The Gift We Didn't Ask For

Luke 11:1–13 begins with the disciples asking, ‘Lord, teach us to pray.’ Jesus promises that those who ask will receive, those who knock will find the door open—but the gift is not always what we asked for. In this sermon, we wrestle with unanswered prayers and discover the Spirit’s presence as the good gift God never withholds.

Transcript

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You're listening to The Word on Baker Street, a podcast from Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Bakersfield, California. Each week we share the good news of God's love through the sermons from our Sunday worship. Wherever you are in your journey, you are welcome here.

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The holy gospel according to Luke. He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples. And so he said to them, When you pray, say, Father, may your name be revered as holy, may your kingdom come, give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us, and do not bring us to a time of trial. And he said to them, Suppose one of you has a friend. And you go to him at midnight and say, Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him. And he answered from within, Don't bother me. The door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything. I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you anything without out of friendship, at least because of his persistence, he will give get up and give him whatever he needs. So I say to you, Ask and it will be given to you. Search and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there any among you who, if your child asked for a fish, would give a snake instead of a fish? Or if a child asks for an egg, would give a scorpion? 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 the gospel of the Lord? Let us pray. Loving God, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts draw us closer to you today. Amen. When I was 14, a friend invited me to her church in downtown Minneapolis. It was going to be their Wednesday night service. And I remember getting there, and the music was really upbeat, and the congregation would testify, and they prayed, and they prayed a lot. And it was loud and it was coming from all over the place, and their arms were up in the air and swaying, and people were praying in tongues, and one woman testified how an iron. She had burnt her arm with the iron, and she prayed to Jesus, and it was healed, and oh, there were all kinds of hallelujahs and more music, and people running up and down the aisles, and some looked like they had passed out. And I later learned that this was being slain in the spirit. Keep in mind that up until this point, the only church I had ever been to was this Lutheran tradition. I I won't say that I was terrified, but I I definitely freaked out. So the next day I tell my mom, and my mom immediately brings me to the pastor of our church. And and he's like, So, what's what's going on here? I think I went to a cult. That was the first time I learned about the charismatic movement. And it was a deep dive into other ways to pray. Our lesson today begins with the disciples are asking Jesus, Lord, teach us to pray. And it it seems, you know, Jesus seems to pray a lot. Uh, you know, so I can see how the disciples would want to learn from him. In the scripture today, Jesus gives instruction, and then he offers two parables to describe how God generously answers prayer. And then he says, Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be open. And this part, it seems like yet another example of God's overwhelming faithfulness. But I'll be honest, I find it one of the most challenging scriptures in the Bible. And it's not because I don't believe it, it's because I do. And I I don't know what to do with that. Because I there have been several times when I have prayed. I really prayed. I've asked for healing that never arrived, and I've begged for peace in situations that really only got messier. And I I I feel like I've knocked until my knuckles have bled and hoarse with hope, and and sometimes the door stayed shut. And so when I hear these words from Jesus, ask and it will be given to you, I don't feel inspired. I feel uncertain and tired and even a little bit heartbroken. I mean, does God answer prayer? I think it's an honest question. And if so, why are some of our prayers not answered? And if God does answer prayer, can we really pray for anything? A wealth or healing or relationships? And does it mean we prayed wrong if God doesn't answer? These are notoriously difficult, practically impossible questions to answer. And it doesn't help when people say, God always answers, but sometimes the answer is no. You know, that's great. Except Jesus says ask and it will be given to you. And personally, I'm not sure how to live with a no when we're praying for an end of violence or a loved one to be healed from cancer or to bring heat waves and fires and floods under control. And you know, okay, Jesus, I guess you know what's best. You know, other people might have that space for God, but I haven't for years. I distinctly remember. I was a chaplain at UCLA Medical Center, so it's back in the 90s. I was a young boy in the cardiac unit all summer long, and he he was waiting for a heart and uh heart transplant, and I, you know, I got to know him really well. Uh I played games with him, I taught him how to play guitar. He by far my favorite patient. And I remember toward the end how weak he started to get and how desperately we all prayed for this heart to come. And I remember the day that it was too late and how awful it was to see his lifeless body lie in the bed and his mother screaming, why to God? And I wanted to scream too, and nothing about it made any sense. I mean, he was 12. He had dreams, and now he just lied there as these nurses are disconnecting the machines that failed to keep him alive. I was furious, furious