Our Father - 7-25-04 Sermon
OUR FATHER
Hosea 1:2 When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, "Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD."
3 So he went and took Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 And the LORD said to him, "Name him Jezreel; for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
5 On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel."
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. Then the LORD said to him, "Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them.
7 But I will have pity on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the LORD their God; I will not save them by bow, or by sword, or by war, or by horses, or by horsemen."
8 When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son.
9 Then the LORD said, "Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people and I am not your God."
10 Yet the number of the people of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor numbered; and in the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," it shall be said to them, "Children of the living God."
Luke 11:1 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."
2 He said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial."
5 And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread;
6 for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.'
7 And he answers from within, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.'
8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
9 "So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.
10 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish?
12 Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion?
13 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 him!"
OUR FATHER
Wow, what a difference between the reading in Hosea and that in Luke. Is it possible that there is any point of intersection between these two? Since these two readings are from the same God that we worship, there has got to be some correlation between what we read in Hosea and that of Luke. What can these two readings answer for us today?
This is the question that I hope we can come to some tentative answers here in Chase City!
Hosea is full with the imagery that suggests rejection and a separation of the children of Israel from God their Father. The names of the children conceived by Hosea and his wife all imply specific meanings related to the people of God. Luke on the other hand recalls Jesus' regular practice of prayer. Clearly prayer was a vital part of Jesus' own life. On the surface it would seem that there would be little in common, but lets compare them against each other and see if we can learn a bit more about our God and Lord. Do we dare to continue? Let’s see what is possible.
If we compare the two readings side by side, at first glance there does not seem to be any readily apparent point of connection. However, when we look at the contrasts and opposite meanings, there are many connections evident, especially if we focus on the Lord’s Prayer. We all know the prayer that is taught by Jesus to His disciples. So let’s begin with the word “Father” in Luke 11:2. This can be contrasted with Hosea 1:8-9, where God states that the children of Israel are no longer His people? From the Hosea reading, we understand that the people of God, the Israelites, His children, and the land that they are living in have committed whoredom, which basically meant that they had rejected God. The naming of the child as Lo-ruhamah, is seen as a negation of God's most fundamental attribute, grace or forgiveness. The loss of divine forgiveness results in the naming of the third child, Lo-ammi, in vv. 8-9. This name signifies that Israel is a "non-people." This is not an image of holocaust, but one of non-ownership. We need to remember, that a central aspect of Israel's identity was and continues to be its status as God's private possession. By naming his son Jezreel the prophet Hosea is proclaiming that the people have forfeited this privileged status. As depicted in Hosea the children have rejected their status of having access to God as Father, yet in Luke Jesus tells us we can cal God “Our Father.” The address of the prayer is simple but profound, "Father." The directness of this address is daring and intimate. Is there some underlying concept here that we need to capture. YES! God desires us to be in a relationship with Him and when we reject Him we no longer can call Him Father.
The Lord’s Prayer continues with “hallow be your name” and in Hosea 1:2 we see where the land has forsaken the Lord. It is here in Hosea 1:2, that an aura of judgment is established with the repetitive use of the word zanah, which is translated in the NRSV as "whoredom." Hosea is to take a "wife of whoredom" and have "children of whoredom" because the "land commits great whoredom." The Hebrew word, zanah, can mean prostitute, but that is a derived meaning. Rather the word signifies unfaithfulness in a marriage relationship, which is not implicit to the notion of prostitution. In Hosea, we then see that the people are rejecting God, and they are not willing to acknowledge that God’s name is sacred and therefore, there is to be a sense of reverence associated with His name. However, in Luke, we see again how Jesus says we need to call upon God in a sense of reverence; literally, "May your name be sanctified." What a stirring call for God to act, for God alone can establish holy reverence for God's name. God desires to be held in reverence, yet we as children of God, like the Israelites in Hosea’s time many times will reject God.
As we continue through our comparison, we note that Luke uses the words “Kingdom Come”, yet in Hosea, we read “end of the house of Israel.” Basically, in Hosea, we see that God has "no mercy" or has "no-pity" on the people any more. By naming the daughter Lo-ruhamah, God is saying to Israel, no longer shall I be with you. Yet in Luke, Jesus sees to say quite clearly, “Your Kingdom Come” and the implication is that the kingdom will come to those that are praying as well. As mentioned earlier, God is desirous having a relationship with His children and part of that relationship is to be active in His kingdom.
