John 16:23-30.
Verily, verily, I say to you, if you ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it to you. Until now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. These things have I spoken unto you by proverb. But the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you by proverb, but will freely proclaim to you from my Father. In that day you will ask in my name. And I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you; for he himself, the Father, loves you, because you love me and believe that I came forth from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again I leave the world, and go to the Father. His disciples said to him, "Behold, now you speak freely and do not say a proverb. Now we know that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee. Therefore we believe that you came from God.
*) Held in his home, 1533.
1 Today's Gospel, as your beloved hears, is a splendid exhortation to prayer. For after preaching, the highest service of Christians is to pray. The Lord also gave this exhortation in the evening over the table, soon after the sermon which your love heard fourteen days ago, when he said to his disciples: "You will be sad because of my departure; but it is only for a little, and I will see you again, and then your sadness will become joy. This comfort is followed by the exhortation to pray. And rhymes very well with each other. For where a Christian is in fear, worry and anxiety, in trouble and misfortune, there is no other consolation nor counsel than that he keep to prayer and cry out to God for help.
2 The Lord here teaches his disciples and us that they should not forget to pray when they are in mourning. And he comfortingly says that they should be bold and undaunted in this work. "For," saith he, "I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: for he himself, the Father, loveth you, because ye love me, and believe that I came forth from God." True, Christ does not leave it, he sits at the right hand of the Father and represents us, as Paul says. So we know that his prayer, which he made for his church and for us poor sinners at the last supper over the table and afterwards on the cross, has been heard, and still goes on and remains strong until the end of the world. But, saith Christ, ye have no need of such prayer as this, which I make for you: for ye can pray the Father yourselves: and doubt not, your prayer is heard: for my Father loveth you, because ye love me. This is not to say that we should not take comfort in Christ's prayer, but that we should not despise our own prayer, because we love Christ. For this has been decided, and we should be diligent to realize and learn that whoever has a desire and love for Christ, the Father also wants to love him, and so love him that he will hear him. Where then are the godless papists who have pointed us to the intercession of the saints and put us off?
3) This means to comfort and entice us to prayer, that our dear Lord Christ, through His death and departure from this world to the Father, has given us such access to God, and that we can be wherever we want, in church, in the house, in the cellar, in the kitchen, in the field, in the workshop, if we are Christians and love Christ, so that we can come before God in heaven with our hearts, talk to Him and pray for all that concerns us.
4 For nothing else is needed for such prayer, but such a heart as this, saying, Father in heaven, I know that thou lovest me, because I love thy Son, and my Redeemer, Christ Jesus. In such trust and confidence I will ask you now and comfortingly: not that I am so holy or pious, but that I know that you will gladly give and bestow everything on us for the sake of your Son Christ JEsu; in his name I now come before you and ask, and do not doubt at all, that such a prayer (for my own sake, as I wish) will be yes and certainly heard.
(5) For every Christian must beware lest he tarry so long in prayer, until he think that he is altogether pure and skillful. As the devil often troubles and hinders us with such thoughts, so that we think, "Well, you are not skilled now, nor idle; you must first do this or that, and then you can pray all the more quietly. Whoever follows such thoughts and allows himself to be hindered and prevented from praying, will certainly be like that farmer's wife who wanted to do something before she began to wish, was thus prevented and never got around to wishing. For the devil is a mischievous man, and always creeps up on us to see if he can prevent us from doing this or that.
(6) Therefore we must prepare ourselves against him, and not allow anything to hinder or hinder us; but as soon as the need is before us, think thus: Now is the right hour of prayer; if I am not skillful or worthy, God will make me skillful and worthy; for I know that he loves me for Christ's sake, and not for mine, that I am so pious or holy.
7. this is what our dear Lord Christ wants here
that we should pray, and not *) go, as the rude people do, saying, Eat and drink, nevertheless, taste well to them, though they pray not an Our Father in eight days. If you are a Christian, or if you want to be a Christian, beware of such a crude life, and pray at least in the morning when you get up, over and from the table, and in the evening when you go to bed again, and say: Our Father, hallowed be your name etc.
