sin against Him, get to benefit from that. Who is like our God?
In both Matthew 6 and Luke 11, we see Jesus taking the time to teach his disciples how to pray, which we now refer to as “The Lord’s Prayer”. While there isn’t necessarily a formula for a “correct” prayer, Jesus displays His personal way of approaching the Father, and we ought to emulate, for He does nothing by mistake.
Jesus began His prayer in reverence before asking anything; if God in the flesh initiates conversation with the Heavenly Father with honor, so shall we. Notice the order of the things Jesus asks after the first line of the prayer. He asks for the will of the Father to take place, that His Kingdom would come instead of our fleshly desires. And once the posture of the heart is properly oriented to reverence and submission, then Jesus moves on to asking for manna for today, daily provision, and then forgiveness and protection. Nothing more and nothing less. The will of the Father is enough. Our God sustains us completely; relying on Him for all things is the safest place we could be.
It is evident in His prayers that Jesus believes that apart from the Father, He can do nothing (John 5:19, Luke 11:2-3). May we rejoice in our neediness and praise God that we serve a dependable and righteous King. Not only that, but would we look to Him, the author and perfector of our faith, with admiration, for despite our wandering hearts, He keeps His promises to us.
