Of All the Things To Ask…

Imagine the disciples are sitting around a campfire one night while Jesus is sleeping when Peter starts this conversation:

“We’ve been talking about this for weeks when we have a few minutes and we know Jesus won’t hear us.  Everyone has had a chance to make their case, but tonight we need to agree as a group on one thing so we’re not all pestering Jesus about a bunch of different things.  Think about what we’ve heard that Jesus did or what we’ve seen with our own eyes that Jesus did.”

John starts: “Jesus fought off temptation from the most tempting and evil source of temptation possible.  I’d love to know more about how He did it.  Imagine how strong we would be if we could only know how to best fight off temptation!

Matthew adds:  “Jesus healed a leper and a paralytic and many others.  He even raised someone from the dead!  Wouldn’t it be great to know how He did that?  Wouldn’t it be so powerful in our ministry going forward to know how to do that?”

Thomas jumps in:  “He even forgave people!  It feels like knowing how to do that would change the world like nothing else could.  He also taught with powerful and compelling stories.  Knowing how to teach about Jesus and what He has done and will do like He did would change lives.” 

Andrew then joins in: “But He also fed 5000 people using just a few fish and loaves of bread so knowing how to do that would have to bring God glory.”

Peter tries to regain control.  “Out of all the things we’ve seen Jesus do that changed lives for eternity, what is the one thing we can ask Him to teach us to make us best prepared for what He has called us to do?  What is the one thing we can ask Him to teach us that will help us imitate Him?  What is the one thing we can ask Him to teach us that will ensure results that last far beyond anything we could ever do on our own?

Imagine that Jesus wakes up in that moment and asks what His disciples are talking about.  Then…

…one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray…”. Luke 11:1b