Easter 5—Rogate
Beloved. This upcoming Thursday is Ascension Day. That is the day that we remember our Lord ascending bodily into heaven. That is the day that we see that man is now in heaven; Jesus, the God-man is now at the Right Hand of the Father, equal power, glory and majesty; at the Right Hand of the Father, Jesus is ruling all things for the good of His Church, each of His dear Christians, and for the glory of God. Ascension Day marks the end of Jesus’ work here on earth. He came to save the human race from sin, death, devil and hell, and He did—by His holy life, His holy, innocent suffering and death! His resurrection from the dead that first Easter is proof of that He did. The Father accepted His once for all sacrifice for sin on the cross and raised Him from the dead. Now with His ascension, Jesus’ work is complete. He showed Himself alive to the disciples by many infallible proofs [Ac 1.3]. His resurrection was confirmed beyond any shadow of a doubt—and thus the forgiveness of the sins of the world, the salvation of the world, its reconciliation to the holy God were also confirmed. In today’s Gospel, which is part of the talk Jesus had with His disciples shortly before He was betrayed and arrested, we have Jesus telling His disciples about the ascension: I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am going to leave the world and go to the Father. Although Jesus left the world and returned to the Father, His earthly work for our salvation completed, Jesus still continues His work for us now also as our Mediator/ Intercessor. Now in heaven He intercedes, speaks, pleads for us that the merits of His work be applied to us for righteousness and salvation.
What a comfort for us to know that in spite of our sins and weaknesses Jesusis pleading for us, taking a very personal interest in each of His dear Christians! What glorious words of Jesus in today’s Gospel: Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you…. Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be made complete. This Sunday is called Rogate Sunday—“ask Sunday”. Today we reflect on the blessing our Lord has given us—to go to Him in prayer with our sorrows and trials, our joys and thanksgivings and know that He will hear and answer our prayers in the right way, in the right time and in the best way for us and our salvation.
We so often have a wrong view of prayer. Prayer is not about us. So often people look on prayer as a way of somehow trying to manipulate God to do “what I want Him to do.” The thought is: if I say things the right way, if I am devout enough or have a certain level of faith, if I only follow the correct form, if only this if only that…! But prayer is not some magic formula to get God to bend to my wishes.
Probably the best and simplest definition of prayer is that simple catechism definition that prayer is the Christian’s heart to heart talk with God; that prayer is speaking to God in our words and thoughts. Prayer is more of a conversation. God speaks to us in His word and we respond with our praises, intercessions, pleas. If you notice, since a conversation is a two-way street it will never be dominated by what I want/ expect/ demand. In a conversation there is give and take and sometimes minds are changed. When we pray, not demanding/ not trying to manipulate God but instead also listening to Him in His word and actions, as part of a day in/ day out conversation with Him, we will find that often we are changed and what we pray for is changed. Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be made complete.
Our text is a portion of a prayer prayed by the OT prophet, St. Daniel. We come in at the end of this prayer for his people, the Israelites in captivity in Babylon. The Israelites were in captivity because they sinned and rebelled against God. He sent in the Babylonians to conquer them and take them out of the Promised Land. St. Daniel had studied the prophets who had come before him and saw that the Lord had promised them through St. Jeremiah that the captivity would last 70 years [Jer. 29.10]. Now that time was up and Daniel prays that the Lord would be faithful to His word; he prays that Jerusalem and the temple would be restored. He prays a prayer of confession for the Israelites and pleads for them to the Lord for mercy. As we see with St. Daniel’s prayer: humility and faith mark the Christian’s prayer.
Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for Your own sake, O Lord, make Your face to shine upon Your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline Your ear and hear. Open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before You because of our righteousness, but because of Your great mercy. Do you see here the humility that marks the prayer of the Christian? As St. Daniel here does, so does the Christian in our prayer. We do not approach God with anything in our hands. There’s nothing we can bring to God to make Him “obligated” to “have to” do as we say. We can’t claim any sort of holiness that makes us special. Other religions approach God with all sorts of imagined works that they think will placate Him and force Him to answer their prayer, to do what they want Him to do. Daniel is like all Christians—he comes with nothing in his hands but faith/ trust in the Lord and an utter and complete reliance on the mercy of God to us in Jesus and a reliance on His work and word: Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be made complete.
So what does this mean: For we do not present our pleas before You because of our righteousness, but because of Your great mercy? It means that we come to God confessing our sins. Confession is an absolute vital part of our life of prayer. That honest look at our lives in the light and mirror of God’s holy Law shows us our great sin and how often and how grievously we have sinned against the Lord. Doesn’t that, in and of itself, take away any thought of pride that God owes me or has to do as I say? –After all He is the holy God and I am a sinner; what right do I even have to come before Him?
