In today’s Gospel text Jesus teaches us how generous our heavenly Father is with His gifts. He doesn’t give grudgingly or miserly. He’s not stingy with His gifts, nor does He have to be cajoled or coerced into giving them to us. Our prayers and petitions don’t cause God to give. God is, in fact, so willing and ready always to give, that He gives even before we ask Him. Jesus teaches us to pray and ask for what God has already given us and promises to continue to give us. God doesn’t give His gifts in fractions. He doesn’t give a little, but a whole lot. He doesn’t just fill up our cup until it’s full, but keeps pouring His gifts in until our cup overflows. His gifts not only meet our needs, but go beyond them, so that we have much more than just enough. The greatest gift that God gives us is Himself. The Father gives Himself to us through His Son, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself up for us on the cross. The Father and the Son give us the Holy Spirit, who now delivers Jesus and His gifts to us through the Word and the Sacraments, so that we might be His own, live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.
Our God is not like the gods of the nations, to whom you must give first before they will give to you. With the idols you must go through the proper incantations in order to manipulate them into granting you your requests. But with the true God, His giving precedes your asking. Without first being given to by Him, you could never ask or give anything to Him and expect that He would answer and give to you. In the first place, you would not even exist, as your very life is a gift to you from God, the Maker of heaven and earth. But in the second place, you are by nature a sinner from the time of your conception, dead in your trespasses and sins, and an enemy of God, according to His Word. According to Jesus, your heart is full of evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, and slander, among other things, and no such heart can or even wills to ask God for anything. Rather, it treats God as some kind of genie, who’s suppose to grant whatever our heart wishes and is angry when it doesn’t get its way. Not only that, but in such a sinful state we have no right to ask God for anything, as we are completely turned against Him, do not hallow His Name, and try to prevent His kingdom from coming. Though we still have the physical life that He has given to us, in our fallen condition we are dead even while we live - the end of which is separation from God and His gifts for all eternity.
So, there’s no giving to God first. Not even our faith in Jesus Christ is a gift that we have given Him. This faith is His gift to us, just as the Apostle Paul writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” This gift of faith is given us through the gift of His Word. That’s why in last week’s Gospel text we heard Jesus say of Mary that she had chosen the good thing of sitting at His feet and listening to Him, because through His words Jesus gives us life and salvation and creates the faith in our hearts to receive these gifts. Through the words of Jesus God delivers the gift of Jesus Himself, whom He sent to be the sacrifice for the sins of the world, and that apart from our asking or giving to Him. And in that gift we see just how overwhelmingly generous God the Father is in His giving, in that He did not withhold His own Son from us, but gave Him up in order to save us from sin, death, and the power of the devil. Jesus, too, shows us the extent of His love for us, in that He willingly lay down His life, so that we might not die but have eternal life. The crucifixion of Jesus so clearly reveals how much God wants to shower us with His gifts, that the Apostle Paul writes, “He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?”
The “all things” that God gives with His Son are all the gifts Jesus won for you through His life, death, and resurrection. Those gifts include the forgiveness of your sins, eternal life, and salvation from God’s wrath. And, since God has freely and graciously given you these gifts, what won’t He give you, if you need it? Jesus compares God’s giving to the giving of one of your friends. Now, you’d think a close friend would give you whatever you need, even if you came to him in the middle of the night asking for his help. But your friend might grumble and complain that you’ve put him out. He might say “No” to your request. If you’re persistent, he might reluctantly get up and give you what you need. God’s giving, on the other hand, is not like that of even your closest friend. He is not put out by your requests, nor is there any time that is an inconvenient time for God to listen to your prayers and grant your petitions. He’s never too busy for you. Nor does He give reluctantly when He gives, like a friend might, but He gives willingly and generously, giving you even more than you ask or need. It may seem like God is delaying His answer sometimes, but He does not want His reputation as a generous God to be tarnished. Jesus gives you a promise here, saying, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” God wants you to hold Him to this promise. He will give you what you ask for.
