Reflection by Rev. Leonard N. Peterson
Nouns and verbs are the playthings of grammarians. You might better call them “tools” for their teaching. The word “bargain” can be both noun and verb. It is also a theme running through our First and Third Reading.
As a noun, “bargain” can be that bright shiny object in the Home Depot, or Macy’s or Amazon.com catalog that suddenly appears with a lower price tag than a former one you saw. “Bargain” as a verb is that clever, if not sometime deceptive type of plea process whereby one person wants a different decision from another person and uses an appealing item of enticement to get it.
In our First Reading from the Book of Genesis, Moses is depicted as the master bargainer with no less a personage than God Himself.
He keeps lowering the number of good men needed to stay the Lord’s hand from destroying Sodom. A patient, lenient God eventually “gives in.”
I hardly believe the ancient author of the book is recommending that method of prayer to God. Rather let it be his intent to underscore the appeal that good people have to the God who made us. They atone, as it were, for the rest of us, who so often squander our use of free will.
The Gospel gives us The Lord’s Prayer, as its formal title implies. The prayer brings forth the idea of “bargain” as both noun and verb. As a noun, we could certainly agree to what a “bargain” this prayer is! It gives us the perfect pattern for all our other prayers, especially private ones. We should then begin with adoration and praise of God and only then add in our petition(s). Do you see the rudeness in jumping right in to asking for what we want from the Lord?
“Bargain” as a verb is implied in the Lord’s Prayer. It comes with our plea to be forgiven. We offer God our promise to forgive those who have “trespassed against us” before we ever ask for our own forgiveness. Humility marks this perfect prayer. It has the right words for any occasion.
Speaking of the right words, we have a comment on that from our American author Mark Twain, the man who gave us Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He once said: “The difference between the right word and the almost-right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.”
God love you and give you His peace.
Rev. Peterson’s Reading & Gospel Summary
Reading I: Genesis 18: 20-32
God is depicted in human like terms, as though He had to investigate Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham intercedes for Sodom by bargaining with the Lord.
Reading II: Colossians 2: 12-14
The Mosaic Law pronounced curses on sinners. But Jesus mounted the cross to bear these curses, so that the blessings of the New Covenant could flow to the world.
The Gospel: Luke 11: 1-13
The “Our Father” pattern Our Lord gives us has us first adoring God and only then petitioning Him. The word “us” throughout makes it a family prayer for the Church. A longer version of the prayer appears in Matthew 6: 9-13.