Proper 12 C God Loves Us to the Point of Foolishness

 Proper 12 C God Loves Us to the Point of Foolishness
July 30, 1989
By Rev. Ernest F. Campbell

We had a good laugh at our clergy bible study last Tuesday. You may not believe it, but we laugh a lot as we study scripture. (Maybe you think clergy are so hard-up for humor they laugh at the slightest provocation). Anyway, we laughed when our Lord’s disciples asked Him to teach them the pray…. like John the Baptist taught his disciples. Why was that funny to us? Because, it sounded like a “fault” in the Lord’s “Christian Education Program.” The disciples had been with Jesus for almost three years, but He still hadn’t taught them to pray? I guess we clergy types have all fielded complaints about our Christian Education Program…. compared to some other denominations C.E. program, and our laughter was an expression of relief. Even Our Lord got caught in the “Why aren’t we like them” syndrome. 

I think most educators would agree that the best learning takes place when the time is right, and the students are seeking. The time was right for his disciples because Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, and His opportunities to teach were melting away by the hour. We know that the disciples were seeking because they asked… “Lord, teach us to pray.”

There is no doubt that prayer is the single most important tool for the Christian journey yet. I wonder how many clergy have heard their people ask, “Teach us to pray?”

What is prayer? There may be as many answers to that question as there are people who pray. But, when Our Lord prayed, He seemed focused on letting His life be an extension of god’s purpose with the hope that people would be drawn to the love of God.

When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He prayed, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I know that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” Jesus had said to Lazarus’s sister Martha, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God.”

When Jesus healed the paralytic, the man stood up and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God!

I would guess that some of you are thinking, yes, Fr. Campbell it would be wonderful and noble if our primary motivation for prayer was to help others appreciate God’s love, but you know…and we know…that the primary reason anyone prays is to ask for things!

We all walk around with this laundry list of “things” for which we are concerned, and when we pray, we “fax” the list out to God. (Heal Sue, fix Alice and Ted’s marriage, let the sun shine on our picnic, end wars, help the Seahawks have a super year…if you know what I mean…and teach me to have a Godly perspective on prayer priorities…Amen).

Is there anything wrong with that prayer? In today’s Gospel when asked to teach prayer know-how…. Jesus said think of God as a loving parent. When we pray to a loving parent, we are not coming to someone out of whom gifts have to be unwillingly extracted, but to a parent who delights to supply their children’s needs. 

“If we, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will the heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” Good gifts…the best gifts such as; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

In today’s Gospel Jesus is inviting us to approach God as a loving parent with the expectation that He not only wants to supply what is best for us, but that He delights in our asking.

The only thing that will keep God from giving us absolutely anything we need or want would be that, ultimately, the person, place, thing, position would not be an expression of love; in some way it would not be good for us. In such instances, God loves us too much to give us what we think we want or need.

Jesus did say, “Ask anything in my name and I will give it to you.” the phrase that keeps that offer from becoming a silly Aladin’s Lamp is, “Ask in my name.” as we come to know Jesus, we can all appreciate that, knowing Our Lord’s purpose in prayer, there are some things we simply would not ask. Our prayers would be for building up…for reconciliation…and for the communities common good…. that people everywhere might grow in their appreciation of God’s love and generosity. 

Finally, as we learn to pray, there is an increasing sense of personal peace. Could there be any greater position of security than to be known as a man or woman who, like Elisha, walks with God?

We all read the same headlines, watch the same T.V. news, experience the same stresses that life throws at us. But to the person of prayer, there is always hope rather than despair. Any hour of the day or night we know that we can turn to our heavenly Father in prayer. A Heavenly Father who delights in giving us the gifts that are necessary and that will help others see and appreciate God’s abiding power and love.