with illness and the world, and furious with God. And Jesus' words, ask and it will be given to you, they seem hollow in moments like those. And I wonder if that's true for me as a pastor, you know, as someone who teaches about prayer and leads other people in it. Maybe it's true for you too. You know, when the disciples ask, Lord, teach us to pray, it's a very humble request. It's not like they're asking, you know, to learn how to do the miracles or the big show or uh you know how to build a successful ministry. They they want to be taught how to pray. And it's you know, it's something that they saw Jesus do often, and he would step away and withdraw and turn his heart towards God. And something about the way he prayed made them want to do it too. And so he offers something. And it's not flowery, but it's just this little thing. It's a Father, may your name be holy, may your kingdom come, give us each day some daily bread, forgive our sins as we forgive others. You know, this is a prayer that's grounded in relationship. There's nothing transactional here, it's daily bread, mutual forgiveness. It's a cry to trust God through all things. And maybe if that's where Jesus stopped, I'd be fine. But he doesn't stop there. He continues with this really strange parable. Suppose you have a friend and you go to them in the middle of the night, and you're like, give me some bread, and and it's it's the middle of the night. You know, we weren't expecting to have guests, but I've got guests now, and please help me out here. I don't know what to do. And so you keep knocking on the neighbor's door, knocking and knocking and knocking, and the neighbor doesn't exactly leak to help. They're they're like, hey, you know what? It's the middle of the night. I'm I'm all tucked in for the night. The kids are asleep. The house is dark, but actually, eventually they get up, and it's not because of your friendship, it's because you won't go away. Then comes this promise. Ask and it will be given. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open. And it's right there that I begin to wonder, what do we do with that? Are we throw it out? Do we call Jesus cruel or naive or out of touch? And I read and I reread the scripture this last week, and something began to occur to me in it. Jesus never says, we will get whatever we ask for. He says a door will be open. He says something will be given, but it's it's not this break blank check. And and and in fact, listen to the last line one more time. If you then, who are flawed and imperfect, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? The gift isn't the thing we are asking for. The gift is God's presence. You know, we ask for release and God offers accompaniment. We ask for an escape route, and God says, No, I will follow you along the road. We pray for certainty, and God gives us enough breath to make it through the day. And we plead for control and God gives us communion. It's not the kind of prayer that manipulates the universe. You know, God is not a vending machine. It's more like breathing or weeping or sitting in the dark and saying, you know, God, I'm still here. There's not some magic words that need to get said. Or how hard we knock. It's about learning to trust, even when the door doesn't swing open, that God is still there on the porch with us. You know when I think back to that time at UCLA, sitting with the boy's mom, I and listening to her body quake with grief. I remember how hard it was to even speak God's name. I didn't want the spirit. I wanted the boy to be alive, and I wanted God to do something, something visible, something real. And I felt empty. Or maybe it was silence, or maybe the grief was just too deep to translate into prayer, but I stayed and not out of spiritual strength, but because love left me no choice. You know, I stayed and I cried and I sat with the mother and I held her hand, and later when I finally allowed to speak to God again, it wasn't some kind of holy prayer. It was this shout, this lament, this, you know, how dare you! And the thing is, God held that too. Yeah, the prayers didn't raise him from the dead, but they held me when I collapsed. The answers didn't come, but the spirit did. In the silence and in the sorrow, I was not alone. And that was the miracle I didn't know to ask for. In the end, Jesus doesn't promise results. He promises the Holy Spirit, and maybe that's the good gift that we sometimes miss. The spirit that gives us breath when we can't pray, the spirit that groans with us when the words run out, and the spirit that lives in those in-between spaces between the asking and the answering. And what I can say about all of it is that if you're knocking and nothing is happening and you're not alone. If you're angry or you're numb or bone tired of prayer, you are you're not faithless. You're human. If you're a child asking for bread in a world that gives out too many stones, you are standing at the door, heart in hand. And whether the door opens or not, Jesus says you are given the spirit, not always the fix, but always the presence, always the love. So ask. And not because the outcome is guaranteed, but because the relationship is real. And seek not because you know what you're gonna find, but because God is already there. And knock because not because the door is gonna swing wide open and in your timeline, but because behind that door is a God that hears you, even in the dark. Beloved, I pray that the Spirit will be your companion. And that the silence will make room for awe. I pray that you will know that even now you are loved. You are not alone, and the door of God's heart is never closed to you. Ever. Amen.

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Thanks for listening to the word on Baker Street. If this message has spoken to you, share it with a friend. More sermons and reflections can be found at emmanuelbakersfield.org. May God's grace and peace be with you today and always.