In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name.

Our Lord Jesus Christ says, “In that day you will ask nothing of me.” I am familiar with that day, aren’t you? Doesn’t that sound like most of our days, asking nothing of our Lord? It is all too common for us to ask nothing of Christ, or very little. After all, that would entail prayer and our schedules are just too busy. It is so difficult to set aside that time for prayer, to fold our hands and close our eyes and make our petitions and requests. But does it really matter? Things do go relatively well for us in this life. We know little of the tribulation that Jesus mentions to His disciples. For the most part, we are comfortable and secure. We are largely successful. We are capable and self-sufficient. We try to show no weakness, masking our areas of struggle and doubt with the illusion of control. In the darkness of our depression, the shame of our sin, the embarrassment of our public improprieties, and our unfulfilled longings we remain silent, to suffer and to endure in the power of our flesh. Far too often, we choose to simply ask nothing of Christ, ignoring our God’s invitation to pray.

Days of prayer, however, do come for us. Unfortunately, those days arrive with deep pain or grief, distress and hardship. The phone call from home or the news from the doctor will force us to pray. A loved one will pass away or we will be diagnosed. Then we will not know what else to do and so we will pray in desperation. A crisis in the home or office will drive us to our knees. We will get fed up with our spouse or kids or boss. Then we might plead for strength and answers. We will pray, “Why?” and question our place in this world and before God. Prayer also comes when we want something for ourselves. The possibility of a job, a new home or car, a pay raise, or a new relationship will cause us to pray. In our troubles we expect the Father to relieve us. In our desires we expect the Father to satisfy us.  

There is nothing like honest reflection on our prayer life to make us feel inadequate and guilty. Really, who prays enough? Who prays with complete dedication and attention? Who obey’s the command to “pray without ceasing.” Nobody. Yet we should not be deterred or impeded in this matter. We are all weak in our flesh, easily distracted and more easily persuaded that prayer does not matter. We get distracted by the things of this world. We convince ourselves that God does not really care or want to hear us. We allow our flesh to persuade us that God does not want to hear the petitions of a sinful person. We are wrong when we think such things. God loves us and wants us to come to Him in prayer. Our new life in Christ grants us this privilege of prayer and we can have the firm confidence that God hears us and cares for us. Moreover, our sin and struggles in this life ought to impel and provoke us to prayer. 

 

Today is the day when we need to ask nothing of Jesus. Now is the day when we ask anything of the Father, he will give it to us in the name of Jesus. In our Gospel lesson, our Lord was directing His disciples to the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit would be poured out on them. Then the Holy Spirit would bind the disciples to Jesus Christ in faith, meaning they would not need to ask anything of Jesus. Jesus already knew their requests, their needs, and their longings. Jesus, the one mediator between God and men, would intercede for them. Jesus’ statement points to a profound intimacy of union between Jesus and the disciples. Moreover, the Father is one with Jesus so the supplications of the disciples would be granted by the Father through Jesus Christ. At that point the disciples had not asked anything in Jesus name. They would not be fully united to Jesus until after the hour of his passion, death, resurrection, and gift of the Holy Spirit. Only then would they have “access in one Spirit to the Father.” The day of Pentecost arrived, fulfilling Jesus’ promise, and it continues to this day. 

 

In our Holy Baptism the Spirit has been poured out on us. We have had our Pentecost and the Holy Spirit has bound us to Christ through faith. The day has arrived for you and me. You have heard the Gospel and you believe. Your faith and trust rests in Jesus Christ. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in you. This means that you have been joined to Jesus Christ and there is nothing that He does not know about you. You do not need to ask anything of Jesus. He already knows. He has taken your sin and death and given you His righteousness and resurrection. In the forgiveness of the Gospel, you have access to the Father through Christ. He is your mediator to the Father by the Holy Spirit. Jesus now intercedes for you before the Father. Your relationship to God has been restored in Jesus Christ. Anything you ask of the Father in Christ is yours. What a profound blessing is this life with God! And still what a profound mystery is our life of prayer.

