Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, amen.
This morning’s lessons, at first glance, don’t seem to have a whole lot in common, do they? Our Old Testament lesson deals with the Lord’s discipline of His children for their thanklessness for His good gifts, our Epistle is an admonition to be doers of the word rather than simply hearers, and the Gospel lesson is Jesus’ admonition to His disciples to pray. What was the purpose of placing these three, seemingly disjointed, readings together for this Rogate Sunday?
To find the answer to that question, let us consider that the word “Rogate” is a Latin word that translates to the English “ask”. Though this is not simply an invitation to ask, but an imperative, or a command to “ask!” I wanted to consider the Latin term for this Sunday because it gives some insight as to how the Church has historically understood these special days;
and the underlying theme that has been understood for the readings appointed for this day is that they are all about asking, or praying. So, it would seem, the purpose for placing these readings together for this Rogate Sunday is to teach us about prayer.
In one of his sermons on this text, Martin Luther says that one of the requisites of prayer is “that we believe the promise [of God] is true, and do not doubt that God will give what He promises.” And while that certainly sounds like an easy thing for the Chistian to do, I think that any one of us who have spent some time in prayer can attest to the fact that it is actually incredibly hard to believe the promises of God. It’s hard because we have so many things standing before our eyes, whispering in our ears, and tugging at our hearts which tell us differently than the things that our God promises us, don’t we? To be “loved”, we are told, is to receive those things that we ask for without even having to ask for them. If someone can anticipate our desires and fulfill them, that must meant that they care about us, right? And who would deny anything to the one they care about? Yet how often does it seem as though our prayers fall on deaf ears? How many of us here have hit the Powerball jackpot? If you have, don’t forget to tithe your 10%! Though I would venture to guess that most of us here would confess that we feel as though God has not heard or listened to us, at some point in our lives, even though He promises to do so.
Interestingly enough, I think that there is a correlation to this morning’s Old Testament lesson. Consider what God had promised the Children of Israel; that He would free them from their oppression, the He would lead them to a new land that they could call their own, and that He would guard and protect them the whole way through. But what was their perspective? I am by no means saying that it was right, but from their perspective the Children of Israel had it better in Egypt. They grumbled against the Lord and His servant Moses saying; “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” From their point of view, God had failed to come through for them, He hadn’t provided for them any better than what they had under the yoke of slavery in Egypt, and He was certainly not able to protect and defend them from a long, drawn out, and painful death by starvation!
But we know that all of that is just so much foolish talk, don’t we? Even the grumbler’s own words give the game away; “For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” So which is it; is there no food or water, or is the food simply not what they wanted to eat anymore? The Children of Israel, in very much the same way as each of us, had to contend with the trials of their lives and the sinful flesh that hung around their necks. You might think that it would be easier for them to see the hand of the Lord’s provision given their situation of complete and utter dependence upon Him for their survival, but lo and behold, it was just as hard for them as it is oftentimes for us. For while we might be able to look back at these grumblers with a measure of disdain and contempt, the truth is that we are not much better, are we? For how often have we grumbled against the Lord because He has not given us what we so earnestly set our hearts and minds on? How quickly have we, in those times, forgotten all about the myriad of blessings and gifts that He has already given us? Israel had food, plenty of it for each day, but they were blinded by their sin of selfishness and gluttony to the blessing that was so frequently and freely bestowed upon them in their daily lives. Might not the same be said of you and I?
I think that there is another thread that connects these lessons today as well and it is this; we are given a model of what true prayer looks like, or at least the direction in which true prayer looks. I was listening to a podcast in preparation for this sermon and a point was made about the bronze serpent that I thought was interesting. Have you ever wondered why the thing that saved the people was made in the likeness of the very thing that was destroying them? I don’t think that was coincidental; and that was exactly the point made by the pastor on this podcast. The very point was that the Children of Israel had to face the thing that they feared the most; the fiery serpent, or at least a version of it. This, I think, is the very point that St. James makes in his epistle lesson this morning when he tells us that we should; “look into the perfect law, the law of liberty…” What is the “perfect law of liberty”? The very place in which the Law was fulfilled in perfection so that we sinners might be liberated from the consequences of our sinning against it!
For just as the Children of Israel had to face the very thing that was the object of their demise, so too do we who have sinned against our God in thought, word, and deed. For upon the cross we see all of the things that are so terrible and terrifying; the mockery, misery, and shame that we rightly and justly deserve in our sin; the death, destruction, and torment which were laid upon the shoulders of the sacrifice of God; the complete and utter rejection and condemnation by both God and man endured by our Lord Jesus Christ. Upon the cross we see the eternal and everlasting consequences of the sin that we enjoy so much, and the cost of our disbelief of God’s promises which leads us to exchange them for the desires of our own hearts and minds. And when we do that, then we have done nothing other than lusted after and followed the false gods of this world that promise so much, but deliver so little.
But standing in the midst of all of that, here today you have a blessed promise given and proclaimed to you in this Gospel lesson. Direct from the lips of your Lord Himself you are told this day to “take heart; I have overcome the world.” While it may seem the opposite, Jesus’ death on the cross is, in fact, the greatest victory ever won in the history of mankind. For His perfect death is the eternal and everlasting victory over all of your sins, the defeat of their power and authority, and the crushing of the head of the serpent who seeks to kill and destroy. Your Lord’s precious blood, poured out for you, has destroyed the power of death and the grave, guaranteed your resurrection from the dead, and won for you a portion in the kingdom that will have no end. His sacrifice upon the cross has overtaken the power of the devil and shown Him to be, once and for all, the Almighty, Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent God and creator of all things whose Word is just and true, whose promises never fail, who cares for you even in your hour of deepest and darkest woe, who keeps you always in the palm of His nail scarred hands.
And it is in the wounds of our Lord that we see the dreadful debt incurred by our sin, and in His resurrection we see His ultimate authority over all things, even death and the grave itself. Moreover, in those scars, we see the promises of God fulfilled. For the Christ was given over to death in order that we might have eternal and everlasting life. He suffered the shame and mockery of the cross and the world so that we might have an advocate who understands our trials and temptations in this world. He paid our debt in order that we might be freed from its weight. He has, indeed fulfilled each and every one of His promises, and He has done so in ways far greater than we could ever imagine. So it only makes sense that we should believe that, when He calls us to ask in His name, He will hear and provide us all the things that we need. For He has done so in the past, does so for you even today, and will continue to do so into eternity as you and all the faithful live with Him in His kingdom that has no end. May His promises of forgiveness, life, and salvation uplift you, sustain you, and keep you now and forever!
Amen.