C, The Seventh Sunday after Epiphany - Luke 6:16:35–38a "Jesus on Judgement"

Luke 6:35–38a (ESV) But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you.”

Here at the centre of Jesus’ word on loving one’s neighbour is a succinct statement, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you.”

This directive by Jesus is for one not to judge and condemn and therefore one will not be judged or condemned.  

What happens when we are judged?  It all depends on the judgement. 

When we’re wrongly judged positively, when we’re guilty, we tend to keep our mouths shut agreeing with the judgement.  When someone says, “You’re a good bloke or a good lady.” Usually, one doesn’t cause a stink about being wronged.  Rather one quietly breathes a sigh of relief thinking,  “Gosh, I’m glad they didn’t see my true colours!”   

But when judge negatively, rather than being quiet, the heckles go up, and we voice a protest, despite being innocent or guilty of the allegation.

But as we’ve heard, Jesus encompasses his words on judgement and condemnation with mercy and forgiveness.  However, to be merciful and to be forgiving, one is required to make a judgement.

What is going on here? 

Today in the readings we hear about Joseph being revealed to his brothers after they had sold him into slavery and deceived their father into believing he was dead.  

Joseph was the least amongst his brothers, but highly exalted by Jacob his father.  The judgement made by his brothers; we would all agree was horrendous to say the least.  Yet when Joseph became second to pharaoh, although it was testing on his brothers, his judgement was ultimately encapsulated with mercy and forgiveness.

This is Joseph’s judgement: “And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.” (Genesis 45:5, 7-8 ESV)

So, it seems there is judgement and then there is judgement.  Jesus says to a crowd at the temple, “If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” (John 7:23–24 ESV)

So how do you and I judge with right judgement?  How does one make just judgements, but at the same time, are made with infused mercy and forgiveness? 

Last week we heard Jesus speak blessings and woes to the people on the plain.  The Gospel reading today is a continuation of Jesus’ sermon on the plain.  It’s quite similar to the sermon on the mount recorded in Matthew’s Gospel.  In it, Jesus’ parallels being merciful with your enemies with being perfect or whole saying, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48 ESV) This is a repetition of what God said through Moses, “For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:44a ESV)

Our judgement is called to be in accord with our Heavenly Father’s judgement.  His judgement is complete, perfect, holy, and impartial.  So, is Jesus setting an impossible task for us?

Our human brain is made up of two halves.  Both halves control the other half. The right half generally works on feelings, creativity, and intuition.  The left works is rational, logical, analytical, and is mathematical and factual.  However, the frontal lobe which is on both side of the brain is the largest part of the brain and it makes judgements both rational and emotional. 

We know for certain when Jesus says, “to not judge”, he’s not calling us to have a frontal lobotomy.  Judgement sometimes requires us to make rational decisions based on logical and factual information.  But then sometimes judgements need to be emotive, based on the intuitive and creative part of the mind.     

It seems we are still in a judgement jam!   

Paul makes a clear judgement about the resurrection to the folk in Corinth.  He works on both half of the hearer’s brain, emotively calling one who asks, “what kind of a body is raised”, as a “fool”, as one who is curved in on their own emotions!  But then he works on the other half of the brain,  the logical half, by painting the picture in the mind of the hearer about the reality of a seed which dies to produce life.  Beginning as a germ inside the husk or body, planted in the soil, just as people are buried in the grave.

But it’s what he says next regarding the resurrection, from where we can glean an understanding on how one might love their enemies, and make merciful, impartial, and just judgements, in the sight our Father in heaven.

He says about the body, “It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.” (1 Corinthians 15:43–46 ESV)

Rather than dissecting the brain from left and right, or lobotomising the frontal lobe, Paul points to the natural and the spiritual.  Paul is speaking of the natural as the flesh or human spirit as opposed to those who have the mind of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.  This is a key theme Paul picks up back at the start of his letter to the Corinthians.

He says, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:14–16 ESV)

Judgement with right judgement comes as a result of us being judged at the cross and in our baptism as guilty natural people.  However, this judgement is executed upon us as mercy, forgiveness, and resurrection from death, to be God’s spiritual people.

