Haggling, negotiating and bargaining are very much a part of our culture. Bargaining with God is a favorite tactic of every person, believer and non-believer alike, when faced with an insurmountable problem. In about a month, when classes start for the Fall Semester, we'll see a lot of new faces here at Liturgy, faces which won't reappear until Exam Week - begging for divine intervention.

When we read today's first reading, and the Gospel passage, we are probably inclined to interpret these events as bargaining. Abraham seems to be bargaining with God to avert the destruction of the city where his nephew Lot resided. Jesus tells a parable that sounds like one friend bargaining with another.

Bargaining, negotiation and pleading, however, probably aren't very good ways to understand these passages of the Scriptures. Rather than bargaining for a better deal, these are instances of demands. These are examples of the kind of demands that one party in a covenant relationship can place on the other party.

Bargaining denotes little or no relationship between the bargaining parties. I was intercepted on the way to get a burger this week by a fellow who was trying to get enough money to take the bus to Brandon. I had about half of what he was looking for, and he made it clear to me that he was disappointed with my contribution. He attempted to bargain for more. I was happy to give him what I had, but I'd be just as happy if he stayed in Brandon; there is no real relationship between the two of us.

While bargaining requires no relationship, a covenant presupposes a lifelong relationship. Abraham's conversation with God took place within the lifelong relationship of the covenant into they had entered with one another. The conversation in the Gospel parable presupposed a long friendship between the two men. The kind of prayer that Jesus teaches to his disciples presupposes a life dedicated to serving God.

Within a covenant relationship both parties can make legitimate demands on one another. Jesus advocates that we look at our relationship with God as one in which we can make the kind of demands that are common between covenant parties. These are not legal demands of the sort that is common in our society. Nor are they the illegitimate demands of someone who merely wants to enrich themselves or to avoid some unpleasant outcome or circumstance.

The kind of demands that are legitimate in a covenant relationship are the same kinds of demands that are commonly expressed by children to their parents. Jesus uses the example of family life; he asks, "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?" (Luke 11:11-12)

Jesus advocates prayer to us, prayer in which we ask for the fulfillment of God's will to save us: prayer in which we make a claim on God's time and affection.

The "things" we ask for in prayer are not favors from a stranger or an attempt for an advantage over an adversary. The "things" we ask for in prayer are part of a covenant relationship in which both parties can make demands of the other. God demands faithfulness from us, and we can demand faithfulness from God.