Ask, Seek, Knock
(based on Matthew 7:7-11,
21:1-9)
Rev Dean Nadasdy tells this story:
“As a boy I prayed for a motorized
Flying Tiger model airplane. This is
before remote control the plane was on the other end of a wire. For several years I prayed for that plane and
did not receive it. Fast forward 20
years, and I am a young pastor. I
mention in a sermon that sometimes we pray, asking our heavenly Father for
something, and the answer is simply, “No.”
“We trust that our Father knows
best, and we move on,” I said. The next
Sunday at the close of worship, our organist went into “Off We Go into the Wild
Blue Yonder,” and our staff walked up the aisle with a much more sophisticated
version of a Flying Tiger model airplane. We went out that afternoon and flew it. It was amazing.
Fast forward another 15 years, and I
am speaking at a conference in Florida. I
share that story. The next day a local
man who heard the story comes forward and says he would like me to have
something. It was a patch, one of
several he had, from the Flying Tiger Squadron of World War II fame. He had flown with the Flying Tigers.”
Two weeks ago, I attended a retreat
for the Executive Committee of Pittsburgh Presbytery up at Camp Crestfield and
the worship leader spoke about the wonders of Disney World. How many of you have been there? The world of Disney that gives children and
adults alike a sense of wonder, excitement and even magic. At every turn there is something more to
discover and to delight in, from the moment you check in to a Disney resort to
the days in each park. What more could
Disney give to those who come seeking refuge from the encounters of our
everyday world?
Oh, but there is more! Every night Disney sets off fireworks for the
simple delight of the guests who have come to spend the day there – at a cost
of $80,000 dollars each night.
Our scripture passage this morning
says, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask
him!” (Matthew 7:11)
In other words, if Disney – who
exists as a business to make money off of those who buy its products – can give
its guests a light show at the end of the day at a considerable cost, just for
the purpose of providing another level of delight, how much more will God give
us?
Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the
Mount that our prayers to God are not cold requests to a distant deity, who
must be coaxed and appeased. Our prayers are voiced in a deep, trusting
relationship like that of a parent and child. We call God, “Father.” Just as we expect good parents to do what is
best for their kids, we expect God to do what is best for us.
Prayer is very much a matter of
asking and receiving, but it is also more. It is seeking over time and finding. We
can be knocking at the door with the same request not for a day, but for years.
Along the way, prayer is the means by
which we discover the Will of God for our lives, that Will which is always
good, pleasing and perfect. It’s what we
expect from a good parent; to have our best interest at heart and for a good
child to wait patiently for the parent to either provide us with what we need
or over time to help us understand why our requests aren’t granted. To perhaps help us understand that those
requests might need to shift to something more practical, helpful or more
useful.
Emily Dickinson wrote hundreds of
poems – only a handful of which were published during her lifetime, and yet she
is known to us as one of the greatest poets/writers of all time. She struggled with the efficacy of prayer in
her poetry. She wondered, in verse, if God
was listening when she prayed. She
wrote:
Prayer is the little implement
Through which men reach
Where presence is denied them.
They fling their speech
By means of it in God’s ear;
If then He hear,
This sums the apparatus
Comprised in prayer.
(Emily Dickinson. Complete Poems, 1924.)
There is an iffy-ness to Emily’s
prayers, a wondering if God listens. In
another poem she shares the disappointment that comes from a long-term prayer
apparently unanswered.
There comes an hour when begging stops,
When the long interceding lips
Perceive their prayer is vain.
“Thou shalt not” is a kinder sword
Than from a disappointing God
“Disciple, call again.”
(Emily Dickinson, Complete Poems, 1924.)
Who has not wondered at times, as we
pray, if God is really listening. Who
has not fatigued in knocking at the same door with the same request only to
find silence on the other side?
However, Christ’s teaching on prayer
carries no such doubts. He is utterly
confident that our heavenly Father hears our prayers and answers us. Even in the midst of his greatest struggles,
he knew that God heard him and that God, his Father, was listening.
This assurance is especially
important for what we might call aspirational prayer. This kind of prayer expresses a deep desire
before God that may take time before it becomes real in our lives. People in recovery understand aspirational
prayer. So do those who face long-term
illness or burdensome grief. In
aspirational prayer we pray again and again and again; perhaps wearing God down
to answer our prayer and so we keep on asking. We keep on seeking. We knock again and again. Afterall, this is our heavenly Father, also. In the very act of asking again and again, in
the very process of taking our aspiration to him, we are confident we are heard
and will be answered – even if, in the end, that answer must be “no”.
Palm Sunday brings with it such a
confidence in aspirational prayer. As
Jesus rides into Jerusalem on his way to the cross, he is the Father’s answer
to his children’s prayers over centuries
for a Messiah and Savior. Some saw it exactly as it was. Others were caught up in a revolt against Rome
and wanted a revolutionary leader. Many,
no doubt, were just at the beginning of a process of aspirational prayer which
would have them finally see Jesus as the promised anointed one. Those who were Jews, though, knew the
prophecies of Isaiah and Zechariah. They
knew the cherished legacy of prayers for the coming of the Messiah and could
not help but wonder.
For us who follow the one on the
donkey we know where he is heading. We see the Passion before him. Once again, we will walk the Way of Sorrows
with him. We will listen to him pray
deep and hard prayers in the Garden. We
will hear his prayerful shouts from the cross. He aspired not to greatness but to service,
not to power but to sacrifice. He came
to fulfill the aspirational shout, “Hosanna!’ by laying down his life to save
us all.
This Son of God has
taught us to pray just as he prayed, as a child seeking an answer from our
heavenly Father. Today, as on the first
Palm Sunday, all of our aspirations find their “yes” in Jesus of Nazareth. So, we continue to ask, to seek and to knock,
aspiring in prayer to know him and to follow where he leads. Amen.
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