(8) For we Christians owe it to ourselves to pray without ceasing: if not with our mouths (as we cannot always do), yet with our hearts. For all hearts should desire every moment that God's name be hallowed, His kingdom come, His will be done, item, that He may give peace in the land, good weather, a healthy body etc. This is what every Christian desires in his heart every hour and every moment, even though his mouth celebrates it, and even if he does not actually think about it, it is no different in his heart. This means to pray spiritually and with the heart. And we are in great need of such prayer, for the sake of the constant journey that a Christian is not for a moment safe from the devil and his own flesh, lest he fall into sin and disgrace.
(9) But beside such heartfelt prayer, oral prayer should also go. How the same prayer should be arranged, the Lord teaches here and says: "You shall ask in my name"; item: "The Father loves you, because you love me, and believe that I came forth from God. When the person is thus prepared to believe in Christ, then he is the right priest in his chasuble and priestly adornment, and lacks nothing else, except that he opens his mouth cheerfully, and takes up a certain piece, since it seems to him that he and other Christians are most in need of it, and says: "Lord, this is what I need, this is what they need; give it to us for Christ's sake. etc.
Now, however, we have fallen into such a time in particular that, unfortunately, we are suffering from various hardships that occur daily and become more and more difficult from day to day,
*) go there uninvited (a b c).
if we only prayed a lot. First of all, the devil is a liar and a murderer. With lies he wants to dampen God's word; with murder he wants to cause all kinds of unrest in the kingdom: Kingdom. That is why neither the pope nor the Turk, along with other tyrants who oppose the Word, celebrate. In this way, we learn about the needs of each one, even if such common needs are not present. That is why we have enough causes everywhere that drive us to prayer. But if anyone does not consider all such needs, he need only take before him the holy Lord's Prayer, which has seven parts in which all needs and all intentions are contained.
(11) In the first petition, "Hallowed be thy name," we pray for all righteous preachers and against all heretics and unbelievers, against Jews, pagans, Turks, and the pope; for all of these lust after the name of God and unhallow it: that God may prevent them, give pious preachers, and keep the word pure and clean, against all heresy.
(12) In the other petition, "Your kingdom come to us," we ask that the kingdom of the devil and of death may come to an end. This is also a very broad petition; that is, it includes the entire kingdom of the devil, that God may put an end to it and establish His kingdom in us and in all people through His Word and the Holy Spirit.
In the third prayer: "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven", we ask that all wills be prevented that are against God's gracious will. This is a very unpleasant request for the devil and the evil people, and prevents a great deal of misfortune, which the devil and the evil world would cause daily, if one did not defend oneself so nobly with this prayer.
In the fourth petition, "Give us this day our daily bread," we pray for our authorities, for our parents, for wife and child, for bread and the fruits of the land, for peace, and for all that we need for the maintenance of this temporal life, each in his own state, that God may give him happiness and blessing in this and graciously protect him from all misfortune.
15. in the fifth petition: "Forgive us
our iniquities as we forgive those who trespass against us," we pray that God may have mercy on us, turn away from us the wrath we deserve, not punish us for our sins, and also have mercy on us, so that we may become more godly day by day and keep to His will, and live kindly among ourselves, each forgiving the other's trespasses.
16) In the sixth petition, "Do not let us fall into temptation," we pray that God will come to the aid of all hearts in particular, that He will not leave them stuck in temptation, but will graciously help them out through His Word and His Holy Spirit, and break the devil's power and authority.
In the seventh petition, "But deliver us from evil," we ask for a good, blessed hour, so that our Lord God may take us from this pit of misery with grace and make us eternally blessed.
18 Thus in the Lord's Prayer, everything that may trouble us and concern us, or serve us for the best, is very finely put together. All such things are necessary for us to ask for daily. For there is enough need, first of all in general, then in every house, station and being; and it is only lacking in us that we do not open our mouths confidently and pray. For the command is already there that we should pray, and the promise is also there that it will be heard, yes, and certainly. And to make matters worse, our dear Lord Christ has given us the form of prayer himself, as you can see in the Lord's Prayer.
