Numbers 21:4-9; James 1:22-27; St John 16:23-33
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Whatever you ask of the Father, in My Name, He will give it to you. Whatever you ask. Well. 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, Jesus says. So, what do you want?
If we are honest with ourselves what we want is very often far removed from what we need. And certainly far from what our Lord wants for us. Earthly desires captivate our hearts. Our eyes are fixated on carnal things. Our anxious minds, our grumbling mouths, reveal our failure to fear, love, and trust the Lord our God above all things. To live as faithful children, knowing that He will supply those things that are needful for us.
So it was with the children of Israel. Like you, they were discouraged. They complained. The old complained. The young complained. They all complained. This account of the fiery serpents is the seventh account in Numbers of the grumbling and complaining of the children of Israel. A trip that should have taken them 40 days took 40 years because of all their complaining! Its not as though they lacked any signs and promises of the Lord. He spared their camp of the plagues, their water of blood, their children from the Angel of Death. He led them out of slavery by a pillar of cloud, brought them safely through the Red Sea by the strength of His arm, and defeated their liked foe, Pharaoh and his army, drowning them in the sea. Still, they complained. The flesh always does.
They accused God of being a murderer: Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? They accused Him of being a tyrant: There is no food and no water. They accused Him of holding out on them: We loathe this worthless food. There is it. Its the same as it was back in the Garden with the parents of all humanity. They did not want the food God gave, His provision for the journey. They did not trust His promises. Their hearts are greedy and their prayers have faltered.
What about you? What do you want? How are your worship and prayers?
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 means, whatever you pray. In the alternate Epistle for this Sunday St Paul outlines the four types of prayer: First of all then, I urge that supplications, petitions, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people (1 Tim 2:1). Supplications are asking for ourselves. Petitions are what you do when you prayer the Our Father. Intercessions are prayers on behalf of others. Thanksgivings are exactly that, giving thanks to God for His provision of daily bread for the body and soul.
St James is similar, but phrases it a little differently, Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. To be a “doer of the word” is to pray. Christian character and virtue, behavior that is according to God’s Word and will doesn't come by gimmicks or slogans or by resolute setting of the human will. It comes in prayer. That is how God’s Word is done, how you do God’s Word: You pray. God’s Word on your lips makes you a doer of God’s Word. He speaks, and then you speak His Word back to Him.
But we deceive ourselves. Its not that we don’t pray for the right things, or for frivolous things, or for little, trivial things. We just don’t pray! Maybe its fear of messing up. Or fear of saying the wrong thing. More likely its that our flesh is weak. And we’re too tired, too rushed, or too confused. Confused by Pop Evangelicalism which pervades our thoughts about prayer and our speech. We think pray originates in us. Bubbles up from the heart or the spirit or wherever.
Prayer originates in the death and resurrection of Jesus, who says, In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. He has overcome the world. But you are still in it. You have tribulation, you know this. You also have prayer, of which you are reminded again today.
And the model for Christian prayer is the Garden of Gethsemane. Our Lord asked that the Cup be removed. It wasn’t. Even as the Father would forsake the Son on the Cross in order to be with us, so also He denied the Son’s request in the Garden in order to grant our requests. The Father’s will is that all men repent and be saved. That all the world be reconciled to Him. That all creation be sanctified and returned to Him. The Father loves the Son in the Son’s laying down His life to fulfill His will and in His taking it up again.
But what was finished on the Cross has not yet been completed in time. Not all the elect yet believe and are baptized.
Jesus Christ is the Victor over the world. He has defeated the last enemy, death. He is alive out of the grave to bring us to His Father’s side. Yet tribulation continues while God delays the last judgment and the angels retrain the destructive winds, in order to get all His children to safety.
And you are His child. Never does Scripture call us “adults of God.” Always children. Baptized into Christ. The fullest and most personal, revealed name of God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - has been inscribed upon you. You are clean and forgiven. You are acceptable to God. He makes Himself available to you through that Name in prayer.
For you always pray as a child to her father. Perhaps sometimes you come on bended knee, afraid of His wrath for your sins. Or you address Him as “Almighty Creator,” or even “Judge of the World,” yet even then you come because you have been washed in the blood of the Lamb and made clean. You know that He loves the Son and in the Son He loves you and has bestowed His Spirit upon you.
