“Two Parables About Prayer”
Luke 11:5-13

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost—July 24, 2016

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Today’s Gospel Reading begins with Jesus’ disciples asking him, “Lord, teach us to pray.”  Jesus responds by teaching them what has become the most well-known, beloved, and certainly the most frequently recited prayer in history: “Our Father, who art in heaven . . .”  Many of us have learned and known and recited this prayer since childhood.  In “Reader’s Digest” a few years ago, a women wrote that her small son who was just learning the Lord’s Prayer amusingly recited the last petition with a 21st century twist: “Deliver us from E-MAIL.”

The opening words of the Lord’s Prayer announce the relationship which God has established between us and himself, the relationship that makes it even possible for us to come to him in prayer: “Our FATHER.”  Because of our sin, ALL of us had lost and forfeited the right to be children of God, and with it the right to come to him in prayer. 

But, God’s own Son himself earned for us the right to be God’s children once again, and with it the privilege of calling upon God in prayer as, “Our Father, who art in heaven.”  God’s Son, Jesus Christ, earned this right and privilege for you by sacrificing himself as a ransom to pay for your sins.  As Paul says in Romans and Galatians, “He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. . .  You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”

That is why we pray in the name of Jesus.  For, it is through Jesus and his sacrifice for our salvation that we have the right and privilege to call upon God in prayer, to call upon God as “Our Father.”  As Paul says in Romans, “Through him we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.”

Included in today’s Gospel Reading, immediately after the Lord’s Prayer, are “Two Parables About Prayer” which Jesus tells: “The Friend at Midnight” and “The Father Giving Good Gifts.”  These two parables impress upon us important truths about prayer that will inspire and direct our prayer life.

The point of the first parable, “The Friend at Midnight,” is very simple: be persistent in prayer.  “Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.’  Then the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’  I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.”

This parable corrects the notion we might have that it is not necessary or maybe even not proper to repeatedly ask God for the same things.  Surely God is not forgetful?  Why should I have to repeat my prayers to him from day to day?  And maybe repeating our prayers even shows a lack of trust and faith in God?

It reminds me of marriage counseling situations in which I have asked, “When was the last time that you actually TOLD your wife that you love her?” or “When was the last time that you actually TOLD your husband that you love him?”  Although it is men who usually get the “bad rap” in this regard, I have had both men and women respond, “She knows how I feel.  I don’t have to tell her,” or “He knows how I feel.  I don’t have to tell him.”

In the same way, we might think, “God knows what I want.  I don’t have to tell him.”  But, friends, if you do not actually and sincerely TELL your spouse that you love her or him, your relationship will break down, and your love will grow cold.  We humans have a need to hear those words “I love you,” and we also have a need to SAY those words, in order to keep our relationship alive.

Now, unlike your spouse, God of course IS omniscient, he really DOES know what you want and need, even before you ask him.  Nevertheless, he tells us, “Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests”; “Continue steadfastly in prayer”; “Devote yourselves to prayer”; “Pray without ceasing.”

And that is the point of the parable of “The Friend at Midnight”: be persistent in prayer.  Not because God has a need to repeatedly hear your prayers, but because God knows that you have a need to repeatedly SAY such prayers.  You have a need to repeatedly SAY such prayers in order to strengthen you in your faith, to remind you of your utter dependence upon God, and to keep open the lines of communication between you and your heavenly Father. 

So, don’t take your relationship with your spouse for granted, and don’t take your relationship with your heavenly Father for granted either.  Jesus puts it this way: “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”  Be persistent in prayer.

Jesus then continues with another parable about prayer, the parable of “The Father Giving Good Gifts.”  “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?  Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?  If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

The point of this parable is also very simple: In answer to our prayers our heavenly Father will always give what is best for us.  Sometimes we wonder why God has not answered our prayers.  In fact, God does indeed ANSWER every prayer.  But, he may answer in a way different from what we ask or expect.  His answer may be to give us something other than what we ask for, or his answer may even be to deny us what we ask for.  But, Jesus points out in this parable that just as an earthly father will not give what is harmful to his child, how much more should we trust our heavenly Father to give us what is best for us.

It reminds me of when our son was a toddler, and the one thing he wanted most in the world was to play with the knives in our knife drawer.  As a loving father, I could not give him what he wanted so much.  In the same way, we sometimes ask our heavenly Father for things that are not in our best interest, that could even be harmful to us, although we don’t realize it.  But, our loving heavenly Father has promised to give us good gifts, and to work all things together for our good.  And, that is why we pray, as Jesus himself did, “Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.”

It is also important to understand that there are some prayers which God has NOT promised to answer:

God has NOT promised to answer prayers which are not offered through the one mediator between God and men, Jesus Christ.  As Jesus declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Prayers offered without faith in Jesus are like trying to make a phone call on a landline phone that isn’t plugged in.  In the same way, prayers without faith in Jesus don’t go anywhere.

And God has NOT promised to answer prayers that are not offered with TRUSTING faith.  There’s the story of a drought-stricken Texas town where the local minister was asked by the town leaders to have a special prayer meeting to petition the Almighty for rain.  He agreed, and one Sunday evening everyone in town packed the church.  The minister came out, looked over the crowd, and announced, “Folks, let’s all just go home.  No sense prayin’ for rain today.  Not one of you brought an umbrella!”

James says the same thing this way: “But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.  That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord.”

God has also NOT promised to answer prayers for foolish, harmful or sinful things.  As John says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything ACCORDING TO HIS WILL, he hears us.”

Finally, God has NOT promised to answer prayers that dictate to him the way he should help, or the timing of his help.  Instead, the Psalm tells us we must, “Rest in the LORD, wait patiently for him, and he shall give you your heart’s desires.  Commit your way unto him and trust in him.”

Paul says in Philippians, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”  In the Parable of “The Friend at Midnight,” Jesus urges us to be persistent in prayer.  In the Parable of “The Father Giving Good Gifts,” Jesus assures us that in answer to our prayers our heavenly Father will always give what is best for us.