Sunday, July 24, 2022

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 12C)

July 24, 2022

Text: Luke 11:1-13

            This morning our Lord teaches us to pray.  He bids us ask, seek, knock, and He promises that it will be given to us, we will find, and the door will be opened to us (Luke 11:9-10).  Why don’t we believe it?  Why are we so reluctant to pray?  Luther famously said he had so much to do that he had to spend at least the first three hours of the day in prayer.  We think the opposite, when we have so much to do, the last thing we need is all this prayer business.  But how do you expect to accomplish anything without God’s help?  And what about when you, or someone you know and love, has a need?  What about times of suffering and cross?  Never mind thanksgiving and praise for all that you’ve been given!  Here the Lord actually tells you that God Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth and all that is, wants to hear your prayers.  He has His ear open to you.  Ask.  Seek.  Knock.  And He will answer.  …But you’re right, you’re probably too busy for all of that!

            Jesus even gives us the words to say.  Now, as an aside, we should say here, there are two versions of the Lord’s Prayer recorded in Holy Scripture, the one here in Luke 11, and the version we use liturgically and in our daily piety from Matthew 6.  The versions are slightly different, but don’t let that bother you.  Our Lord undoubtedly taught this prayer on more than one occasion, with some variation, and there were probably other times He modeled this prayer for His disciples that are not recorded in the Gospels, perhaps with other variations.  The fuller Matthean version came to be standardized in the Church’s liturgy.  But there is something to the terseness of Luke’s version that teaches us that, even as we pray the whole prayer in our liturgical and habitual prayer times, we may also pray the petitions individually as circumstances demand. 

            Luke’s version simply begins, “Father” (Luke 11:2; ESV)!  Jesus bids us call God Father, and it's much as a child calls out to his or her earthly father in a moment of distress.  Father!”  And so we may call on His Name whenever we are troubled (Ps. 50:15).  Now, we call Him Father not just because He created us.  He did, it is true.  But He also created dogs and trees, and they don’t have the Father/child relationship with Him.  We call Him Father because we are in Jesus.  We are baptized into Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  The Lord’s Prayer is the prayer of the Baptized.

            We are God’s children.  He has adopted us as His own in Holy Baptism.  And now He wants to hear from us.  Just like, kids, your parents want to hear from you when you’re away on a trip, or when you move away for college, or a job… or even while you’re with them at home.  Your parents want you to talk to them.  So God wants us to talk to Him.  He commands us to pray.  That is the Law, and it is a Second Commandment issue.  We should call on God’s Name.  It is as much a misuse of God’s Name NOT to use it, as it is to use it improperly.  But here He tenderly invites us.  And that is Gospel.  He invites us to call upon Him, with boldness and confidence, as dear children ask their dear father.  And He promises to hear and answer.  Right?  That is what Jesus says.  It will be given.  You will find.  It will be opened.  Now, maybe not in the way or time you prescribe, it is true.  But that is because your Father knows the right way, and the right time, and you don’t.  He knows the ways and the times that work together for your good, and for your salvation.  And you will see, in the end, if not already in this life, that His way and time is always best.  He always does all things well.  You can always trust Him on this. 

