Worship Helps for Pentecost 22
Artwork: Jacob Wrestling with the Angel
Artist: Eugene Delacroix
Date: 1861
Worship Theme: Pray? Of course. God commands us to pray
the way Jesus taught us and promises to hear us. But to pray even when God does
not seem to be coming through for you and others for whom you pray―really?
“Pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 ),
God says. Isn’t that unrealistic? Especially when no answers seem to come? Our
lessons today teach us to pray persistently for Jesus’ sake.
Old Testament: Genesis 32:22 That night Jacob got
up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed
the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream,
he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a
man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he
could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip
was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said,
"Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not
let you go unless you bless me." 27 The man asked him,
"What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered. 28
Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel
1. Jacob feared that his brother Esau would attack him and
his family. What happened when Jacob was left alone that night?
2. What did Jacob say when the man had to go? (See 32:26.)
3. Why did Jacob call that place “face of God”? (See
32:30.)
Epistle: 1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the
name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything
according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears
us-- whatever we ask-- we know that we have what we asked of him.
4. St. John
5. What does that confidence lead us to deduce? How can
that be?
Gospel: Luke 18:1 Then Jesus told
his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give
up. 2 He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither
feared God nor cared about men. 3 And there was a widow in that town
who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.'
4 "For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even
though I don't fear God or care about men, 5 yet because this widow
keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't
eventually wear me out with her coming!'" 6 And the Lord said,
"Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring
about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he
keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get
justice, and quickly.
6. Why did the unjust judge in Jesus’ story finally give
in and help the helpless widow?
7. Is Jesus
saying that God is like the unjust judge? (See 18:7.)
8. Why did Jesus wonder whether he will find faith on the
earth when he comes? (See 18:8.)
Answers:
1. When Jacob was left alone that night, a man wrestled
with him until daybreak.
2. Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless
me.” (What a model for us as we pray! God had promised to bring Jacob home
safely. Likewise, when God has made us promises in his Word, we cling to them
no matter how things look. We hang onto God in prayer tightly).
3. Jacob called that place Peniel (Hebrew for “face of
God”), because Jacob knew the man he had wrestled with was God himself.
4. & 5. The believer's persistence in prayer is rooted
in the fact that since we believe in the Son of God we know that we have
eternal life. We don't wonder about it. We don't hope that it might possibly
happen. We know it for a fact. Certainty of eternal life frees me to ask God
for things only according to his will. For if God's will is for me to enjoy
eternal life forever, well then I can certainly trust his will in regards to
the requests I lay before him. Think of the twin promises of God regarding
prayer: He promises to hear, and he promises to answer according to his will.
Knowing that, we can pray with confidence because a request given to God is one
that will be fulfilled in the way that's best for us.
6. The crooked judge did not fear God or care about
people, but he finally gave in and helped the helpless widow because she was
wearing him out with her requests. By granting her request he could get rid of
her.
7. No, Jesus is not saying that God is like the unjust
judge. God is the most just Judge. Jesus means that since even a crooked judge
would help a widow because of her persistence, our Father will certainly help
his chosen children who keep crying out to him?
8. Jesus seems to be saying that in the last days, God
will seem not to answer prayers to him for help. Things will be terrible. Many
will give up trusting in Jesus. Relatively few will be saved. May his Holy
Spirit keep us in faith through his Word!
Praying, as the Second
Commandment teaches, is to call upon God in every need. He requires this of us and has not left it to
our choice. But it is our duty and
obligation to pray, if we would be Christians, just as it is our duty and
obligation to obey our parents and the government. For by calling upon God’s name and praying,
His name is honored and used well. This
you must note above all things, so that you may silence and reject thoughts
that would keep us from prayer. Prayer
is not left to my will to do it or leave it undone, but it shall and must be
offered at the risk of God’s wrath and displeasure.
‹Cast away the thoughts that
would keep us from praying, as though it does not matter if we do not pray, or
as though prayer was commanded for those who are holier and in better favor
with God than we are. The human heart is
by nature so hopeless that it always flees from God and imagines that He does
not desire our prayer, because we are sinners and have earned nothing but
wrath. Against such thoughts we should remember this commandment and turn to
God, so that we may not stir up His anger more by such disobedience. He will not cast us away. This is true even though we are sinners. But instead He draws us to Himself, so that
we might humble ourselves before Him, bewail our misery and pray for grace and
help. – Large Catechism, Part III The Lord’s Prayer (paragraphs 8-11)
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