July 27, 2025 "God is not a Cosmic Vending Machine"

Seventh Sunday After Pentecost

Genesis 18:20-32

Psalm 138

Colossians 2:6-15

Luke 11:1-13

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,

 grace and peace to you

 from the one who reveals to us the character of God. Amen

The theme that runs through our readings for today is prayer.

 The disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray

 and he teaches them what has become known as the Lord’s prayer

 and then expands

seemingly on the practice of prayer

 with a story about someone persistently seeking help

 from a reluctant friend

who eventually helps them so that they will leave them alone.

 Jesus then seems to encourage this behavior

before affirming that the heavenly father

will give good gifts to his children.

Now if we’re not careful

 what we might take away from this teaching

 is that here are the magic words to say

 and if we say them enough

 we will get what we want out of God

 because we have been persistent.

This is what I call the “cosmic vending machine”

understanding of prayer,

you put the right prayers in,

 you make your selection,

 and out pops what you prayed for,

 and if you don’t get what you prayed for

 well then you must be doing it wrong,

or something is wrong with you.

You’ve encountered this right?

 this is the teaching of the prosperity gospel

and usually includes giving money to some flashy televangelist.

 And it’s understandable why even if we don’t go the full televangelist route

 that we’d be tempted to believe this is how it works

 because we’ve been conditioned by the world

 to understand that life is transactional

and when we apply the logic of the world to our relationship with God

 this is what we get.

However,

if we look closer

 we find that in his teaching about prayer

 Jesus emphasizes the relationship between God and humans,

a relationship that is based on who God is,

and who God is,

is so far beyond the ways of the world

that it takes God sending the Son of God into the world

 to live and teach the way of God,

 a way that is at the heart of the prayer Jesus teaches his disciples

 beginning with:

Father, may your name be revered as holy.

Jesus starts off with the relationship

and defines the relationship as a relationship of intimate family ties,

 this isn’t talking to some remote being,

 it is talking to dad,

revered as holy yes,

 but dad all the same.

And then we are to pray that dad’s kingdom come

the next petition recognizes that God’s ways are different than the ways of the world,

 better than the ways of the world

 such that we want God to reign in the world,

 such that in the next petition

we are to express our trust in God

to know what we need and to provide it.

 Jesus then teaches us to acknowledge our sins

even as we trust God to forgive them,

because that is the way of God,

a way that we pray that God helps us live out in forgiving others,

and finally we are to recognize

that God is powerful enough to save us from the time of trial

and we are bold to pray all this

because we trust in the goodness of God. (https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-17-3/commentary-on-luke-111-13-6)

So if the prayer Jesus teaches is about who God is

 rather than what we do,

 Jesus’ subsequent teachings then

become less an instruction manual

 and more a revelation of the character of God.

Unlike the person with the reluctant neighbor

we will not have to badger God into giving us what we need,

God is a good parent

even better than human parents

 who take good care of their children.

 And yes God knows what we need

but because this is a relationship

God encourages us to engage in the relationship

 by asking for what we need

 because our asking is an expression of the trust we have in God,

trust that is deepened the more time we spend on the relationship.

We see this kind of trust played out in Abraham’s conversation with God

 in our reading from Genesis.

God has called Abraham into relationship with God

and Abraham has placed remarkable trust in God,

 so when God invites Abraham to consult

 on God’s inquiry into Sodom and Gomorrah

- God has made the preliminary judgement

and now is running it by Abraham-

Abraham understands that in this relationship

 not only does God welcome direct questions

but that God has asked for Abraham’s opinion. (New Interpreter’s Bible)

and So Abraham engages with God

but Abraham doesn’t just express his own opinion or questions,

the heart of his appeal is based on God’s own character

 that in their relationship God has revealed to Abrahm.

asking God “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”  (https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-17-3/commentary-on-genesis-1820-32-6)

the God Abraham knows

 is one who is just,

who does the right thing,

 aren’t you going to keep doing that?

 Abraham asks.

 But he also knows that God is merciful as well as just

Whose mercy seeks restoration when there has been injustice

And so in his conversation

Abraham explores with God

How far God is willing to be merciful in the pursuit of restoration

Just how few good people will it take to redeem the larger number of the wicked?  

and as we see God is willing to go all the way down to ten righteous people,

it actually takes a remarkably small number of people

 to sway a larger group

 but I think Abraham realizes that at a certain point

there will not be enough righteous people to make a difference

 and he trusts God to know when that is

 and to deal justly with them,

 and of course that is what happens,

God discovers that judgment is warranted

but God saves Abraham’s nephew and his family

 before rendering the judgment.

 Abraham had a relationship with God

such that Abraham trusted what he knew of God,

 God’s justice and mercy,

and his bold appeal was based on this trusting relationship.

We too have a relationship with God,

 the nature and heart of whom

 has been revealed to us in Christ,

 indeed Jesus has really done most of the hard work of the relationship,

 as Paul remarks in Colossians,

when we were dead in sin, God made us alive in Christ,

through the cross, through the waters of baptism

 God gifted us with forgiveness and full relationship with God

 one that is built on compassion and grace.

And yet even as God has done the most important things

 Paul also recognizes that we have a role in maintaining this relationship,

continuing to walk in Christ,

rooting and building up our faith in him,

being on guard against being taken captive to human tradition

or deceitful philosophies

like those that try to convince us that God is as transactional as the world,

that it is up to us to save ourselves using God,

 that doesn’t trust the grace and mercy of God.

These temptations are around us,

 and also the love and truth of our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer.

And so we pray,

we acknowledge our intimate relationship with the holy one,

 the one who provides for our needs,

who forgives and guides us,

whose way we desire to reign on earth,

 and we are bold to ask for what we need,

 share what we fear,

confess our faults

 because time and again

we the one we address

had responded with love, mercy, and justice. Amen