Sermon for Rogation Sunday – April 27, 2008
“ At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. ”
YOUR WISH is my command , says the wonderful servant. You have three wishes , says the genie from the magic lamp, ask your first wish . Ask whatever you will, and I will give it, up to half my kingdom , says the king. What'll yah have ? says the bartender. We're in the position to ask, and it would seem we might have whatever we pronounce: and what shall we ask for? Can we ask, should we ask, may we ask? Will we ask?
Hopelessly lost in a maze of streets, of strange buildings and landscape, does a man stop the car and ask a resident for directions?
Hounded from fear to fear, guilt to shame to denial to paranoia: do we let our sins chase us and threaten our lives, or do we stop and ask to be forgiven?
Hurting or nervous or frightened or regretful, we know our state can't be helped by further isolation, and that God is really there, and that He cares: do we ask others for their prayers; do we pray to God ourselves?
Babel was a tower in a great city built by the genius of Nimrod. He was an architect and a theologian, working with a massive building budget and the labor pool of the entire human population of the world to erect a stairway to heaven, so man might go up and see God. His way was not to ask God to see Him—something that Moses did later—but just to do it himself. For that he got the languages of all mankind confused and the fear and distrust of different people for one another.
Ask. It's a simple proposition. Why don't we just ask? God specifically went to the new king of Israel in a dream at night and said, “Ask what I shall give thee.” This is the world's one true God, asking for a request. The new king said, “You've shown great love to my father. He lived in your presence with truth, righteousness, and commitment. And you continued to show him your great love by giving him a son to sit on his throne today. Lord God, although I'm young and inexperienced, you've made me king in place of my father. Your people whom you have chosen are too numerous to count. Give me a heart that listens so that I can judge your people and tell the difference between good and evil. After all, who can judge this great people of yours?” 1 Kings 3:6-9 And God was pleased with the prayer, and gave Solomon both a listening heart, and also long life, wealth, and power.
Why should God have to come to us and ask us to ask Him? Yet He does. Jesus told them, “ Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Matt 7:7-9 “If ye have faith, and doubt not… if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” Matt 21:21-22 “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it .” John 14:12-14 “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” John 15:7 “ Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you… ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full… ask in my name… For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.” John 16:23-27
Why does God want us to ask for things? Is He trying to make us greedy? Self-centered? Is this a test, to see if we were to ask the wrong thing? If we ask, and don't get what we ask for, what does that mean about us? Could God love us if He doesn't hear our prayers?
God is telling us to ask. Through His prophet Isaiah, He commanded Judah's king to ask a sign from God. “Ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD. And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:11-14 Even in the king's pride and refusal to ask of God a sign, God arrived with the most wondrous sign, the sign of the King to come, who, born of a virgin, would be God Himself living with us.
Ask . What'll it hurt?
Our Epistle today comes from St. James. In that Epistle, the writer chides with his readers: “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” James 4:1-3 Here “lust” isn't sexual passion, but desire. From man's desires—be it for security, friends, possessions, success in a venture, or the end of a threat—come wars and fights. We fight because we want something we think can't have otherwise. Sometimes there is no other way, but how many fights might have been avoided by talking things out, asking for the desired thing, and working out a way. James says, “Ye have not because ye ask not.” And he also says, “Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss.”
Ask God whatever it is. Start there. You want that car. You want that person as your spouse. You want that job. Okay. You ask Him. It's probably a bad prayer, and it's selfish and it's probably not the thing you ought to ask for. But this thing is the center of your attention. You've got to have it, and you don't. So ask.
All right. You don't get it. But God heard you, and He cares about you, and He knows you had that desire. Maybe it was a wrong desire, or maybe He has someone better for you. Maybe He read Car and Driver and knows that car will lose its value too quickly. Ferraris aren't doing well in resale. Whoever gets that job will be downsized in three months. God knows things you don't. So, if you ask and don't receive, it might mean He's looking out for you.
It might mean that He's not ready to do your bidding, also. For certain He loves you, but the point of God answering your prayers, and doing for you what you ask for, is that God wants to create and enhance a living relationship with you. The genie only wants to get it over with and get back in his bottle. The king is hoping you don't in fact ask for half his kingdom. But God has everything, and is not a slave, but is your savior and master and lord. What is done between you and Him creates a relationship that is always more important than anything else that is going on.
So, if He shows you He's not ready to answer a prayer, see if you can find out what is hampering this prayer. “Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss.” It may be that God wishes to enhance your character before He gives you the gift. You may want the girl, but is He doing her a favor by putting you two together right now? Wouldn't she deserve a better man? That isn't the end of the tale, but the beginning. The quest may require that you become that prince charming of her prayers.
You don't ask because you already know you're unworthy. Ask anyway. Of course you're unworthy. When did that ever stop God? St. John said, “If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.” 1 John 3:20-22 So, God knows all things and is greater than our fears about ourselves, our unworthiness. St. John also says that “if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 That is perhaps the most important question to ask of God. “Will you please forgive me?”
It is Rogation Sunday. The Latin verb rogare is to ask. From that word comes interrogation , or the asking of a series of questions. On this Sunday and the three days that follow, rogation means a solemn rite of asking God for what we want. It falls at a time of planting crops, and for agricultural societies, it's a time to ask God for the success of our farms. It also comes just before Ascension Day, when our Lord returns from this world to heaven, to be seated at the Right Hand of His Father. “Ask, because I go to my Father,” was what He was saying to His disciples. We have an advocate at the side of the Father, and this was God with us , and Son of man , the bridge between mankind and God, a better tower than Babel—for this was God's idea, not ours. Jesus is the real stairway to heaven, and angels indeed go up and down. He will return for us someday, but in the meantime, He tells us to ask.
What shall we ask for? Don't be afraid it's the wrong thing. It probably is, but you might ask for guidance on how to ask and what to ask. That too is a rogation.
My wife and I were newly fallen in love and she had roast a chicken for a special and romantic dinner for us. As we sat and ate, it was apparent that we were fascinated with one another. After eating sumptuously, she suggested that we make a wish on the wishbone. I agreed, so she cut the wishbone out of that wise chicken, and we held each leg of it, silently asking our wish. Then we pulled. It took extra strength with that bone not really dried, but in the end it broke, and surprise ! The top flew off across the kitchen, while each of us held a piece exactly the same length. I said, “What do we do now?” She said, “What did you ask for?” “Can I tell? Well, I asked that whatever you wished for be granted.”
“Funny,” she replied . “That's just what I asked for.”
The relationship with God is always more important than the thing we ask for, but God Almighty calls you to ask. We call Him Almighty for one reason: there is nothing He can't do. Ask, that your joy may be full.
PFH+