By our appearances we still appear as enemies of God, when we sin.  Therefore, our judgement or condemnation takes into consideration the tension of our acquittal and freedom, despite still being natural people this side of the resurrection.  You and I are one hundred percent natural people, created from dust with the breath of God, but returning to dust as a result of our corruption. 

Yet, what was begun at the cross and is transmitted to us in Holy Baptism continues in those who make right judgements of God, themselves, their neighbours, and their enemies, judging the sin with the goal of releasing the sinner.  God is freeing you through the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

James tells us, “So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2:12–13 ESV)

Therefore, those who receive the law of liberty or freedom are also one hundred percent God’s spiritual people.  God’s spiritual people judge with the intention to forgive and show mercy.

Because God the Father, Son, and Spirit are holy, we are called to be holy.  Because God is perfect, we are called to be perfect.  Because God is merciful, we are called to be merciful.

The law of liberty is such that you can judge with a right judgement.  As spiritual people God promises you’re covered by Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit, to be holy, because God is holy.  You’re continually perfected in your suffering, because Christ was shown to be perfected in his impartial suffering for all.  And you and I have the freedom to be merciful and forgiving, because our Heavenly Father is merciful and forgiving.  Amen. 

B, Maundy Thursday - Exodus12:12-13, John 13:14–15, 34–35, 1 Corinthians 11:28-32 "Faith Judgement & Feet"

The feet of God walked through Egypt in Judgement.  It was to be the tenth time God would plague Pharoah and those with whom he took counsel.  This was a battle between God the Father and Ra, the sun god of Egypt, played out through their spokesmen Moses and Pharoah.

Each plague was an increase in demonstration of God’s power over Ra, in creation.  A sign not only for Pharoah, but a sign for all who witnessed the event, both Egyptian, Israelite and all who lived in the land.   

From undrinkable water in the Nile River, infestations of frogs, bugs, then flies, dead Egyptian livestock, then festering painful boils.  Devastating hail striking down man and beast, together with the crops of those who remained in their fields.  What was left in Egypt was then attacked by clouds of swarming locusts, inside and outside their homes.   Then darkness covered the land for three days, before the tenth and final plague, death of all first born.

The descendants of Abraham were called to faith in what they were witnessing.  Years after Abraham’s faithful listening was credited to him as righteousness, through faith, Moses having the opportunity to dwell in the spoils of Pharoah’s court, chose God and hardship rather than the pleasure of his position in Egypt. 

In Hebrews eleven we hear, “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,  choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.  He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.  By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.  By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.”  (Hebrews 11:24–28 ESV)

These were days of faith.  The Law had not yet been given at Sinai.  Moses and Aaron were called to act in faith before Pharoah.  They announced what was to happen before God followed through with what he promised.  Pharoah and his help were called to believe too, but their hearts were hardened in unbelief, faithlessness!

These days of faith were told to be taught to future generations.  Not only were the plagues a display of almighty power to the Egyptian enemy, but they were signs to the Israelites, and a sign of their faith towards God, as they remembered the destroyer who passed through Egypt and gave them freedom at the first Passover.

For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.  The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are.  And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.  (Exodus 12:12–13 ESV) 

Notice firstly, the Israelites would see the blood on doorways as a sign to them God had passed over them without death passing through their home.  Then secondly, what one logically might think should be first, God would see the blood posted in faith and faithfully pass over.

The Israelites were called to see first the blood on their houses, as a testimony to almighty God’s saving power.  Yet, as almighty as God is, he was discerning which houses had the blood of the lamb on the threshold of each dwelling.  Like tiptoeing through the tulips, he preserved the people who had blood on the doorposts, and those who didn’t he trod underfoot, like a person playing hopscotch from snail to snail up a damp footpath in the dark.  Israel saw this, after the fact, and was called to faith and to teach it.

The judgement God promised, proved to be faithful to the Israelites, but also true to his word for those who were faithless, or faithful to ways that were against his word of promise.

Prior to Jesus’ Passover when he becomes the Lamb of God, instituting a new covenant of God’s faithfulness, we find Jesus washing the disciple’s feet. 

Jesus says, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.  For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:14–15, 34–35 ESV) 

Here the Son of God, does not pass over his disciples, but serves them and washes their feet.  Unlike God the Father, who passes over Israel to crush Egypt underfoot, Jesus does the opposite.  In faith he cleanses the enemy from within, to save!  Whereas God the Father cleanses the enemy, from the Israelites, so they are without.