But again, what does St. Daniel pray in our text? For we do not present our pleas before You because of our righteousness, but because of Your great mercy. He recognizes his sin and the sin of the people. But he still approaches God with his pleas. That is absolutely vital for us to remember. The devil will often come to us to try to keep us from prayer; and one of the tricks he uses is to use our sin against, trying to get us to think that because of our sin we dare not approach God or that He won’t answer our prayers because we are sinners. Don’t fall for it! Yes, recognize your sin but right away go to the Lord and confess that sin; go to the Lord in prayer not only to confess but for all your other needs as well. Don’t let your sins keep you away from prayer. Go to the Lord in prayer in spite of your sin and to spite Satan.
For we do not present our pleas before You because of our righteousness. So why do we poor sinners go to the Lord in prayer? –but because of Your great mercy. We dare go to Him in prayer because He is merciful! Yes, in and of ourselves, how can we sinners be pleasing to God? How can we be so bold to go before Him? How can Jesus even say to us: Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be made complete? In humility, we plead to the Lord for mercy and because of His mercy to us in Jesus, we are pleasing to Him. St. David writes in the psalm [33.18 ff]: Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy…Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, just as we hope in You. God can be and is merciful to us because of Jesus. In the days of Daniel and all the OT saints, God was looking ahead to Jesus’ holy life and death on the cross; just as now He is looking back on it. This work of Jesus is an eternal act, always before the eyes of God; He always sees the sacrifice of His Son and so He can always have mercy on us sinners. As we go to the Lord in prayer, as we have that heart to heart talk with Him, we are pleasing and acceptable to Him not because of our righteousness but because of [His] great mercy to us in Jesus. Recognizing His mercy to us in Jesus we are strengthened all the more to go to Him in prayer and to be bold in our prayers. Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be made complete.
As we recognize and confess our sin and plead for and rely on the Lord’s mercy, how, then, we are truly thankful for what the Lord grants us. After all, if we are righteous and God “has to” give us what we demand, then why should we be thankful? It’s rightly owed us. But, if everything—as it is—comes from God’s mercy to us in Jesus, on us poor sinners, how thankful we are! How we then delight to hear Jesus: Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be made complete.
Closely tied in and with humility is faith. And what is faith, but a bold and mighty thing that holds to God’s promise even when it seems impossible. Remember the reason why St. Daniel was praying this pray of repentance for the people and that the temple would be rebuilt—it was because God had promised in His word that the captivity would be 70 years and that time was coming up! Daniel was holding God to His promise! That’s exactly what faith does! Because faith holds to God’s word and promise, it is bold because God does not and cannot lie. And so Daniel in faith’s boldness prays in our text: O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for Your own sake, O my God, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name. Notice that boldness, that urgency, persistence. That’s prayer—because why? The Christian’s prayer relies on the Lord’s mercy to us in Jesus and it holds to the Lord’s word and holds Him to His promise. That means that our prayer has a solid foundation: God’s mercy and word.
Dear Christian, always remember your baptism. It was there that God brought you into His holy family, washed you from your sins, gave you the Holy Spirit, opened heaven to you and gave you every heavenly and spiritual blessing in Jesus. When you feel your faith weakened, when you feel the attacks of the devil, when you don’t think you can fight the good fight of faith any longer, when you feel tempted beyond your ability—remember your baptism; remember God’s promises to you in baptism and go to Him in the boldness of faith and hold Him to His promises to you—just like St. Daniel did in our text. Just like He did not reject Daniel, so He will not turn you away. Ask, and you will receive.
Our prayers, marked and motivated by both humility and also a bold faith, seek the glory of God. Like Daniel here prayed several times in our text: for Your own sake. When the temple was destroyed and the people were in captivity, the heathen laughed at the Lord and His seeming impotence. Daniel prayed that the Lord’s zeal for His glory should motivate Him to answer this prayer. This same zeal for the Lord’s glory motives our prayers—that whatever way the Lord answers it would be for His glory. That’s why we pray Thy will be done. The Lord knows the way He is best glorified. Perhaps He is most glorified when our suffering or trial is not taken away but that we continue on in suffering/ trial. Here is where faith boldly says “yes” to the Lord and “no” to our own wants, as difficult as it may be, knowing that the Lord’s will is best and He is glorified as He answers our prayers in the way He knows best for us and to His glory.
Prayer is that glorious conversation we are blessed to have with our Lord. Prayer is both a humble thing pleading for the Lord’s mercy and a bold thing marked by faith. For we do not present our pleas before You because of our righteousness, but because of Your great mercy. INJ Amen