B. Palm Sunday: April 5, 2009 "When God says No"
Text Mark 14:1-11 The Rev. Blake R. Hutson
In the name of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
I begin this morning with an interesting question: What makes a successful prayer? Is a successful prayer one in which God gives us what we ask for? What about when God says “No?” Could good things come from God saying “No” to a prayer?
A few years ago a study was
conducted about prayer that made national headlines. In the study, which was carried by the
Researchers wanted to focus on a type of prayer that could be measured. So, persons in the groups prayed that the surgical patients “would have a successful surgery, a quick recovery, and no complications.” Interestingly enough, unexpected results occurred. First, there did not appear to be any positive effects from the prayers offered for the patients. And surprisingly patients who knew they were being prayed for had more medical complications than the group who didn’t know they were being prayed for.
If a successful prayer is one in which God gives us what we ask for, then these prayers weren’t very successful. God didn’t give the patients what they wanted. God didn’t give the individuals praying for them what they wanted; and God certainly didn’t give the researchers what they wanted or had anticipated. God answered some of these prayers with a flat out “No.” We may be left asking: So why pray? Their prayers didn’t appear to be answered. Why weren’t they successful? Why did God say “No”?
In our personal life, from time to time all of us may have asked these questions. All of us have prayed for something and not received what we wanted. If it feels like God isn’t answering your prayer, it isn’t that God isn’t hearing you or answering you. God may be saying “No” to your prayer. In our personal lives we know that sometimes a parent has to say “No” to a child. The child may not understand and become upset. In a similar way, but on a different level, we are the children of God. In the Lords Prayer we call God ‘Our Father’ and as Christians we believe that God is our Creator. There are times in our life when we have been grieved and we’ve pleaded with God to make something happen–and God hasn’t given us what we wanted.
In the verses that follow today’s Gospel, this is exactly what Jesus experienced: He pleaded with God and this is exactly what Jesus encountered–God saying “No.”
In the
“Abba” was an Aramaic term of endearment. It was a child’s intimate address to its Father. Jesus said, “Father, you can do it!--Please, please take this from me!” Yet we know how this story turned out. Clearly God said “No” to his Son.
In the Garden, Jesus prayed what was probably the most heartfelt prayer he had ever prayed. Of all the prayers He had ever said, I imagine that He must have wanted this one the most! With tears Jesus said, “Please, please, take this impending death from me!” Jesus asked not once, but three times! Yet God did not give His Son what he wanted.
Like Jesus, maybe you have begged and pleaded with God to do something. Like Jesus, maybe you have heard or experienced God saying: “No.” It’s always hard to hear/it’s always hard to experience the answer “No.” After Jesus’ time in the Garden, he experienced in a very painful way, God saying “No.” So much so that as he hung dying on the Cross Jesus cried out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mk. 15:34)
When we offer prayer we often have a particular answer that we want in mind. Often when we pray we are like the researchers who conducted that study a few years ago: when we pray we have a particular answer that we are looking for. If God hasn’t given us what we wanted then we may be tempted to feel abandoned, maybe even come to feel that we have been forsaken.
At the same time, we know that God isn’t a “Genie in a bottle” who grants our every wish. Just because we ask for something doesn’t mean we will get it. The reality is God always has the big picture in mind. Jesus knew this. So, in the Garden, with his tears, Jesus asked for what he wanted and then he asked for what God wanted for Him. He prayed, “Yet, not what I want, but Father, what you want” (vs. 36b)
The example for us is to offer our prayers in faith and trust and to ask for what we want. In humility, faith and trust, ask for what you desire knowing that God cares for you, knowing that God hears you. Ask for what you want and then ask for what God might want for you.
There is another reality at work here and it is this:
because God always has the big picture in mind, some of God’s greatest gifts
are when God doesn’t grant our request. As a parent sometimes it is hard to say ‘No’
to your child. But as the parent you
understand what is best for your child…you see the bigger picture; you see what
they don’t understand. As difficult as
it was, God said “No” to His Son’s first prayer in the Garden. In doing so, the greatest possible gift
was given to us. Christ went to the
Cross for us. Christ died for us. In God saying “No” to Christ the gift of
salvation was given to us! Following his
death, the Church came to be formed—and if you think about it, we are here
this morning because God said “No” to Christ in the Garden. God said “No” out of God’s love for us,
because God the Father always has the big picture in mind.
We may not know why God might not give us what we want. I’m not saying God’s “No” in your life is a gift, but, it can be …and perhaps it is. A successful prayer isn’t one in which we necessarily get what we want. Let me suggest that a successful prayer is one in which God is enabled to work in our lives and in our hearts. A successful prayer is one in which we are changed. We are changed because our perspective changes. We go from focusing on ourselves and what we want to focusing on what God wants. Our focus goes from ourselves and our problems or our desires and what we might want …to God and the gift God might want to give and to the bigger picture that God might see for us.
Maybe you are “in the Garden” so to speak this morning. Maybe you’ve prayed as hard as you know how to pray and you are waiting for God to answer.
All of us can take courage and strength from this story at the end of Jesus’ life. We’ve been reminded this morning that a successful prayer may not be one in which we get exactly what we ask for…and sometimes good things can come from God saying ‘No’ to a prayer.
Let me encourage you to follow Jesus’ example and keep praying. Keep trusting. Keep telling God what is on your heart and mind. Cry out to God with tears if need be. Keep asking God for what you want. … Then prayerfully ask, prayerfully consider what God might want for you …and trust that God always sees the bigger picture.
Amen.