The disciples saw Jesus praying, and asked him to teach them how to do the same (Luke 11:1). I’ve often pondered on the back story to that verse. What was it about Jesus praying that made them say that?

Throughout their lives the disciples would have heard various rabbis praying in synagogue from week to week. They had probably had the chance to listen to other prayer leaders in the community; maybe their own parents or grandparents as well. Probably some of the prayers they had listened to had been pretty boring, and some of them had been more interesting; and perhaps there had been one or two individuals where listening to them pray was deeply moving.

But apparently there was something different happening when Jesus was praying. Perhaps there was a directness or simplicity to Jesus’ prayers. Perhaps they saw in Jesus’ prayers an intimacy with the Father that they had not encountered anywhere else. They saw and heard that, as Jesus was praying, and they felt the longing in their hearts to have the same kind of prayer life that Jesus had.

And so they asked. John taught his disciples to pray, they said: Jesus, teach us to pray, too. It’s a fine request. We can learn to pray. Many of us have tried it, once or twice, in a moment of crisis; and then the crisis passed, one way or another, and that was that. But this story gives us the insight that the disciples wanted to learn to pray to the Father, the way Jesus did: and so they asked him to teach them. We could ask the same.

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Lord, teach us to pray. We’ve all of us tried, from time to time. We’ve never been much good at it. It’s a little scary, actually. But we want to learn. Give us the readiness and the diligence, so that we can learn from you.

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