The disciples receive the washing as a sign from Jesus.  With full knowledge of what was to become of him he washes the feet of those who had no understanding, of what he was doing, nor what was about to happen.   Like the Israelites who remembered what God had done, the apostolic church now remembers Jesus body and blood, broken and spilt on the cross, given and shed in bread and wine for the forgiveness of sin.

There are great paradoxes between the first Passover and the Passover where Christ became the sacrificial lamb.  The first we’ve just heard.  God not only saves us from external oppression, but also frees us within from ourselves. 

The other great paradox is in the feet.  Jesus washes the feet of the disciples in love.  Then, in the same love for us, “he” is the one crushed by God.  It’s as if God tiptoes over us only to land on Jesus.  Jesus becomes the one crushed for our sin, as the enemy of God, out of pure love to make us God the Father’s children.

Jesus bridges the great divide between the uncleanness of humanity and the holiness of God within his very own body.  He is the Passover sacrificial lamb but also our great high priest, having been raised and glorified to the right hand of our Father in heaven.

In faith, Moses led the people of God out of bondage, and through Moses the Israelites received the Law, the ten commandments.  Jesus fulfilled the Law, but in faith led us out of bondage through his sacrificial death.

We faithfully continue in the holiness of Jesus Christ, by meeting with him in his divine service to us.  Our holiness depends on receiving it from Jesus in faith.  The Holy Spirit wills us into God’s presence to hear the word of God and receive the sacrament of Jesus’ body and blood. 

The holiness of Jesus’ body and blood is holy, by the perfection of his life in the flesh, coupled together with his perfect sacrifice at the cross for humanity’s sin.  A priestly offering of himself as the lamb, perfect flesh defiled on the cross as cursed, cleanness of life for the uncleanness of death.

As true functional Christians, we have a Holy Spirited desire to receive God’s gifts.  We could be a solitary Christian on a deserted island, but the moment we get off the island, we would not remain in isolation from Christendom. 

So, coming to church is not so much about what we do, but rather, about what God does to us through bringing us to church and being with us as he divinely serves us.  Paul centres our honouring of God in his work, in how we receive Jesus, in the sacrament.

He says, “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.  For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.  That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.  But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.  But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.”  (1 Corinthians 11:28–32 ESV) 

Church is a gathering of the faithful in Christ, not in ourselves!  When we place faith in what we do, we desecrate the most holy body and blood of Jesus Christ.  The weakness, illness, and death Paul speaks of here is, primarily, but not limited to, one’s spiritual health.  When those who gather as church focuses on the self, one becomes estranged from the power of God, then the substance of coming to church becomes lacking.  One finds ill gain in coming and eventually cuts themselves off from God.  Then, one has begun to die a spiritual death!

However, those who truly judge themselves, see the cross and their place on it, seeing in themselves sin, therefore, a sinful being! 

Yet, in the great paradox that is Jesus Christ, those who judge themselves as sinners who sin, don’t glorify themselves in it, but faithfully find themselves rushing into God’s presence to have Jesus faithfully take their sin on himself. 

Faithful Jesus, the Lamb of God, has offered himself on your behalf, and now Jesus the Son of God, and King of Creation, faithfully intercedes for you before God the Father in the heavenly congregation. 

Such is a believer’s faith in Jesus’ faithfulness, worked by the Holy Spirit, when one discerns Jesus’ body and blood, receiving it for the forgiveness of sins along with the hearing of God’s word, as God divinely serves his children for their growth in faith.

Now that we have received Christ for our forgiveness, he has washed and cleansed us.  We continue his washing and cleansing work of forgiving others; this is loving as God has loved us.  God gave Pharoah ten chances to believe, but we give other’s what God gives us in Jesus, forgiveness seventy-seven times.  We forgive and intercede for others as Jesus does for us. 

