Tag: Luke 11

Forgive

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished,

one of his disciples said to him,

“Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.”

He said to them, “When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread

and forgive us our sins

for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,

and do not subject us to the final test.”

Luke 11:1-13
Give ear unto the words
you once taught us to pray:
Forgive me all my debts, O Lord,
for I cannot repay.

My crimes have justly earned
the anger of your flames,
but listen to the pleas you've heard
for glory of your name!

Forgive me all my debts
and teach me to forgive—
and if, as well, you give me bread,
then I will eat and live.

The breath that fills my lungs;
the blood that in me moves;
your praise in every earthly tongue:
All this I owe to you

but cannot pay a cent,
nor could I ever earn
enough to buy my innocence
or make you a return.

Not if my debtors paid
and filled my hands with coins
could I afford a single day
or reason to rejoice.

Then let me cancel, too,
the trespasses I'm owed,
for all of it is first your due.
Forgive us all, O Lord.
The Lord’s Prayer, ink and watercolor by John Morgan Coaley, 1889. Library of Congress. By Coaley, John Morgan, artist – Library of CongressCatalog: https://lccn.loc.gov/2004662429Image download: https://cdn.loc.gov/service/pnp/ppmsca/23100/23124v.jpgOriginal url: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004662429/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68414975

Knocking

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Suppose one of you has a friend

to whom he goes at midnight and says,

‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,

for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey

and I have nothing to offer him,’

and he says in reply from within,

‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked

and my children and I are already in bed.

I cannot get up to give you anything.’

I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves

because of their friendship,

he will get up to give him whatever he needs

because of his persistence.
“And I tell you, ask and you will receive;

seek and you will find;

knock and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks, receives;

and the one who seeks, finds;

and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

What father  among you would hand his son a snake

when he asks for a fish?

Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?

If you then, who are wicked,

know how to give good gifts to your children,

how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit

to those who ask him?”

Luke 11:5-13
When the knocking sounds at midnight,
and I hate to leave my bed,
may your mercy rouse me this night
when your hungry must be fed.

When I'm asked, let me be given;
when I'm sought, let me be found;
let me open high to heaven 
when the midnight knock shall sound.

For it's you who stand before me
at the doorway of my heart;
it's your voice I hear implore me,
calling me to rise and start.

And when I in turn come knocking
at the door before your throne,
Mercy, send your angels flocking
in the hands that hold me close.

Give me courage in my asking;
give me your own heart's desires,
strength for all with which you task me,
love for all from your heart's fires.

Send upon me, Lord, your Spirit;
fill my hearing and my sight.
When you call me, let me hear it
in the knocking in the night.
William Holman Hunt‘s The Importunate Neighbour (1895) depicts the beginning of the parable. – http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/collection/pub/itemDetail?artworkID=32843, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10103482