Not of "this generation"

Each of the individual petitions of the Disciples’ Prayer not only recalls but also appears to be set out in (conscious?) contradistinction to the description of the wilderness prototype of “this generation.” The “wilderness generation” was called by a messenger of God (Moses) to be God’s people by following the ways this messenger had proclaimed. Yet it refused to sanctify God’s name and instead profaned it (Num 20:12; 27:14). It did not do God’s will (Psalm 95). It called on God to stop giving them the “bread for the morrow” it received from him, and with which it should have been satisfied (Num. 11:1-6; Ps. 78:17-18). And it put God to the test (Exod. 17:1-9; Deut. 6:16; Ps. 78:40-41; 95:1-11; 106:14).

Why would Jesus make reference to all of this, and why would he frame the petitions of the prayer he gave his disciples in terms of not doing what the biblical prototype of “this generation” does, unless he was trying to give to his disciples something that would help them avoid becoming like them?—The Disciples’ Prayer, page 98