We forgive and live only by receiving the energy to do so, by being forgiven and fed in the holy sight of Jesus Christ.  This happens when we gather in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  You are being made one with Jesus’ death and resurrection, having been baptised into Jesus’ holiness, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Let us pray.  Heavenly Father, help us to walk with feet of judgement.  Judging ourselves in a way so our feet turn and return to your holy divine service of us.  Judging ourselves in a way that allows our enemies to confess their sins to us.  Judging ourselves in a way that allows us to forgive them as we have been forgiven.  Grant us the Holy Spirit to faithfully wash their feet with the holiness of Jesus Christ, just as he has cleansed and washed us in the holiness of his body and blood.  Amen.

A, Post-Pentecost 24 Proper 27 - Matthew 25:1-13 "Expectation"

What do you expect from this day?  We all live with expectations everyday of our lives.  What are expectations and from where do they come?  To where do they lead?  Are your expectations healthy or unhealthy?

Expectations change from person to person, from place to place, and they vary in different times of life throughout the ages.

Our expectation for a meal, a bed in which to sleep tonight, an enjoyable day amongst likeminded folk, seems reasonable to us.  But, for those in war-ravaged places perhaps these expectations would lead to disappointment, resentment, and further hopelessness.  Our expectations might be quite trivial to those whose very existence hangs in the balance! 

The expectations we place on others can differ too.  What you expect of your parents or children changes over time.  Children learn to expect parents to care for them when young, but they expect to escape from their authority when they’re teenagers and young adults!  Likewise, parents expect to care for their children when young, and our mums and dads expect to be cared for, when they grow old!

Expectations are buried in our being from the time we’re born. 

Expectations remember the past, in the present, and furnish one’s future. 

Depending on the culture into which you’re born, will usually dictate the expectations you have of others, and yourself.   What you did and do, dictates what you will do.  Enjoying what you ate encourages what you will seek to eat.  Where you live, who you serve, who serves you, who and what you trust and don’t trust are learnt expectations.

Another word for expectations is wants!  Wants or expectations are fuelled by something deep within each of us.  Examining our inner wants and expectations can tell us a lot about ourselves.  Learning of another person’s wants, or a group’s expectations, can also help us discern much about the person or group.

For example, those who expect the world to continue to evolve into a better and better place, might have an expectation of society learning from its mistakes and not making them again.  There’s an expectation of humanity cycling round and round in an ever-rising series of events towards perfection.  On the other hand, those who expect the universe to one day spiral and explode into a chaotic oblivion will have very different expectations.  Both are expectations, both are not right, but they affect how humanity acts and reacts to events and other people.

So, what or who fuels your expectations?

Are your expectations, or wants, a false god?   Are your expectations premeditated resentments?  Setting yourself up, or others, for hurt and failure?

What do you expect of God?

What does God expect of you?  You might be surprised what God expects of you, written in his Word!

What fuel’s your expectations of God, and your understanding of his expectations of you?  It depends on whether your expectations submit to the Word of God, or you try to make God submit to your expectations and wants!

Ten virgins expect the coming of the bridegroom.  In this parable Jesus says five were wise and five were foolish.  The wise were those who have considered bringing extra fuel for their lamps.  The foolish have not thought things through and don’t have extra oil to fuel their lamps.

Jesus teaches the parable to prepare us for his coming and what we should expect.  So, what is the parable of the ten virgins teaching us to expect about Jesus’ return?

At the end of the parable Jesus says, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” (Matthew 25:13 ESV)  This sudden surprise is made explicit in the midst of the parable.  All ten virgins are asleep and startled when the cry comes for the bridegroom’s arrival.

Jesus previously says, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”  (Matthew 24:36 ESV)  Not even Jesus knows, only the Father in heaven.  Obviously when Jesus is sent by the Father, he will know, but not beforehand.

Notice that in the parable all the virgins fall asleep, and they cannot lend their oil.  This is so, because when we fall asleep in death, what we believe and trust, is the fuel of our faith, and it’s this light that will expose us as followers of Christ.  What you believe, or what you expect when you die, cannot be changed when Christ returns.

When we think of lamps, we might assume that lamps were used to see the way.  They may have been, if the lamps were rags soaked in oil on sticks, but the parable tends to suggest a lamp that’s not a temporary torch to see the way, but a lamp made of clay with a reservoir to hold the fuel and a wick to draw the fuel and burn a flame.  Much like a candle would burn and produce a small amount of light.

