Numbers 21:4-9/1 Timothy 2:1-6/St John 16:23-33
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Whatever you ask, says our Lord. Well, then, what do you want? What do you lack that would make you happy? And if you had it, would it make you truly content? Whatever you ask, says our Lord. What do you want?
What we want is often very far removed from what we need. Earthly desires captive our hearts. Our eyes are fixes on carnal things. Our anxious minds, our grumbling mouths reveal our failure to trust the Lord our God to supply those things that are needful for us. So it was with the children of Israel. They were discouraged. They complained. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to de in the wilderness? Our soul loathes this worthless bread! That is, the heavenly manna with which He fed them on their way. They did not trust the Lord God. They did not appreciate the gifts He had given them. What about you? What do you want?
Today we are exhorted to pray. Rogate. It simply means, “ask,” that is, “pray.” So when you hear Jesus say to His disciples, Whatever you ask. He mans, whatever you pray. St Paul says, First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions. And elsewhere, he exhorts Christians to pray at all times and without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17). There is nothing more basic to the Christian faith and life than prayer. Whatever you ask.
But our thoughts and ideas and hearts betray us. They are soiled with sin. How, then, shall we pray?
The Lord Himself must teach us. Prayer in Jesus’ Name begins with God’s speaking and our listening. The Father addresses you and reveals Himself to you in the very Person of the Word, His Son, our Lord, in whom and by whom you see and know the Father. This is not a figure speech. You know God as Father only by way of His Son, in whom you have received adoption as sons by grace. All other descriptions of the Kingdom of God are figures of speech. A vineyard. A field. A flock of sheep. The kingdom of God is like these things. But the Kingdom of God is a Man, the God-Man, Jesus Christ, the only Son of the Father who has made Him known.
And it is the hour of His Cross and Passion in which He speaks plainly to you about the Father. For God loved the world in this way, that He sent His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (Jn 3:16). Or as you heard a few weeks ago: See what kind of love the Father has given us that we should be called children of God and so we are! (1 Jn 3:1). Having given Himself as a ransom for you upon the Cross in order to reveal the manner of love with which the Father loves you, Christ has ascended to the Father as your great High Priest, where He also intercedes for you, on your behalf.
What is more, He has breathed His life-giving Spirit upon you in His Word, read and preached. Prayer begins here, with the inhalation of the Sprit in the Word, which you read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest (to mix our metaphors) and then exhale in prayer, speaking back to God with your petitions, thanksgiving, and intercession.
Therefore prayer is as natural to the new man as breathing. Fundamental. Necessary. Significant. Yet how often have you tried to establish some routine, some discipline of prayer and devotion either on your own or in your family, one to find that is becomes harder and harder to keep up with it? The actual practice of daily prayer does not come so easily to us poor sinners. You still have your flesh hanging about your neck, your sin clinging to your bones until you die, which, together with the devil and the world, do not want you to hallow God’s Name or let His kingdom come.
Thus the old Adam must be suppressed and mortified in order for you to pray. You are no different than the Israelites among whom our Lord sent fiery serpents, so does He send and allow fiery trials, tribulation of various kinds, to befall you. Of which there is no shortage in the world, even as Jesus says. Yet He does this not to punish you and drive you from Him in fear and hatred; rather the opposite. For the Lord your God, your Father in heaven who loves you and disciplines you, desires you to be saved, along with all men. He uses such tribulation in order to strengthen your faith, to turn to Him in prayer, looking to Him alone for all good and every blessing. Take heart. He has overcome the world.
Therefore ask. For the Father in heaven loves you on account of Jesus Christ in whose Name you pray. You have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom you cry, Abba! Father! You are marked with the baptismal Name of the Blessed Holy Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and therefore stand in Christ as a member of the royal priesthood, approaching the throne of grace with all the boldness and confidence of a dear child.
Which is to say, it is okay to ask as children ask: for small things, big things, personal things, seemingly outrageous things. It is good, right, and pleasing to God that you pray that your boyfriend be converted, that your girlfriend say yes, that your sons and daughters find godly spouses, that your children return to their baptismal faith, that your wife control her temper, that your husband help out more, that your kids stop bickering, to pray not only for kings, but that your candidate win. It is okay to pray for such things, precisely because the Father loves you on account of Christ.
Above all, pray that His Kingdom come among you by His Word, through His Spirit, in faithful preaching and teaching. Pray that He bestow His righteousness upon you - the righteousness of Christ - through faith and that such faith produce in your fruits of love and good works. Pray that His will be done, here on earth among men, as it is by the angels in heaven. Pray according to the Ten Commandments, which are the good and gracious will of God for you, your children, and family. For such prayers are pleasing to your Father in heaven, who has promised to hear them.
Take heart i your tribulation, for as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so has the Son of Man been lifted up in His death upon the Cross, which is the answer to all prayers, even before we asked. You may not always get what you want, but you always get what you need.
For laid before you this day is bread for the journey. It is not worthless, but is the very Manna of Life, the Body of Jesus Christ, given for you, together with His Blood poured out for the many for the forgiveness of sins. His Eucharist. His Thanksgiving offered to you, that you may eat and drink, believe and live. You are not alone, but dwell together with the whole Christian Church in heaven and on earth, which has fellowship in Jesus Christ with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, to whom be glory, honor, pray, praise and thanksgiving, now and forever. Amen.
