Knocking on Heaven’s Door
a sermon based on Luke 11:1-13
by Rev. Randy L. Quinn


Knock. Knock. (I’ll wait for them to answer: Who’s there?)
Isaiah. Isaiah who?
Isaiah, Old Chap, won’t you let me in?

Knock. Knock. Who’s there?
Aaron. Aaron who?
Why Aaron you opening the door?

Knock. Knock. Who’s there?
Adam. Adam who?
Adam my way, I’m coming in [1].


Some people like “knock-knock” jokes. And some “knock-knock” jokes are better than others. But what happens if no one says, “Who’s there?” (I’ll let them answer, but the obvious answer is – you couldn’t tell the joke.)

It’s like that with God, too. If God speaks and we don’t listen, we can’t do anything God wants us to do. And if we ask God for something but don’t stop to listen for an answer, God can’t answer our prayers, either.

In our lesson this morning, the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray.

When people ask about prayer, they rarely ask for words to pray. We can all find good prayers that have already been written. People who ask about prayer aren’t looking for words. But that’s how Jesus answers when the disciples ask him about prayer.

“When you pray, say . . .” (v 2).

Jesus' answer is a short example of prayer, a prayer without a lot of fancy words, in natural language – much like you might address your own parents. He even uses the intimate language of a young child calling on his Daddy.

Then he tells us a few stories to help us understand what prayer is about and what makes prayer effective. The first one is quite easy for some of us to imagine. A man comes to your door in the middle of the night. He says that he just had some unexpected guests drop in and there is nothing in the house to feed them. Could you spare a few pieces of bread? Maybe a little coffee?

Barb was our next door neighbor when we lived in Saint John, Washington. Barb loved to cook and bake. And she was good at it too. I always enjoyed it when she was trying out a new recipe because we always got to sample it before she served it for guests.

But there were only two grocery stores in Saint John and they both closed at 5:00. Neither was open on Sunday, either. There were times when Barb would start baking and realize she didn't have enough eggs or flour or something. (That happened to us more than once, too, by the way.)

So Barb would call and ask to borrow an egg or whatever she needed. It didn't matter what time of the day or night. She knew that if we had what she needed, we would lend it to her.

Maybe you’ve done the same thing, but it had never happened to me before we moved to Saint John. If I ran out of something I would wait until I had time to get to the store or I would make something else. By asking us for a cup of sugar, though, Barb gave me permission to ask for help in my times of need.

But what happens when you are new in town and you don’t know your neighbor? Our first few mornings in McLouth were like that. We had eggs, but we didn’t have a frying pan. Should we run next door and borrow one or should we find something else to eat? If it was really important – say we had some unexpected family drop in – would we ask our neighbor whom we had never met?

What would you do? Maybe you come back from a trip and your cupboard is bare. You decide to wait until morning to get what you need. But then a distant relative stops by. Now what?

I guess you could pretend to ask your neighbor so your guest would realize you were really putting yourself out for them. You might go next door and rather sheepishly knock on the door – almost hoping that no one would answer so that you wouldn’t have to explain the predicament you’re in. After all, we’re supposed to be prepared for such things, aren't we?

If you knock rather sheepishly and no one answers, then what? If you knock rather sheepishly and no one answers, do you run to the next house? and the next?

Of course not. If you’re going to ask for something, you ask for it. You knock louder if there is no answer. You wait at the door until they answer. But you also imply that you are open to them asking you for an extra egg or a piece of bread the next time they are out of food when company arrives.

I am convinced that most of us pray with the attitude that we don't want God to answer the door. We rather sheepishly knock, wait a few seconds and then leave. We’re almost afraid that if God answers our prayer God might come knocking on our door and ask us for things.

And that is just too scary.

I mean, what if God really does want to treat us in the same manner that we treat God? What if the only reason that God is not more active in our lives is that we have not allowed God the opportunity to work in and through us?