This type of lamp is not for seeing the way, but for being seen.  Virgins walking in the evening moved about with lamps to illuminate their faces, so they could be plainly seen.  Women who moved around hidden within the cloak of darkness, were usually anything but virgins.  The virgins needed the fuel for their lamps, to be seen by the bridegroom on his arrival, not to see the way to the bridegroom. 

One cannot work their way to Jesus.  Just as he came the first time, he will come the second time.  We didn’t find him the first time, and neither will we find him when he returns.  What will be seen of you when he returns?

This is a key part of the parable because if one does not have the good oil, so to speak, when the bridegroom arrives, we cannot expect to bargain our way through the door of eternal life to be with Jesus.

Like the virgins who went to find oil and returned to begged to enter, Jesus also says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21, 23 ESV)

If we have an expectation that we can change our story on judgement day, Jesus clearly tells us it doesn’t work like that!  The fuel of faith we need when we die, is the fuel of doing God’s will, or what God expects and wants. 

He wants to see us waiting for him, illuminated by his presence, and not the back of us working, or changing, to get the good oil.  He wants to see the radiance and joy of our hopeful expectation in which we will enter the grave and will be woken at his coming.

So, what is this fuel?  The good oil of expectation!  It’s not an idol of our works, or a belief in a false image of God we’ve concocted in our hearts.

What is this fuel of faith that God expects to see in you?   It’s the fuelling trust in God’s Word, looking not to ourselves or finding our way to eternity.  It’s allowing the fire of the Holy Spirit to illuminate Christ’s death for our daily death of self.  This fuel of faith lets him shine his holiness in us.  So, when the Father sees us, our lamp of faith shows Jesus the bridegroom, shining for us, in his resurrection glory.

God expects you to be a sinner!  If he did not expect this, he would not have sent Jesus to be the only sacrifice for sin!  But God also expects you to be an enlightened repentant sinner, who despite knowing your sinfulness, willingly stands in his presence to confess, be forgiven, and forgive as Jesus has forgiven us in his death and resurrection.

Like the wise virgins whose faces are lit up with hope and joy at his coming, our wisdom is not so much about you or me, but about the wisdom of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, working and waking us with the Word of God.

God expects us humans to have doubts and troubles with faith.  Every day you can expect the old human self will seek its resurrection.  That, you can count on without a skerrick of doubt!   This is not a time to forget the oil reserve that is being deposited in you through God’s Word. 

When you have doubts, let the eternal resurrected bridegroom pour his Word into you with the Holy Spirit.  When you doubt, bash on God’s door in prayer for the Holy Spirit to open Godly expectations of his Word in you!  When you pray, trust the Holy Spirit to give you a desire and joy in God’s Word.  When you receive God’s Word as the good oil, expect this oil to be the oil to keep your lamps burning.

God wants your greatest expectation, to be of him. 

He wants your expectation of him alone.  

He expects you, to expect him, to be your God.  Amen.

C, Ash Wednesday - The Lord's Prayer #1, Matthew 6:1-21 "Prayer Introduction - What, Why, & How"

Matthew 6:1–21 (ESV)  “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.  “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,  so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.  Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.  Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread,  and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,  but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.  “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,  that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,  but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

During the midweek Lenten services we will be examining prayer. 

Why do we pray?  Why did the disciples asked Jesus how to pray?

What is prayer and why would we want to pray? 

There are different kinds of prayer, but all prayers begin deep within the human heart.  Prayer begins with a deep yearning for something.  What puts the deep yearning in the heart will determine what kind of a prayer it is!

For a Christ-centred understanding of prayer, we examine what Jesus says about prayer.  That is, to put forward a wish or make a plea that glorifies and justifies our Father in heaven.  If we do not do this, prayer would simply be human coveting, and not prayer as God would have us understand it.

The Gospel reading for Ash Wednesday, does not specifically give us the Lord’s Prayer, but the text before and after it.  Nevertheless, the Lord’s Prayer is taught by Jesus at the Sermon on the Mount, but what he says before and after it, on giving and fasting, also applies to prayer.