(19) Now we must confess that we are poor sinners, unworthy to come before God and speak to God, and unworthy to receive anything from Him. So that we may not let our unworthiness prevent us from praying, the Lord commands us here in explicit words: We are to ask in his name; and says to us: What we ask in his name, that shall be heard. With these words, therefore, draw this service entirely out of the world into the one person, Christ Jesus.
20 Therefore, all prayer that is not made in the name of Jesus is not prayer, nor is it a prayer.
Divine service. As when a monk prays that God will be merciful to him for the sake of Francisci or Dominici, to consider his or other merits, fasting, praying etc.: such is no prayer; for it is not in the name of Christ, but in St. Francisci, Dominici or your name. Such a prayer is the prayer of the Gentiles, Turks and Jews, yes, also the prayer of all papists. For they do not want to have the name of Jesus alone in the prayer, but add the names of the Virgin Marys, the apostles and other saints. From such idolatrous prayer, nothing will come, God does not hear it. And even though the things they ask for happen to them, they happen to them only to their annoyance, to their great harm and disadvantage, and it would have been better if it had not happened to them.
(21) But Christians do not pray in this way; because of their name and the name of other creatures, they despair and would never open their mouths. But because they do not know that God is merciful through Christ, and they are commanded to pray in the name of Jesus Christ, this makes them bold and daring, so that even though they confess themselves to be poor sinners and admit guilt, they still run before God, open their mouths fearlessly and say: Father, we your children need this now and that now; be merciful; look not on our sin, but on your Son Christ Jesus; in his name we come before you now, and hear us. This is called right prayer, when the prayer is made through and through in Christ Jesus. And must follow what mau asks, that it be yea and amen in Christ JEsu. This should make us happy and willing to pray, because we hear: What one asks the Father in the name of Christ, that should penetrate, and not rest until it comes before God's throne, and there Yes is spoken over it.
22) On such a promise the Lord says to his disciples, "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name." For they relied upon him; as those wicked peasants relied upon their parish lord to pray for them, thinking they thirsted not to pray. But, saith he, do it no more, but "ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." Such prayers
We should consider the lack and the commandment and learn according to them. Sadness, miserableness and temptation will not be absent. Therefore, whoever wants to have constant, perfect joy and get out of such distress, let him pray as Christ commands here, and do not doubt that whatever he asks in the name of Christ will be done for him, if it is otherwise for the glory of God and our salvation.
For there is a defect with us, as Paul says, that we do not always know what and how we should ask. That is why many people ask God to help them from this and that temptation. But nothing comes of it; for God sees and knows much better what is good for us than we ourselves do. St. Paul also asked that God would help him from his temptation. But what does Christ say? (2 Cor. 12, 9.:) "Be satisfied with my grace, for my power is mighty in the weak."
(24) So it may still be today that you would like to be free from this challenge, and I from another: but God knows what is good for us, and therefore leaves such suffering upon us, and does not help us from it; for otherwise we would become too hopeful, insolent and sure. Therefore, before we ask for our daily bread, we ask God to let His will be done. And Christ himself, praying on the Mount of Olives, says: "Not my will, but yours be done. So we should also ask, and always look to God's will, and then not doubt that God will give us everything that serves His glory and our blessedness.
25 After this, there is still a lack in us. God wants to help and give us what we ask in the name of His Son Christ Jesus; there is no doubt about that. But there is no time and way determined, how he wants to help. Now our reason, flesh and blood does not let us celebrate. As soon as it seems to us that the way we want to go does not want to go, we think it is over, we have to go to the ground. It is the same with time: it seems to us that if we are not advised in so many hours, days and years, nothing will ever come of it. And will
Thus, through these two temptations, the faith is fiercely challenged and weakened.
For this reason it is necessary that we keep God's word here and wait for the help that is promised to us in the name of Christ, regardless of time, manner or way, whenever it may be. For we are not to know such circumstances, but God alone knows. For he has the name and is called: Adjutor in opportunitate, a helper who helps at the appropriate time. But because we are quite grumpy by nature, we always think that it is now time for God to take too long. This is to say that we know the time better than our Lord God Himself. We should beware of this, so that our faith in the promise may stand firm, that God will hear us graciously and in due time for the sake of Christ Jesus His Son.
