This message was first delivered at Cove United Methodist Church in Coleman Falls, Virginia on July 28, 2013. It is based on the lectionary text Luke 11:1-13.
at
the beginning of the sermon I let the congregation know that although
I had planned to preach about fathers not giving their children
things that are dangerous, but giving good things...while writing the
sermon the Spirit led me in a different direction. And though snakes
and fish and scorpions and eggs would be mentioned in the scripture –
it no longer was the focus.
Luke
11: 1-13: He was praying in a certain place, and after he had
finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to
pray, as John taught his disciples.” 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 indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of
trial.”
And
he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to
him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of
bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set
before him.’And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the
door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I
cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he
will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at
least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever
he needs.
“So
I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will
find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who
asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who
knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if
your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or
if the child asks for an egg, will give 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!”
(This is the word of the Lord...)
Two
boys were sitting on the front steps of the church one afternoon. "I
bet you don't know the Lord's Prayer," one boy challenged his
friend. "I bet I do!" the friend replied. "I bet you a
dollar you don't." "I bet you five dollars I do."
"Okay, let's hear it." "Now I lay me down to sleep. I
pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray
the Lord my soul to take." "All right, here's your five
dollars. I didn't know you knew it."
The
King James Version of today's Gospel Lesson might sound a little more
familiar than the New Revised Standard translation that I just read:
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom
come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day
our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every
one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but
deliver us from evil. Even that is a little different from the prayer
so many of us have recited for years. The familiar “Our Father,
which are in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will
be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily
bread. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass
against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
forever. Amen.”
At
one point in my life I worshiped at a Presbyterian church. I never
could get used to debts and debtors. But has the familiar become so
routine that we don't hear the message anymore?
There
are a lot of positive reasons to memorize prayers, hymns and Bible
verses. When Howard Rutledge's plane was shot down over Vietnam, he
parachuted into a little village, where he was attacked, stripped
naked and imprisoned. For the next seven years, he endured brutal
treatment, sometimes shackled in excruciating positions and left for
days. Later, he wrote a book about his ordeal and gave a powerful
testimony as to the importance of remembered Scripture.
With
the sights, smells, and sounds of death all around him, Rutledge
wanted to know about the part of himself that will never die. In
solitary confinement, there was no minister or Bible for answers to
the spiritual matters of life he had long neglected. Rutledge thought
back to his Sunday School days in Tulsa, Okla., and tried desperately
to recall snatches of Scripture, sermons and hymns of his childhood.
The first three-dozen songs came relatively easy.
One
night during a huge thunderstorm, a bolt of lightning knocked out the
lights. In the dark prison, he laid down to sleep listening to waves
of rain falling. Suddenly, he began humming his 37th song, “Showers
of blessings, Showers of blessings we need! Mercy drops round us are
falling, but for the showers we plead.”
Howard
Rutledge and fellow POW’s, like Harry Jenkins in a nearby cell,
struggled to rediscover their faith. They would often use priceless
seconds of communication to help each other recall Scripture verses
and Bible stories.
Rutledge
wrote, “Everyone knew the Lord’s Prayer and the Twenty-third
Psalm,” but the camp’s favorite verse, the one that prisoners
recalled first and quoted most often, was John 3:16, “For God so
loved the world, that He gave……”
He
described how much time he spent trying to remember what he heard
growing up in Sunday School and was amazed at what he did recall.
Looking back, he realized the importance of memorizing verses from
the Bible.
And
I agree, memorization is a good thing. But I caution you against
letting the familiar become rote. A mechanical recitation is not the
same as praying.
Hear
the word's of the prayer from a couple of different translations:
From the Good News Translation: ‘Father: May your holy name be
honored; may your Kingdom come. Give us day by day the food we need.
Forgive us our sins, for we forgive everyone who does us wrong. And
do not bring us to hard testing.’ From Eugene Peterson's The
Message: Father, Reveal who you are. Set the world right. Keep us
alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and
forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
As
I mentioned in the children's sermon – the prayer can be examined
in three basic parts: Praise and honor to God, a request that God
provide what we need daily, and forgiveness for when we fall short.
Let's
examine those three sections together:
“Our
Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name”
“Father,
may your holy name be honored”
“Father,
reveal who you are”
“Thy
kingdom come”
“May
your kingdom come”
“Set
the world right.”
In
this first section – we recognize the Father is above all. He is in
heaven and is worthy of praise and honor. He alone has the power to
set the world right, to bring his kingdom, when the whole creation is
restored and rid of sin, and when God’s holiness and splendor is
revealed in its totality. Romans chapter 8 speaks of the cosmic need
for His return, for the kingdom to come, and this prayer petitions
God to bring it to pass. The first element of prayer has to do with
the authority of the Father being fully established on the earth, and
for His glory and splendor to be revealed at this time.
The
second section is about asking for what we need:
“Give
us this day our daily bread”
“Give
us day by day the food we need”
“Keep
us alive with three square meals”
This
deals with the area of the disciples’ (and our) physical needs. The
Father is also the provider for His children, and thus the disciples
are taught to beseech Him for their daily needs. I believe that bread
stands not only for “food” in a general sense, but also for all
of the other areas of physical need. The Father is the Sustainer of
life and here He is to be petitioned to meet our physical needs.
And
the third section is about spiritual needs:
“And
forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to
us.”