Do not be discouraged, dear ones. You are surrounded by fiery trials, both without and within. Your weak flesh is constantly lurking you into doubt and despair. The devil would lead you into great shame and vice. To be sure, you are attacked by these things. You are in the world. You have tribulation. But take heart. Your Jesus has overcome the world. Martin Luther said that this is how God makes theologians: through meditation and study of His Word, prayer in Jesus’ Name, and temptation and affliction. Through these your mettle is tested and your spiritual armor is strengthened.
For you who care about the truth and purity of God’s Word read and preached, right doctrine, faithful practiced, and boldly confessed, you are a theologian, a priest of our heavenly Father’s royal priesthood. Thus are you given to pray. To hear God’s Word, hold it fast in a heart made honest and good by that selfsame Word, and then to pray it back to God in all times and without ceasing.
On this side of glory you always pray from the Garden of Gethsemane, that is, from the way of the Red Sea of your baptism, in the wilderness, in the shadow of Mount Hor, Your flesh is always impatient. Take heart, for Christ, who was made the Serpent of your Sin, was raised up on the pole of the Cross that you may see and believe. That you may pray as He has taught you, always as dear children asking your dear Father: for small things, big things, personal things, seemingly outrageous things. Intercede as Moses did for Israel or as Queen Esther entering the throne room of the king to plead for her people. Your Father delights in you.
It is good, right, and salutary that you petition our Father that your fiancé be converted, that you find a pious spouse, that your sons and daughters finely godly spouses, that your children and grandchildren return to their baptismal faith. Its okay to pray that your wife control her temper, that your husband help out more, that your kids stop bickering. Pray not merely for kings, but those elected officials, even if you didn’t vote for them. Pray for your team to win, your car to go fast, your holiday weekend to be restful. It is okay to pray these and all sorts of other 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 you become not a doer of the Word and not a hearer only. 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. Pray the Psalms, for they are both God’s Word to you and your prayer to Him, inspired by the Holy Spirit and prayed by and in Christ. Such prayers are pleasing to your Father in heaven who commanded you to pray, has promised to hear you, and even gives you the very words.
Take heart in your tribulation, dear children of our heavenly Father. 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.
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 and the answer to your prayers offered to you, that you may eat and drink, believe and live.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Whatever you ask of the Father, in My Name, He will give it to you. Whatever you ask. Well. 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, Jesus says. So, what do you want?
If we are honest with ourselves what we want is very often far removed from what we need. And certainly far from what our Lord wants for us. Earthly desires captivate our hearts. Our eyes are fixated on carnal things. Our anxious minds, our grumbling mouths, reveal our failure to fear, love, and trust the Lord our God above all things. To live as faithful children, knowing that He will supply those things that are needful for us.
So it was with the children of Israel. Like you, they were discouraged. They complained. The old complained. The young complained. They all complained. This account of the fiery serpents is the seventh account in Numbers of the grumbling and complaining of the children of Israel. A trip that should have taken them 40 days took 40 years because of all their complaining! Its not as though they lacked any signs and promises of the Lord. He spared their camp of the plagues, their water of blood, their children from the Angel of Death. He led them out of slavery by a pillar of cloud, brought them safely through the Red Sea by the strength of His arm, and defeated their liked foe, Pharaoh and his army, drowning them in the sea. Still, they complained. The flesh always does.
They accused God of being a murderer: Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? They accused Him of being a tyrant: There is no food and no water. They accused Him of holding out on them: We loathe this worthless food. There is it. Its the same as it was back in the Garden with the parents of all humanity. They did not want the food God gave, His provision for the journey. They did not trust His promises. Their hearts are greedy and their prayers have faltered.
What about you? What do you want? How are your worship and prayers?
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 means, whatever you pray. In the alternate Epistle for this Sunday St Paul outlines the four types of prayer: First of all then, I urge that supplications, petitions, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people (1 Tim 2:1). Supplications are asking for ourselves. Petitions are what you do when you prayer the Our Father. Intercessions are prayers on behalf of others. Thanksgivings are exactly that, giving thanks to God for His provision of daily bread for the body and soul.
St James is similar, but phrases it a little differently, Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. To be a “doer of the word” is to pray. Christian character and virtue, behavior that is according to God’s Word and will doesn't come by gimmicks or slogans or by resolute setting of the human will. It comes in prayer. That is how God’s Word is done, how you do God’s Word: You pray. God’s Word on your lips makes you a doer of God’s Word. He speaks, and then you speak His Word back to Him.
