The text this morning is from the Gospel according to Luke, the 11th chapter:
Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
It’s easy to hear this passage and immediately understand everything that’s going on. After all, haven’t we all grown up with the Lord’s Prayer? Don’t we begin and our days with these words? Isn’t it so familiar to us?
Yet, when something is so familiar, it’s easy to miss all the rest of what is going on in our passage today. We have a tendency to, when something familiar comes around, ignore everything else around to focus on what we know. Haven’t you ever reread a novel you’ve loved, and you notice that you’re reading it faster than you did before? That’s because your brain tends to fill in the gaps as you go, making it easier to skim over the text as it provides what you need to know without even thinking about it.
So, it’s good that we break this down, part by part, so that we can really hear everything Jesus says. So, let us start with Jesus praying. He often goes off, outside the reach of others to pray. It’s less distracting. It’s important to pray, even for the Son of God. If you’re like me, it might seem weird that the Son of God prays to God, since He is God, but Jesus’ prayers show us the importance of prayer. If even He prays, should we not? If He, who is perfect and righteous in every way, still prays to His Father, asking for food, asking for care, asking for the good of others, how much more should we, being evil, as Jesus says, pray for the same to our Father? But, that might be jumping to the end.
Apparently, Jesus’ prayers were so good, so deep, that His disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray. This actually was pretty standard for rabbis to be asked this question. It wasn’t that the people didn’t know how to pray, but, because the rabbi was teaching his disciples about what he knew, each rabbi may have had a different focus. Jesus was no different. His focus regarding prayer is the most clear and exact of any rabbi, for He truly knew what it was to hear a prayer. People had been praying to Him since Adam and Eve; no other rabbi had ever been the recipient of prayer.
Imagine this: God Himself is telling you what He wants to hear. God is telling you what you should be praying for. It’s a simple thing to miss, but Jesus isn’t just saying, “Well, here’s a good one.” He’s telling you: pray this and God will answer. He even gives you the words. This is why the Church has been praying the Lord’s Prayer for 2000 years: it is literally the Word of God given to us to pray. So, we should do it. He’s not telling you we should pray only this, but when we pray, we should pray this. Tell God your fears, your concerns, your needs, even your wants, but pray this.
And what does He say? Father, hallowed be your name. With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father. And God’s name is certainly holy in itself, but we pray in this petition that it may be kept holy among us also. God’s name is kept holy when the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and we, as the children of God, also lead holy lives according to it.
He says, Your kingdom come. The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also. God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.
He says, give us each day our daily bread. God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving. Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as 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.
He says, forgive our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. We pray in this petition that our Father in heaven would not look at our sins, or deny our prayer because of them. We are neither worthy of the things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them, but we ask that He would give them all to us by grace, for we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment. So we too will sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against us.
He says, lead us not into temptation. Now, God tempts no one. We pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Although we are attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally overcome them and win the victory.
If these sound familiar, this is how our dear Dr. Luther taught us in his Small Catechism. And all of this is true, and it’s how we should read our Lord’s Prayer. Now, you may have noticed some missing petitions, but that should not trouble you. This prayer is taught throughout the Gospels, and each teaches us more of this prayer, but Luke is recounting this prayer with a specific emphasis: to teach us to pray. Nothing of the rest of the prayer is less important, but this focus allows us to hone in on the idea of praying itself.
Jesus then goes on to explain why we pray these things. Jesus gives a parable to help us understand. One man wakes up another in the middle of the night to borrow bread. This seems ridiculous and an imposition. After all, to be out of your house in the middle of the night is unsafe, with robbers around. Not only that, most houses at this time had one bed; the whole family would be in it together for warmth and comfort. So, if the dad gets out of bed, he’d wake everyone up. It’s just how it went. But, the guy outside won’t stop knocking, so it’s even worse than just getting up once. Finally, the dad gives in and gives the man outside what he wants just to shut him up.
Jesus says, ask and it will be given; knock, like man outside, and it will be opened. If you ask, it will be given to you. If you seek, you will find it. If you knock, it will be opened. Is Jesus saying that whatever you ask for, a new car, pure health, joy, happiness, stuff, if you ask for it, it will be given? Nope. He’s saying it in light of what He just taught. Ask for God’s name to be hallowed, and it will be, even among you. Ask that His kingdom come, and it will come. Ask for your daily bread, and it will be given. Ask for forgiveness, and it will be granted. Ask to be lead away from temptation, and you will. Knock on the doors of heaven with your prayers, and heaven itself shall be open to you.
After all, the dad gave the man outside what he wanted to shut him up and send him away. If your Father in heaven loves you, how much greater will He give you? You don’t bother Him. You’re not annoying Him. He loves you. He wouldn’t give you a serpent when you need a fish. He wouldn’t give you a scorpion if you ask for an egg. You know what it is like to give to and take care of your families, the people you love. If you won’t do that to them, do you think your Father would give them to you?
No, you see, the Father loves you and desires to give you every good thing. And the reason for that is Jesus. Jesus teaches us to pray this way, because this is what He wants to give you, because this is what He promised to give you through His life, death, and resurrection. These are the things He has won. Through His death, He satisfied the wrath of God, and has won for you all good things. It may seem a little convoluted, but the reason God loves you and wants to give you things, even the reason He created this entire world, is because He can through the death of Christ.
God should hate us. We’re evil. We’re sinners. We’ve fallen away from Him and even treat those things He’s given us with contempt and disregard. Yet, He still gives us all that we need. Why? Because Jesus died for us. He created us because Jesus would die for us. He sustains us because Jesus did die for us. And He continues to bless us, even until our cup runs over, because Jesus died for us. Everything He does for us is in light of the fact that the Son of God would come and take our place under the wrath of God. And Jesus, having taken all the wrath of God, leaves none for us. Now there is only the love of God toward us and for us.
Your heavenly Father loves you, and, to show that love, gives of Himself, through the person and work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit pleads with God on our behalf to give us air, food, shelter, love, comfort, forgiveness, life, salvation. He pleads for us even when we do not or cannot. And He teaches us how to pray to the Father. Even as we pray, we are taught to pray. Jesus teaches us the words, the Spirit has taught us to see how those words are fulfilled.
Everything we have comes from God, thus all things are good things. The suffering, I know, doesn’t seem so good, but it is from God, and it must, then, be for our good. Yet, still, even as we suffer, we have life and breath, and God has given us these. And when the day comes that we no longer have breath, no longer have life, we find we will need them no more, for the resurrection of Christ comes to us and we are welcomed into eternal life. God takes care of us, and gives us good things, even through our death.
When Jesus teaches us to pray, it’s all in light of the disposition of God toward us. If annoying and evil people re given what they want because of their annoying attitude or out of fear, how much more will God, who looks at you with nothing but love in His heart toward you, give you what you want? And what should we want? What God has promised. We should want what we need. We want God. We want our daily bread until we need it no more. We want forgiveness. We want to forgive. We want to be safe from temptation to sin. We want to be secure. And guess what? God has promised those things to you out of love, and has shown you He will give those things to you out of the greatest love He can give. He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for you, to earn for you the love of God, that you may be taken care of now and through all eternity. So you shall. In Jesus’ name.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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