(27) Now this is the doctrine of Christian prayer, which, as stated above, we have great need of this day; neither have we any other comfort on earth; as the Lord shows here, saying, "Ask, that your joy may be full. For where there is no prayer, there can be no joy, or indeed no perfect joy, but there must remain sorrow, anguish and sadness.
We have experienced this more than once during these years. For if our prayers were effective, it would be impossible that the pope and other tyrants would not have destroyed and exterminated us long ago. But because the prayer is constant, that God will keep His word and His church and defend the enemies of His word, we see that the more the pope and other tyrants rage against the church, the more they fall. Therefore let us henceforth continue diligently: we, to whom the word is commanded, with preaching, and afterward every Christian for himself with praying; so by these two things the Christian church will be well preserved against the devil and all enemies of the word.
(29) Therefore, whoever loves the Christian church and would like to see it prosper, he must also help to preserve it. But this is done only through prayer, when you pray that the name of your God in heaven may be sanctified, and that his kingdom may come.
and his will be done; again, that the devil's name be defiled, his kingdom destroyed, and all his will and plots hindered. If you do this, you and every Christian will stand as a warrior with his armor in the field and in the forefront, helping to shield and protect the Christian church against the devil and the world. For every Christian is a warrior and is at war against the devil: we first with preaching, and then you with us, with praying. These two things do the devil heartache when one preaches diligently and prays earnestly; and if he is to be beaten and broken, it must be done in this way alone. About this we also know that our Father in heaven above likes it this way.
(30) I have no doubt that through our prayer many evil practices of the persecutors of the word have been turned back and prevented; and if anything good is to be done this day, and evil is to be prevented, it must be done through prayer. Therefore, do not throw your prayer to the wind, even if you think you are unskilled and unworthy of it. For otherwise no one would pray. But let every Christian man speak to himself thus: Because prayer is so pleasing to God, and so highly necessary and useful to me and to the church and the government, I will also go to the church and help to pray as much as I can; for I know that it shall not be, nor can it be, in vain.
(31) It is a dangerous thought to think, 'Let others pray, your prayer is not special. Therefore beware of it, and think thus: I have ever loved Christ and his word, and would rather leave everything than deny my Lord Christ; so it must follow that the Father also loves me and will hear my prayer, as Christ here promises me. Therefore, I will not let anything hinder me in praying, nor will I let it hold me back. So that one may pray confidently in the name of Christ, and believe the promise that we have here: "Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you"; then there is no need.
32 That now the Lord says further, "These things have I spoken unto you by proverbs";
This has not the opinion as if the Lord had spoken with dark, hidden words; because the words are ever louder and clear. But because the disciples had no experience of this, and did not know what kind of kingdom Christ would bring about, what he said to them was dark and hidden, as if he spoke to them in an unknown language.
But, saith he, it shall be otherwise. The time is coming when I will no longer speak to you through proverbs, but will freely proclaim to you about my Father. For when the Holy Spirit comes, and sets hearts on fire with a right trust in God's goodness and mercy through Christ, then it follows that one can pray rightly, and is cheerful and willing to do so. But without such a spirit, praying is impossible. Therefore Zechariah calls him a spirit of grace and prayer. For both must be together. The faith that one recognizes God as a gracious Father, since He gave His Son to us; which faith is a gift of God that the Holy Spirit works in us through the Gospel. Where there is such a spirit of grace, there also follows the spirit of prayer, so that one cries out to God for help in distress and temptation, and knows that God will not abandon us, but will be with us and make us blessed for eternity for the sake of His Son Christ Jesus.
34 Therefore the Lord says: "On the same day," when I will freely proclaim the Father to you and teach you through the Holy Spirit that you know him, "you will ask in my name," and such prayer will not be in vain. For how could the Father deny you anything, since he loves you, because you love me, and believe that I came from God? For true prayer must flow from such faith and trust; otherwise it is not prayer, no matter how good the words may be.
35. May God, our dear Father, give His Holy Spirit through Christ Jesus into our hearts, so that we may also pray in all hardships and temptations, and render this service to God, and be delivered from all misery, both temporally and eternally, amen.