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Whatever you ask, says our Lord. Well, then, what do you want? What do you lack that would make you happy? And if you had it, would it make you truly content? Whatever you ask, says our Lord. What do you want?
What we want is often very far removed from what we need. Earthly desires captive our hearts. Our eyes are fixes on carnal things. Our anxious minds, our grumbling mouths reveal our failure to trust the Lord our God to supply those things that are needful for us. So it was with the children of Israel. They were discouraged. They complained. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to de in the wilderness? Our soul loathes this worthless bread! That is, the heavenly manna with which He fed them on their way. They did not trust the Lord God. They did not appreciate the gifts He had given them. What about you? What do you want?
Today we are exhorted to pray. Rogate. It simply means, “ask,” that is, “pray.” So when you hear Jesus say to His disciples, Whatever you ask. He mans, whatever you pray. St Paul says, First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions. And elsewhere, he exhorts Christians to pray at all times and without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17). There is nothing more basic to the Christian faith and life than prayer. Whatever you ask.
But our thoughts and ideas and hearts betray us. They are soiled with sin. How, then, shall we pray?
The Lord Himself must teach us. Prayer in Jesus’ Name begins with God’s speaking and our listening. The Father addresses you and reveals Himself to you in the very Person of the Word, His Son, our Lord, in whom and by whom you see and know the Father. This is not a figure speech. You know God as Father only by way of His Son, in whom you have received adoption as sons by grace. All other descriptions of the Kingdom of God are figures of speech. A vineyard. A field. A flock of sheep. The kingdom of God is like these things. But the Kingdom of God is a Man, the God-Man, Jesus Christ, the only Son of the Father who has made Him known.
And it is the hour of His Cross and Passion in which He speaks plainly to you about the Father. For God loved the world in this way, that He sent His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (Jn 3:16). Or as you heard a few weeks ago: See what kind of love the Father has given us that we should be called children of God and so we are! (1 Jn 3:1). Having given Himself as a ransom for you upon the Cross in order to reveal the manner of love with which the Father loves you, Christ has ascended to the Father as your great High Priest, where He also intercedes for you, on your behalf.
What is more, He has breathed His life-giving Spirit upon you in His Word, read and preached. Prayer begins here, with the inhalation of the Sprit in the Word, which you read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest (to mix our metaphors) and then exhale in prayer, speaking back to God with your petitions, thanksgiving, and intercession.
Therefore prayer is as natural to the new man as breathing. Fundamental. Necessary. Significant. Yet how often have you tried to establish some routine, some discipline of prayer and devotion either on your own or in your family, one to find that is becomes harder and harder to keep up with it? The actual practice of daily prayer does not come so easily to us poor sinners. You still have your flesh hanging about your neck, your sin clinging to your bones until you die, which, together with the devil and the world, do not want you to hallow God’s Name or let His kingdom come.
Thus the old Adam must be suppressed and mortified in order for you to pray. You are no different than the Israelites among whom our Lord sent fiery serpents, so does He send and allow fiery trials, tribulation of various kinds, to befall you. Of which there is no shortage in the world, even as Jesus says. Yet He does this not to punish you and drive you from Him in fear and hatred; rather the opposite. For the Lord your God, your Father in heaven who loves you and disciplines you, desires you to be saved, along with all men. He uses such tribulation in order to strengthen your faith, to turn to Him in prayer, looking to Him alone for all good and every blessing. Take heart. He has overcome the world.
Therefore ask. For the Father in heaven loves you on account of Jesus Christ in whose Name you pray. You have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom you cry, Abba! Father! You are marked with the baptismal Name of the Blessed Holy Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and therefore stand in Christ as a member of the royal priesthood, approaching the throne of grace with all the boldness and confidence of a dear child.
Which is to say, it is okay to ask as children ask: for small things, big things, personal things, seemingly outrageous things. It is good, right, and pleasing to God that you pray that your boyfriend be converted, that your girlfriend say yes, that your sons and daughters find godly spouses, that your children return to their baptismal faith, that your wife control her temper, that your husband help out more, that your kids stop bickering, to pray not only for kings, but that your candidate win. It is okay to pray for such things, precisely because the Father loves you on account of Christ.
Above all, pray that His Kingdom come among you by His Word, through His Spirit, in faithful preaching and teaching. Pray that He bestow His righteousness upon you - the righteousness of Christ - through faith and that such faith produce in your fruits of love and good works. Pray that His will be done, here on earth among men, as it is by the angels in heaven. Pray according to the Ten Commandments, which are the good and gracious will of God for you, your children, and family. For such prayers are pleasing to your Father in heaven, who has promised to hear them.
Take heart i your tribulation, for as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so has the Son of Man been lifted up in His death upon the Cross, which is the answer to all prayers, even before we asked. You may not always get what you want, but you always get what you need.
For laid before you this day is bread for the journey. It is not worthless, but is the very Manna of Life, the Body of Jesus Christ, given for you, together with His Blood poured out for the many for the forgiveness of sins. His Eucharist. His Thanksgiving offered to you, that you may eat and drink, believe and live. You are not alone, but dwell together with the whole Christian Church in heaven and on earth, which has fellowship in Jesus Christ with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, to whom be glory, honor, pray, praise and thanksgiving, now and forever. Amen.
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
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