In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
We all heard the story of how two astronauts were stuck in space recently. They orbited the earth for nine months due to mechanical issues and that they had finally returned safely back to earth on March 18. What was supposed to be an eight-day mission to the International Space Station ended up leaving us all wondering if these two brave people would actually ever return.
During those nine months, we heard many updates on their condition in space and I wondered more than a few times what these two people were thinking and praying about. They were stuck in space. They lived in confined quarters. Their families back on earth must have been distraught with worry. What were they thinking and praying about. Let’s all thank God they have returned safely and that such an incident never repeats itself.
The focus of today’s Bible reading is on prayer. We know that Jesus valued prayer and that He Himself prayed. He prayed throughout the day. He prayed before meals. He prayed in times of joy and in times of challenges. He prayed alone and He prayed with others. Jesus prayed before He made important decisions. He prayed at weddings and funerals. He prayed for His mother and His disciples and for those in need. He prayed at His baptism and while hanging on the Cross. So it is only natural that some of the parables He told would be about prayer.
Kaspar read one of those for us a few moments ago and in that Bible reading, we heard Him ask His disciples a question that He ties directly into the value of prayer. It is a question that catches them off guard. “When the Son of God returns,” He asks, “will He find any faith on earth? In other words, when Jesus Christ returns to this world, on the last day of earth, will He find people of faith—with faith that is firm and persistent, a faith that is strong and unwavering, a constant faith like He described in today’s story?
So, we have to ask: Why does He put such important on prayer and why does He want us to do no less? I think the answer is clear—because prayer changes everything. Prayer lets God’s Word enter our lives and shape how we deal with the world around us.
Think about technology for a moment. Technology has changed our world. Every day, all around us, billions of messages are crossing through the air at any given time connecting people who are making plans, answering questions or seeking information and on and on.
Prayer is like that. Prayers float up to Heaven from the four corners of the world at every moment, in every hour of every day. If only we could see the conversations between God and His people—conversations from this world to Heaven and from Heaven back to earth. We would be amazed at people’s passion for prayer; but prayer is invisible; and even though we want answers to our prayers right now, we know that those answers don’t always come when we want them or how we want them. They come to us on God’s timetable because he sees far above and far beyond what we can see. I’ll even say that often God answers our prayers in ways we’d never expect.
Let me share a poem that describes this very point. It reads like this: “I asked God to take my arrogance away from me and God told me “No!” He said that arrogance is not taken but given up. I asked God to grant m patience and God told me “No!” He said patience comes from trials. It is not granted. It is earned. I asked God to give me happiness and God told me “No!” He said whether we will be happy or not is up to us. I asked for strength and God sent me trials to test me. I asked for wisdom and God sent me problems to solve. I asked for love and God sent me people who needed my help. I asked for favors and God gave me opportunities. I received nothing I asked for but received everything I needed because God heard my prayers.
How many of us can relate to this? How many of us can say we prayed for something and God answered our prayers but in a way we didn’t expect? It may not have been what we wanted, but what resulted made all the difference.
So on this fifth Sunday of Lent, think about the question Jesus asked His disciples. “Will He find any faith when He returns to earth?” The answer to that question is this. “The Lord will find faith wherever there is prayer.”
Something for all of us to think about.
Amen.