Was the request one of the disciples made to Jesus. (See Luke 11). A bit of a surprising request, given that these disciples had been praying their whole lives. Since long before they began following this Rabbi.
They were no strangers to prayer.
They were, as best we can tell, good Jewish boys. They began each day with the Shema. They prayed multiple times throughout day. They observed the Sabbath, rich with centuries of passed-down prayers. Up to this point in the story they had already done much praying with their Rabbi, Jesus.
Then one day, after watching Jesus in prayer, one of them just had to ask: “Lord, teach us to pray.” Something was different in the way Jesus prayed. After a lifetime in which praying was as regular as eating a meal or washing one’s hands or waking up in the morning, it suddenly became clear that they were missing something. They were novices in the presence of the master.
It takes a healthy dose of humility and wonder to ask someone how to do something you have been doing your whole life. To ask someone to teach you something you could probably teach others. To ask someone to redefine a word so commonly used as “prayer.”
With something so central to spirituality as prayer, there is always more to learn. A new definition. A different approach. Another practice. There is always someone to help re-imagine it for us.
Many others since Jesus have explored the breadth and depth of prayer. Others who have been gifted into our lives by Rabbi Jesus as models for us.
Who can you ask to teach you how to pray?