He warns, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.  Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others.”  (Matthew 6:1,2 ESV)

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites.  For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others.  Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you pray, go into your room, and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.  And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:5–6 ESV)

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others.  Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,  that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:16–18 ESV)

So, we get the picture!  Prayer is not done as a work of righteousness, to be seen, to get acknowledgement, to be a hypocrite.  “Hypocrite” is an interesting word biblically when it is broken down, as a hypocrite is a hypo-critic.  In Greek, hypo means under, by, or with; and critic is from krino, to judge or decide.

Understanding this, makes Jesus’ words stand out for us, where he says to those criticizing him for healing on the Sabbath, “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” (John 7:24 ESV)

Surprisingly perhaps, the Old Testament word for prayer, is from a word meaning, to judge – (פָּלַל) pâlal, and it functions as making a judgement to ask or intercede.  Another word commonly used in the Old Testament, to judge, is shâphaṭ (שָׁפַט), but it functions as judgement to vindicate or punish.

One who prays to justify themselves or to punish others would be one who hypocritically judges or prays. The truth is we probably wouldn’t even recognise this as prayer, but rather as coveting or bearing false witness.  Whereas one who judges with a right judgement, prays also with a judgment that pleases our Heavenly Father.

So, prayer is judgement, but right prayer is right judgement which makes a judgement that justifies and glorifies God. 

But why would we want to pray?  Even if we wanted to pray, how can we pray with a right judgement?

We need to be taught how to pray.  The disciples became increasingly aware of this the longer they spent with Jesus.  Why?

We hear from Luke eleven, Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” (Luke 11:1 ESV)

Their request demonstrates one very simple point.  There is nothing or no one in all of creation that can help us to pray.  We are helpless and cannot come to God in prayer unless he first comes to us.  As is written in one of the liturgical orders of absolution and confession, the pastor sings or says,  “Our help is in the name of the Lord.” And the congregation responds, “He made heaven and earth”.  This is from a Psalm of David, Psalm 124:8. 

The King leads the congregation of Israel in declaring he and his congregation needs help from the maker of heaven and earth.  And we too are the same, regardless of our status in this world as princes and princesses or paupers.

If God did not exist, we would be completely helpless.  However, because God does exist, we are blessedly helpless.  “Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 124:8 ESV)

So blessedly helpless, we are taught how to pray.  Before Jesus was on earth, the job of teaching was through the priests, the prophets, and the family.  The last in the old era was John the Baptist who taught his disciples how to pray.

But Jesus teaches a new and right way to pray which truly acknowledges the help we need, and we get the help to pray from the Holy Spirit who proceeds from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, God the Son.  

Just as Jesus bore the weakness and the helplessness of human flesh and perfectly relied on his Father through the Holy Spirit, to pray, we too are given the Holy Spirit to help us pray.  We are also encouraged to continue asking for the Holy Spirit in prayer, reminding us it is he who guides us in right judgement and right prayer.

Jesus teaches us in Luke eleven, “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!” (Luke 11:13 ESV)

Therefore, we want to pray because the Holy Spirit has been given to us.  The Holy Spirit uses both, guilt produced by the Law to make us flee to God in prayers of confession, and also, the Gospel to reassure us we have the invitation as adopted Sons to join our prayers with Jesus’ prayers, the petitions of our great high priest.  This is all because, Jesus has been raised to the right hand of the Father.

The Holy Spirit gives us the will and heart to love God and pray to him calling him Abba, Father.  This is not an official title of fatherhood, but a personal loving title of Daddy.  Just as a baby learns to say, dad-da  or mum-ma, the Holy Spirit, teaches us in God’s Word to say, “Our Abba.”

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”  (Romans 8:14 ESV)

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” (Romans 8:26 ESV)

Jesus teaches us to pray because he wants us to have the right relationship with our Father in heaven.  This is a restored relationship that was lost; impossible to reconcile ourselves to God, and come to him in complete confidence.

Therefore, three things we are taught about prayer are…

1) We are created to be in fellowship with God.

2) Since the fall we are helpless.  But, because of Jesus, we are now “blessedly helpless”.  

3) All right prayers are Holy Spirited prayers. 

We the blessedly helpless are blessedly helped both by Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.  We now have the freedom of loved children to call on our Father in prayer. Amen.

Next Wednesday we will look at the oneship Jesus teaches us when we pray his prayer, the Lord’s Prayer to our Father, and what this does for us.