 

We struggle even to begin to pray. When we do pray, we are lost for words or we ask only in desperation. Prayer is difficult, even impossible, to understand. The disciples were much like us. They were also confused about prayer so they asked the Lord, “How are we to pray?” They wanted to know what to pray for and how they should make their requests. Jesus responded to their request by giving them the Lord’s Prayer. Actually, the Prayer does not belong to the Lord, but it belongs to the disciples and to us. The Lord gave it to His children as a gift. It is a gift because it unravels the knot of the what and the how of prayer. Rather than being stuck with our own fanciful conceptions of prayer, words of our own choosing, or some novel approach born from our own creativity, our Lord Jesus Christ gives us the words and the right approach. For this reason, Luther said, “There is no nobler prayer to be found on earth, for it has the powerful testimony that God loves to hear it. This we should not trade for all the riches in the world.”

 

Yet we often dismiss the Lord’s Prayer as being too formal or rote. We pray it publicly, mouthing the words and rarely consider what we are asking. The problem, of course, is not the prayer. It is our failure to spend the time and energy to understand how our Lord would direct our life of prayer. There in the Lord’s prayer are comprehended all the needs that continually best us, each one so great that it should compel us to keep praying and meditating on it for all our lives. It is the starting point for our life of prayer. In the Lord’s Prayer, we know that we need to ask nothing else of Jesus and its requests are granted by the Father for Jesus’ sake.

 

Our Father who art in heaven informs us that we are God’s children in Christ. We need not be timid or filled with despair. The Father who rules over all creation tenderly invites us to bring our requests to Him and promises to hear them. Hallowed be Thy name directs us to live, act, and teach in a manner befitting our adoption as God’s children. We are to keep His name Holy on our lips and in our actions, not living in wickedness or entertaining false teaching. Thy Kingdom come pleads for the continued work of the Holy Spirit in our lives so that our faith would be strengthened and by grace we trust constantly in Jesus Christ for our forgiveness and salvation.  Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven aligns us with the Father’s will, which is that His name be kept Holy and the Kingdom of Christ would spread. This petition battles the devil, the world, and our sinful nature that despise and work against Christ and His Gospel. Give us this day our daily bread requests God to provide for all the support and needs of our body in this life. This petition battles thankless, greedy hearts and acknowledges God’s provision. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us recognizes our constant need for God’s forgiveness in our lives. It also combats our pride and self-righteousness, which would attempt to withhold forgiveness from others. And lead us not into temptation asks for God’s power and strength to overcome our circumstances. God does not tempt anyone, but we ask Him to preserve us from our enemies so that we may not be led into false belief, despair, or wickedness. But deliver us from evil pleads for God to preserve us from all kinds of evil that would injure our body and soul. It also asks God to grant us a blessed end so that we may die in faith and receive the eternal blessings that come with Christ Jesus. Amen is our confident assertion that these petitions are acceptable before our Father in heaven, for He himself has given us this prayer and has promised to hear us. 

 

The Father has adopted you as His own through Christ Jesus and asks you to pray in this way so that your faith and life might be rightly directed and strengthened by His grace. Do not focus on your past failures in your prayer life. Do not look at your sin. If you look only at your sins and failures, they will destroy you. Remember, Jesus has overcome your sin and failures. He has destroyed them. God has raised you up from sin and death and seated you with Christ. On this day you are resurrected with Christ. You need to ask nothing of Christ. He has accomplished everything for you, He knows you better than you know yourself, and He promises to keep you safe in His grace. Be confident of this. Our Lord’s word is sure. And whatever you ask the Father in Jesus’ name will be yours. Therefore, let your prayers and meditations begin with Jesus’ gift to you, the Lord’s Prayer, so that in all things you will live in Christ, enjoying His grace, His forgiveness, His provision, His protection, and His deliverance. In this way you will pray in His name and according to the will of the Father.