Reflection – Dr Nathan Leber

Instruments of God in the world

Do you believe in prayer? When someone is facing a challenge, do you tell them that you will “think about” or “pray for” them? So, why are not our prayers answered even when we follow the instructions of Jesus? C.S. Lewis once said we will spend most of eternity thanking God for all the prayers he did not answer. Sometimes we ask for the wrong thing.

Sometimes we receive in another way, and it takes time for this revelation to dawn on us. Maybe we are being taught about humility and acceptance, or, like a mortal parent, our heavenly Father does not give in to everything His impetuous children ask for. Maybe we just need to reflect a little more on what Jesus is saying.

Jesus invites us to ask in his name, to ask, knock and to seek. He is asking us to open ourselves up in an act of community, to reach out for help in a concrete way. Sometimes we need to be part of the solution and active in our prayer. Pope Francis said, “You pray for the hungry. Then you feed them. This is how prayer works.”

In this way, a prayer made ‘through Christ’ includes both our Lord in heaven, but also the ‘body of Christ’ here on earth, i.e., ourselves and our community. When we look towards Heaven for an answer to the pain and injustice in the world and ask God ‘Why don’t You do something?’, listen in the quietness of your soul, “I did! I created you!”

A prayer in Jesus’ name is not an incantation, but an invitation into the covenant of love. In this way, when you ask you will receive, when you seek you will find, and when you knock the door will be open. What awaits you is not necessarily the fulfilment of your prayer as you expected but rather a blessing and the trust that our heart and our lives rests in God’s protection, and thus we can be one in His love, faith, and grace.

Abraham’s haggling for the city of Sodom is made beyond all reason and expectation, and yet it is accepted by God. Secretly we want Abraham to keep going and ask for 5, but the fate of the city was sealed. Sometimes it seems hard in our world to find the figurative 10 good people, but it starts with just one person who has a genuine connection of love and compassion for their community.

Abraham’s request is made for the concern of others, to save the innocent – it is not about him but others. What then can we learn from Abraham and the covenant? Will you answer the prayer of the neighbour who knocks on your door, who, in seeking a loaf to feed his guest, asks you for help? In this way we can play our role in the fulfillment of another’s prayer and become true instruments of our God in this world for others. This is what Jesus taught us – “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

Dr Nathan Leber