Jesus spent an enormous amount of time in prayer. Luke even records times when he was in prayer all night (Lk 6:12)!

Those occasions when I’ve stayed up all night were because of a close friend or family. I needed to pick someone up at the airport – or as in the case of this week with Melissa – I was sitting in a hospital room. My love for my family will keep me up all night.

Jesus spent that kind of time in prayer.

Perhaps it was because when he prayed to God as Abba, Father, he really did understand that God was like family to him. And when there were issues to discuss, wills to determine, he was not afraid to spend the entire night seeking God, waiting for God, listening for God.

Of course, we all know what God asked of Jesus. If we were to pray that often, that fervently, that persistently, what might God ask of us? Or more importantly, perhaps, what could God accomplish through us?

The other way Jesus explains what prayer is about is by asking a few rhetorical questions about what we give to our children when they ask for something. The clear implication is that God, as parent, will do no less than we will for our children, and maybe even more, since God obviously has a little more to offer.

Again, we are reminded that parents also expect a lot from their children. Some of those expectations are spoken aloud as in the form of household chores; others are implied as in our mutual affection; while still others are never spoken aloud but only thought as in the hopes and dreams of a parent for their child's future and career choices.

If Jesus understood that God would only give what was best for him, he also understood that his relationship with God included a sense of duty and honor that required him to act in a certain way and to accomplish certain tasks.

But Jesus also tells his Disciples that whenever we ask, we will receive; that whenever we knock, the door will be opened.

And like many of you, I have often wondered about that. It seems to me that I have seen many prayers go unanswered; many requests that were turned down; many doors that were closed. Just what is Jesus talking about here?

A light bulb went on for me this week as I wrestled with this text. Jesus says here that God will give us the Holy Spirit when we ask, that God's spirit will be there when we knock, that when we seek God, we will find the Holy Spirit.

Read vs 9 - 13

Perhaps the answer to the original question of how to pray is simply this: That to pray is to seek God, not God's help, not God’s gifts. To pray is to seek God. To pray is to knock on the door of the neighbor and seek your neighbor as a person, not to ask for food for your guests. To pray is to enter into relationship with God, to offer ourselves to God and to allow God to become a part of our lives.

If you go to your neighbor and they do not know you, they are less likely to lend you a loaf of bread or a hammer or an egg. To go to a neighbor that you have come to know over the course of time, well that is a different story. That neighbor you can call at 3:00 in the morning just because you heard a funny noise out in the street.

Perhaps it is true that the Disciples had never heard a prayer that came from that perspective. Perhaps none of us has yet learned how to pray as Jesus prayed. And we can not until we are in an intimate relationship with God – a relationship that takes time to develop, a relationship that implies give and take, a sense of our offering to God and a sense of our receiving from God.

You know, prayer IS like breathing, though. It is something that we are not taught to do. We simply do it. It is instinctive.

But that does not mean we cannot do it better.

Ask anyone who has an exercise program in their lives. They know the importance of breathing and have learned how to breathe to enhance their exercises.

When I took voice lessons years ago I realized I didn’t know how to breathe very well. I had to learn how to breathe so my voice would project, so I could utilize my vocal cords to their fullest advantage.

Maybe it’s time to take breathing lessons, spiritual breathing lessons. Maybe we all need to take time to seek God in prayer, and to pray less in terms of petition where we name our needs and go our way. The first step in prayer is to seek God, to ask for the Holy Spirit in our lives, and to offer ourselves in a sense of mutual affection and devotion.

It's high time we came knocking on the door of heaven – not to ask for a loaf of bread but to invite ourselves in for a friendly visit, to get to know one another better, for the sake of the relationship itself.

That is what Jesus did. That is how he prayed and why it sounded so different than anything the Disciples had ever heard before. And it is available to us, too.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

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[1] All three of these jokes come from Zany Knock Knocks by Ronny M. Cole (Sterling Publishing, 1993)