Chapter Eleven
Lk. 11:1. It came to pass, that, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, one of His disciples said unto Him: Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
The disciple of Christ is zealous for the disciples of John and therefore desires to learn how to pray. The Savior did not reject the desire of the disciples, but teaches them.
Lk. 11:2. He said to them: when you pray, say: Our Father, who art in heaven!
"Our Father," He says, "who art in heaven." Note the power of prayer. It immediately lifts you up on high and, since you call God Father, persuades you in every way not to lose the likeness of the Father, but to strive to become like Him. He did not say "my Father," but "our Father," stirring you to brotherly love and urging you to love all people as brothers in general. By saying "in heaven," He does not confine God to them, but lifts the listener up to the heavens and draws him away from earthly things.
Lk. 11:2. Let Thy name be hallowed;
"Hallowed be Thy name," that is, "may it be glorified," meaning: order our life so that it may be to Thy glory. For just as the name of God is blasphemed because of the wicked, so it is glorified by those who lead a virtuous life.
Lk. 11:2. Let Thy Kingdom come;
The sinner does not pray for the Kingdom of God, for he does not desire its coming on account of the punishments awaiting him there. On the contrary, the righteous man prays that it would come sooner, so that he might be freed from the temptations here and find rest.
Lk. 11:2. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven;
"Thy will be done... as in heaven" — among the Angels, so also among us men "on earth." For the Angels do all things and in all things according to the will of God.
Lk. 11:3. Give us our daily bread each day;
Teach us to ask for "bread" only "daily," that is, useful for our existence and for the sustenance of life, by no means superfluous, but necessary.
Lk. 11:4. And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone indebted to us; and lead us not into temptation,
Not to enter "into temptation" means not to rush toward temptations. For we ought to pray to God not that He send temptation upon us, but that He avert it; and if it befalls us, we must bear it with courage. It should be said that there are two kinds of temptations. Some are voluntary, such as drunkenness, murder, adultery, and other passions; for we fall into these temptations voluntarily. Other temptations are involuntary, to which rulers and the powerful subject us. From voluntary temptations, that is, from the passions, we must flee, pray for deliverance from them, and say "lead us not," that is, do not allow us to fall "into temptation," that is, into voluntary passion.
Lk. 11:4. But deliver us from evil.
For he brings about both involuntary and voluntary temptations. Therefore, when you involuntarily endure a temptation from a person, do not consider that person the cause of your temptation, but the evil one. For he instigates the person to rage against you and act furiously.
Lk. 11:5. And He said to them: Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him: Friend! Lend me three loaves,
Lk. 11:6. for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him;
The Lord, teaching us to pray without laziness, tells a parable and an example. What then does the parable mean? By "midnight" He refers to the last days of life, upon reaching which people begin to sympathize with the good and turn toward God. For He is a friend who loves all and desires the salvation of all (1 Tim. 2:4). Thus, many "at midnight," that is, at the end of life, come to God as a friend and say: "give three loaves," that is, faith in the Trinity; for "a friend has come," that is, the Angel who takes the soul. Moreover, every Angel is a friend, as the Lord also says that there is joy in heaven over the salvation of a person (Luke 15:10).
Lk. 11:7. and he from within will answer and say: Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you.
"Children" resting "on the bed" are people who have converted and thereby become children of the Lord and have been deemed worthy to rest together with Him.
Lk. 11:8. If, I say to you, he will not rise and give to him out of friendship with him, yet because of his persistence, he will rise and give him as much as he asks.
"Importunity" he calls the intense and prolonged prayer with patience.
Understand it also in another way, namely: by "midnight" understand the force and the middle of temptations. For every temptation is a night, and the middle of temptations is, without doubt, midnight. So when someone is in the middle of temptations, he comes to God Who loves us and says: "lend me three loaves," that is, the salvation of body, soul, and spirit. For temptations threaten danger to these three. And who is the "friend" who has come off the road? Without any doubt, it is the Lord, Who tests us in temptations and desires to taste of our salvation. The one who has fallen into temptations, being unable by himself to withstand them and to receive the Lord, has nothing to set before Him.