Now, Jesus isn’t saying that you can treat God like the unbelievers treat their idols, expecting Him to grant whatever you wish. What you are to ask your heavenly Father for are the things He teaches you to ask for - that His Name be hallowed, that His kingdom come, that He give you each day your daily bread, forgive your sins, and guard and keep you from the devil and all evil. These all have God’s promise that He will give them to you when you ask them of Him. Not only will He give them to you when you ask Him, but He has already given them to you even before you’ve asked Him. With regard to the gift of forgiveness, for example, some people believe that God only forgives you your sins when you ask Him to, or that He only forgives those sins that you specifically mention. That just isn’t so. He’s forgiven you all your sins already for Christ’s sake, who died for all your sins on the cross, apart from your asking Him to, and through your Baptism He’s washed you in the blood of Christ, cleansing you from all unrighteousness. When He through me forgives you your sins here in the divine service, it’s not that only some of your sins are forgiven; all of them are! That’s how generous God is with His forgiveness. He gives you 100% and more. So, when Jesus teaches you to pray that God forgive you your trespasses, it’s not that He hasn’t already forgiven you, but God wants to continue to pour more of that gift into you. He wants to continue to grant you His forgiveness, He wants you to know that this forgiveness comes from Him, and He wants you to know how generous He is with His forgiveness, so that you might never doubt your forgiveness and your salvation.
You can be sure that when you ask God for what He promises you, the answer is always going to be “Yes.” You can also be sure that when you ask God for those gifts, He’s not going to give you something else instead, something evil, something harmful. Sometimes we’re afraid to ask that God’s will be done, because of what He might do to us. Maybe He’ll bring suffering or something into our lives. Maybe He’ll punish us for something we’ve done. Those who think such thoughts, however, really don’t fully understand God’s love towards us in Jesus, who has suffered the full brunt of God’s wrath and punishment for us on the cross. They don’t understand that if God allows suffering into our lives it’s not to punish us for sin, but to exercise our faith, put to death our sinful lusts, and cause us to turn to Him in prayer for His grace and the strength to stand firm. Again, Jesus uses an illustration, comparing God’s love to the love of earthly fathers towards their children. Just as a sinful father loves his children and knows how to give good gifts to them, even more so does your heavenly Father love you and will give you His Holy Spirit when you ask Him.
To be given God’s Holy Spirit is to be given the gifts that the Holy Spirit brings. According to Jesus, the Holy Spirit’s work is to deliver Jesus and His gifts to you. Jesus says, “He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you.” When you ask God to give you His Holy Spirit, you get everything that Jesus worked for you - the forgiveness of sins, deliverance from the devil, reconciliation with God and eternal life in His kingdom. Now, it’s not that you don’t already have the Holy Spirit; He was given to you at your Baptism apart from your asking for Him. But He, too, is a gift that our generous heavenly Father continues to grant us, and we have His promise here that He will give us His Holy Spirit, when we ask Him. The way He gives His Holy Spirit to us is through His Word. The more we sit at the feet of Jesus listening to His words like Mary did in last week’s lesson, the more we’ll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the more we’ll receive the gift of our Savior.
And so, our heavenly Father is not a stingy giver. He has given Himself completely to us. He has given us His only-begotten Son, He has given us His Holy Spirit, He has given us His Word, Baptism, the Lord’s Supper and all the gifts that these means bestow - the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. And He has given us the privilege of prayer with the promise to hear and answer us. The Lord is not a stingy giver, but often times we are stingy receivers. We have trouble believing that God is as generous as He promises to be. We sometimes view Him more as a reluctant friend or as a mean and spiteful father. And so we have trouble believing that He wants to hear us and grant our requests. As a result, we don’t pray to Him as we should nor as often as we should. Lack of prayer stems from lack of faith, and it’s this lack of faith that hinders us from receiving the gifts that God wants to give us.
But Jesus teaches us differently. To know Jesus is to know the Father and His heart towards you. Again, the Apostle Paul reminds us that, “He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” Christ crucified for you is the sure sign that you have a generous and giving heavenly Father. Because He did not spare His Son but gave Him up for you on the cross, He will graciously give you all things. He will hallow His Name. He will cause His kingdom to come. He will give you each day your daily bread. He will forgive you your sins. And He will guard and keep you from the devil and all evil, until the day He takes you to your eternal home with Him, where He will show you the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward you in Christ Jesus. Amen.