            And then the petitions.  Now, buckle up, because here is a lightening fast catechism instruction on the whole Lord’s Prayer.  This morning, we’ll just think through Luke’s version.  We ask that His Name be hallowed, that is, that we call upon it rightly in prayer and praise, teach God’s Word in its truth and purity, and lead holy lives according to His Word.  So here we are praying for our whole Christian life, and for the life of the Church.  Then, “Your kingdom come” (v. 2).  That is, that God would give us His Holy Spirit (ah, there’s a promise about that in our text, isn’t there?!), that we be kept in our Lord’s Word and faith, that many more be brought into the Church, and that Jesus come back soon.  Give us each day our daily bread” (v. 3).  Here we consider the poor breadbasket, as Luther says.  We ask that God would provide for all the needs of this body and life, “food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.”[1]  And “forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us” (v. 4).  The idea here is not that God should follow our example and forgive as we so excellently model to Him.  Nor is it that we earn God’s forgiveness by forgiving others.  The point is, we need God’s forgiveness, because we are neither worthy of the things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them.  We ask that He give them all to us by grace, and that is just what He does!  And if that is the case, that we have been forgiven all this great, unimaginable, unfathomable debt by God, by grace, for Jesus’ sake, on account of His death on the cross for our sins, we certainly will turn and forgive the debt of sin our neighbor owes us.  That is the point of the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant, right?  So it is a declaration, right here in the prayer, that we hereby, at this moment, by virtue of this petition, forgive the sins of any and all who have sinned against us.  And it is no accident that we pray it in Church at the very point in the liturgy where we are about to go to the Lord’s Supper together.  Because the point is, now we can enjoy a true Holy Communion.  There is nothing dividing us anymore, because all is forgiven.  No sin separates us, from God, or from one another.  It is all atoned for by Jesus, and forgiven in Jesus.  And finally, "lead us not into temptation" (v. 4).  Father, don’t let the devil, the world, or our own sinful nature deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, or other great shame and vice.  Don’t let us fall from the faith.  Keep us steadfast until we die.  Bring us to heaven, and raise us from the dead.  Keep us here in Your House, and in Your Family, dear Father, in spite of every attack from our three main enemies.

            And so you see how the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer (especially when we add the other two from Matthew, “Thy will be done” and “Deliver us from evil”), cover every need we could possibly have in this life, and on into eternity.  This is why this is the prayer for all occasions.  When you don’t know what to pray, pray this.  These are our Lord’s own Words.  They are the Word’s our Father loves to hear.  And because they are the Words of our Lord, this prayer has the added benefit that it is a Means of Grace.  It delivers the goods.  Prayer in itself is not a Means of Grace, but the Lord’s Prayer is, because these are Jesus’ Words, the very Word of God.  And the Word of God does what it says.    

            Now, sometimes we are afraid to pray.  Maybe it is because we convince ourselves that the Lord really doesn’t want to hear from us.  In that case, we should read the gracious promise and invitation in our Holy Gospel once again, and we should take our cue from the impudent friend in Jesus’ example.  “Impudent” means “offensively bold,” like the man who is not afraid to pound on his neighbor’s door in the middle of the night and ask for bread to feed his unexpected guest.  Or, like the child who is not afraid to ask her father for anything, at any time, boldly and confidently, sometimes rather impudently.  Especially when there is a crisis or a need.  So we may be impudent with our heavenly Father. 

            See, earthly fathers are imperfect, and they always fall far short of the ideal, but even in our confused culture, we still understand the image.  If even earthly fathers know how to give good gifts to their children, and to not give wicked and harmful gifts, how much more will your heavenly Father give…  Well, we expect Jesus to say “good gifts” to us, don’t we?  But instead, He says, “how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (v. 13).  As it happens, just as the Lord’s Prayer is the prayer for all occasions, so the Holy Spirit is the answer for all occasions.  In every crisis, and in every cross, what we need is the Spirit.  The Spirit is the answer to all the petitions.  Because the Spirit hallows God’s Name among us in the preaching of His Word, so that we hear it and believe it, call upon God on the basis of that Word, and lead godly lives according to it.  The Spirit brings the Kingdom of God by means of that Word.  The Spirit leads us to recognize God’s love and care for us, as He provides each day for all that we need for this body and life.  The Spirit daily and richly forgives all our sins and the sins of all believers, and gives us to forgive others.  And the Spirit keeps us through all temptation and evil.  When you pray the Lord’s Prayer, you are praying for the Spirit.  And to that prayer, God’s answer is always, “Yes!”

            When you ask these things, God will always give them to you.  When you seek these things, you will always find them.  When you knock at this door, the very Kingdom will be opened to you.  You know that it is true.  Because of Christ.  If God did that for you, gave His own Son into the death of the cross for you, you know He will hear and answer you when you cry to Him.  So, pray.  You are not too busy.  You need God’s help.  And here He gives it.  Do not be afraid.  Trust the promises.  Ask.  Your Father will work everything together for your good.  Just say the Words.  Repeat after Jesus.  Here your Lord teaches you to pray.  He opens your lips, and your mouth declares His praise (Ps. 51:15).  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.           



[1] Catechism quotes from Luther’s Small Catechism (St. Louis: Concordia, 1986). 


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