Next in the prayer, we see that Jesus is teaching His disciples to ask God for their “Daily Bread” and rightly so, yet as we have read in Hosea 1:4-5, God instructs Hosea to name his first son, Jezreel, a name that indicates some elements of Baal worship, yet also elements of God worship. God by causing this child to have the Jezreel, is acknowledging that while Israel knew that the Lord was certainly Israel's God, the worship of Baal was being worshiped as an insurance policy? God was addressing the problem of Israelite security. By naming the child Jezreel, God , is affirming that He is aware of the children’s attempt to look to something else other than Himself for security. God is stating that ultimate security (i.e., fertility) rests with God, not in Baal. This security motif continues in Hosea, in Hosea 1:7 when God states that he will “no pity” on Israel, but on Judah, He will save Judah by the Lord their God. Note that God is not saying in Hosea that He will come to their salvation with “bow, sword, war, horses, or horsemen.” God says it is only through His personal efforts that salvation shall come to Judah. This then is a pivotal point in our comparison between our two readings. In Luke, "May your kingdom come" (AP) is a cry for God to act. In turn, the petition for bread is an interpretive riddle. The words usually translated "daily bread" may well mean "bread for tomorrow." This sense would continue the eschatological or future tone of the foregoing line. Whatever the exact meaning, we should see how the prayer recognizes that our lives are sustained by God's own provision. The next petition is also related. The call for forgiveness recognizes God's ability to forgive human sin. The line is not, however, a statement about the conditions upon which God forgives; rather, it is a frank recognition that people who cannot or will not forgive have such a disposition that they cannot experience God's liberating forgiveness. In Hosea, even as in Luke, both readings are indicating the means by which God will in fact achieve any action for related to our circumstances. He will perform miraculous events to obtain what He desires for His people. Note however, that it is only for those that call upon Him as Lord.
Finally, as we close out the “Lord’s Prayer” we note that there is in fact a saving aspect to what Jesus was teaching. In Hosea, we see a similar movement away from the condemnation in the first few verses, to verse 10 were Hosea states that even though Israel has been unfaithful, even rejecting God, they still will be called “Children of the Living God.” How can this be? Luke has the answer as we pray, “lead us not into temptation.” The petition concerning temptations recognizes that the present experience of grace (as forgiveness) is not a guarantee that life will be without difficulties in the future. God does not tempt humanity, but God alone—not we ourselves—has the power to direct us away from temptation into the life that God intends for us.
What then might we say about or comparison between these two readings? Hosea proclaims that if Gods people reject and turn to other gods, God will turn away from that people. However, even in the Hosea reading, God holds out the potential of forgiveness and salvation to those people that reject Him. In the end all Israel needed to do was to come to God in an attitude of worship and seek Him as a little child. Isn’t this all that Jesus said as well? The Lord’s Prayer is the means by which we can avoid the problems that were encountered by Israel.
How are we to then pray?
A father was watching his young son trying to dislodge a heavy stone. The boy couldn't budge it. "Are you sure you are using all your strength?" the father asked. "Yes, I am," said the exasperated boy. "No, you are not," the father replied. "You haven't asked me to help you."
The point is well-made in today's Gospel reading when Jesus teaches about prayer. He does not expound some esoteric doctrine or give a complicated series of rules that must be followed if God is going to hear and respond. Rather, he says simply that talking to God is like family conversation where you express yourself unself-consciously with the confidence that you will be heard and understood. And it is the life of prayer, of communion with God, that enables us to live out the consequences of our baptismal freedom without regard for the opinions of the elemental spirits of the culture. Prayer, then, is not a means of getting something; it is a way of being in relationship to God, and Christians ignore it to their own loss, since Jesus describes his Father in terms that come close to being an easy touch.
Jesus tells us to ask God for bread daily in order to always have fresh bread. In the same way, we ask God daily to keep our spiritual life fresh.
Use the counterpoint in "God Help the Outcasts" from Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame to teach children how to pray. Esmeralda sings a heartfelt prayer for others while the so-called parishioners sing these self-centered words:
I ask for wealth,
I ask for fame,
I ask for glory to shine on my name,
I ask for love I can possess,
I ask for God and His angels to bless me.
In stark contrast, Esmeralda sings,
I ask for nothing, I can get by,
but I know so many less lucky than I.
Please help my people, the poor and downtrod
I thought we all were the people of God.
While the example of Hosea must have been seen as scandalous by his neighbors who doubtless knew very well what kind of example to the community a preacher ought to set, Jesus also himself hardly demonstrated a law and order mentality. Jesus was never accused of being a bore—on the contrary; many thought him too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shatter persons and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified him "meek and mild," and recommended him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies. To those who knew him, however, he in no way suggests a milk-and-water person; they objected to him as a dangerous firebrand. True, he was tender to the unfortunate, patient with honest inquirers, and humble before heaven; but he insulted respectable clergymen by calling them hypocrites. He referred to King Herod as "that fox"; he went to parties in disreputable company and was looked upon as a "gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners"; he assaulted indignant tradesmen and threw them and their belongings out of the temple; he drove a coach-and-horses through a number of sacrosanct and hoary regulations; he cured diseases by any means that came handy, with a shocking casualness in the matter of other people's pigs and property; he showed no proper deference for wealth or social position; when confronted with neat dialectical traps, he displayed a paradoxical humour that affronted serious-minded people, and he retorted by asking disagreeably searching questions that could not be answered by rule of thumb. He was emphatically not a dull man in his human lifetime, and if he was God, there can be nothing dull about God either.
Let us then become dynamic in our prayer even as Jesus taught His disciple by going to “Our Father.”
Let us prayer the Lord’s Prayer together.