“Forgive
us our sins, for we forgive everyone who does us wrong.”
“Keep
us forgiven with you and forgiving others.”
This
section is both challenging and comforting. Forgiveness. There is no
sinless perfection in this life. Sure would be nice if we got some
sort of “sin shield” at baptism. But we are human and Jesus knew
that his disciples (then and now) would fall short. I know that I
fall short on a daily basis! So, Jesus taught his disciples to pray
for forgiveness for their sins. Hard to believe, but even the
apostles sinned. We can think of Peter’s denial of our Lord, or
Thomas, who refused to believe until he saw and touched Jesus
himself. As all creation awaits and yearns for the coming of the
Kingdom of God, as man’s body yearns for the provisions of God for
its physical needs, so the spirit of man desperately needs the
forgiveness of sins committed and God’s protection from committing
further sin. In order to enjoy fellowship with God, the barrier of
our sins must be removed by His forgiveness. There is an on-going
need for this, and it is for this that Jesus taught us to pray.
I
believe He was not teaching that we must forgive before the Father
will forgive us (which would mean that forgiveness is conditioned
upon our works), but that the two work handin-hand. We need
forgiveness but we also need to forgive others. Not in order to earn
God's forgiveness – but because the very act of forgiving others is
healing. When you are able to put down the burden then you can walk
away from it. Today's society tells us that forgiveness is hard, that
sometimes it is even impossible. We are encouraged to forgive but not
to forget. And when we hear about people forgiving what we think
would be impossible, we sometimes shake our heads in wonder. In 2006
there was a school shooting in Pennsylvania, a man stormed into a one
room schoolhouse and shot 10 girls before killing himself. Five of
the girls died. People around the world were stunned to hear words of
forgiveness from the Amish community that was affected. It was
difficult for some to understand. But they understood the value of
forgiveness isn't just for the forgiven – it also affects the
forgiver.
A
story from the Zen Buddhist tradition illuminates the point: Two
monks, going to a neighboring monastery, walked side by side in
silence. They arrived at a river they had to cross. That season,
waters were higher than usual. On the bank, a young woman was
hesitating and asked the younger of the two monks for help. He
exclaimed, 'Don't you see that I am a monk, that I took a vow of
chastity?' 'I require nothing from you that could impede your vow,
but simply to help me to cross the river,' replied the young woman
with a little smile.'I...not...I can...do nothing for you,' said the
embarrassed young monk.'It doesn't matter,' said the elderly monk.
'Climb on my back and we will cross together.'Having reached the
other bank, the old monk put down the young woman who, in return,
thanked him with a broad smile. She left their side and both monks
continued their route in silence. Close to the monastery, the young
monk could not stand it anymore and said, 'You shouldn't have carried
that person on your back. It's against our rules.''This young woman
needed help and I put her down on the other bank. You didn't carry
her at all, but she is still on your back,' replied the older monk.
Forgiveness
is putting the burden down.
Then
there is the petition, lead
us not into temptation,
do not bring us to hard testing, or my favorite (from The Message)
“keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.” This, I believe, is
the request that God enable us to deal with sin at its very roots,
rather than waiting for its bearing of fruit. It is not a request
that God “cease and desist” from tempting us, for we are told (in
the book of James) that God does not tempt; instead, it is our
expression of a desire on our part not to be tempted. Thus, the
prayer of the disciple should acknowledge the reality of his sin and
consequent need for forgiveness, but at the same time should seek to
avoid sin altogether by being kept even from solicitation to sin.
And
so through these words that Jesus gave his disciples – we have the
WHAT of prayer. The rest of today's Gospel lesson gives us two more
important principles. The HOW and the WHY. Perseverance and
expectation.
Remember
the guy who needed bread from his neighbor to feed an unexpected
guest? When the neighbor said that he was already in bed and didn't
want to wake his children...Jesus indicated that he should continue
to knock until he got what he needed. Prayer is not a magic wand –
we have to persevere. In the process of praying, (including praising
God) and listening for his direction – we must not be faint of
heart. We have to pray without ceasing.
And
we must pray with the expectation that our Heavenly Father will
provide what we need. Earthly fathers love their children and delight
in giving good gifts to them. Human fathers do not give their
children “bad” things when they have asked for something good.
Put a little differently, earthly fathers do not give their children
gifts which will harm them when they are asked for those things which
will help them. Fish and eggs are both helpful. They strengthen the
physical body. Snakes and scorpions are both harmful to the physical
body. God, as a Heavenly Father, does not give us those things which
will be harmful to us when we have asked for those things which are
beneficial to us.
Too
often, at least in my own experience, I find myself asking God for
snakes and scorpions, rather than for fish and eggs. I may ask for a
snake, but God gives me a fish. I may wish for a scorpion, but God
gives me eggs. If God does not give us evil gifts when we ask for the
good, He does give us good gifts even when we seek those which are
harmful to us. Because God is a good God, a loving Father, He can not
only be expected to answer our petitions, but to do so in a way that
is for our highest good.
I
have been fortunate to have a wonderful earthly father...so I
understand the concept of a loving Heavenly Father. A father who is
worthy of our praise, who can be depended upon for the needs of our
physical bodies and who desires good things for us spiritually. Who
hears our prayers and answers them.
And
now, with the confidence of God's beloved children, let us share
together the familiar Lord's prayer:
No comments:
Post a Comment