But we deceive ourselves. Its not that we don’t pray for the right things, or for frivolous things, or for little, trivial things. We just don’t pray! Maybe its fear of messing up. Or fear of saying the wrong thing. More likely its that our flesh is weak. And we’re too tired, too rushed, or too confused. Confused by Pop Evangelicalism which pervades our thoughts about prayer and our speech. We think pray originates in us. Bubbles up from the heart or the spirit or wherever.
Prayer originates in the death and resurrection of Jesus, who says, In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. He has overcome the world. But you are still in it. You have tribulation, you know this. You also have prayer, of which you are reminded again today.
And the model for Christian prayer is the Garden of Gethsemane. Our Lord asked that the Cup be removed. It wasn’t. Even as the Father would forsake the Son on the Cross in order to be with us, so also He denied the Son’s request in the Garden in order to grant our requests. The Father’s will is that all men repent and be saved. That all the world be reconciled to Him. That all creation be sanctified and returned to Him. The Father loves the Son in the Son’s laying down His life to fulfill His will and in His taking it up again.
But what was finished on the Cross has not yet been completed in time. Not all the elect yet believe and are baptized.
Jesus Christ is the Victor over the world. He has defeated the last enemy, death. He is alive out of the grave to bring us to His Father’s side. Yet tribulation continues while God delays the last judgment and the angels retrain the destructive winds, in order to get all His children to safety.
And you are His child. Never does Scripture call us “adults of God.” Always children. Baptized into Christ. The fullest and most personal, revealed name of God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - has been inscribed upon you. You are clean and forgiven. You are acceptable to God. He makes Himself available to you through that Name in prayer.
For you always pray as a child to her father. Perhaps sometimes you come on bended knee, afraid of His wrath for your sins. Or you address Him as “Almighty Creator,” or even “Judge of the World,” yet even then you come because you have been washed in the blood of the Lamb and made clean. You know that He loves the Son and in the Son He loves you and has bestowed His Spirit upon you.
Do not be discouraged, dear ones. You are surrounded by fiery trials, both without and within. Your weak flesh is constantly lurking you into doubt and despair. The devil would lead you into great shame and vice. To be sure, you are attacked by these things. You are in the world. You have tribulation. But take heart. Your Jesus has overcome the world. Martin Luther said that this is how God makes theologians: through meditation and study of His Word, prayer in Jesus’ Name, and temptation and affliction. Through these your mettle is tested and your spiritual armor is strengthened.
For you who care about the truth and purity of God’s Word read and preached, right doctrine, faithful practiced, and boldly confessed, you are a theologian, a priest of our heavenly Father’s royal priesthood. Thus are you given to pray. To hear God’s Word, hold it fast in a heart made honest and good by that selfsame Word, and then to pray it back to God in all times and without ceasing.
On this side of glory you always pray from the Garden of Gethsemane, that is, from the way of the Red Sea of your baptism, in the wilderness, in the shadow of Mount Hor, Your flesh is always impatient. Take heart, for Christ, who was made the Serpent of your Sin, was raised up on the pole of the Cross that you may see and believe. That you may pray as He has taught you, always as dear children asking your dear Father: for small things, big things, personal things, seemingly outrageous things. Intercede as Moses did for Israel or as Queen Esther entering the throne room of the king to plead for her people. Your Father delights in you.
It is good, right, and salutary that you petition our Father that your fiancé be converted, that you find a pious spouse, that your sons and daughters finely godly spouses, that your children and grandchildren return to their baptismal faith. Its okay to pray that your wife control her temper, that your husband help out more, that your kids stop bickering. Pray not merely for kings, but those elected officials, even if you didn’t vote for them. Pray for your team to win, your car to go fast, your holiday weekend to be restful. It is okay to pray these and all sorts of other 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 you become not a doer of the Word and not a hearer only. 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. Pray the Psalms, for they are both God’s Word to you and your prayer to Him, inspired by the Holy Spirit and prayed by and in Christ. Such prayers are pleasing to your Father in heaven who commanded you to pray, has promised to hear you, and even gives you the very words.
Take heart in your tribulation, dear children of our heavenly Father. 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.
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 and the answer to your prayers offered to you, that you may eat and drink, believe and live.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.
RSS Feed