Do you remember Hans Christian Andersen’s story, The Emperor’s New Clothes? Remember how he paid an outrageous sum to have the finest clothes made for his grand procession? And remember how the two tailors were swindlers running a scam on the emperor and tendency to be quite vain in his appearance? They went through the motions, made nothing, but convinced the emperor and his court that they had created the finest attire money could buy. There was nothing there . . . zip . . . nada, but no one was going to say otherwise. As far as everyone is concerned if the emperor says that it is splendid . . . it is splendid and who are they to disagree. They like keeping their heads.
With that the emperor with his wonderful new clothes and his court proceed to parade through the kingdom. With nothing on the emperor proceeds to the surprising adulation of the people all proclaiming how wonderful the emperor looks in his new clothes. After all, they all love their heads. Everything was fine until one little child said, “But he hasn’t got anything on.”
Of course, the father attempts to poo-poo the kid’s observation. But others in the crowd begin to whisper the observation of the emperor’s nakedness. Soon the whole crowd cries out, “But he hasn’t got anything on!” Though the emperor suspected that they were right, he wasn’t going to admit it and look stupid in front of all the kingdom’s people. He just shivered, held his head up high, and proceeded onward.
You’re probably wondering what this has to do with our scripture reading this morning. Well, it has to do with identity . . . about who we are and what we are about. Clothes give off a message. Clothes give us an identity . . . especially when you are royalty. They set people apart. Our reading this morning has to do with identity.
The disciples want an identity.
As Jesus is finishing up praying one of his disciples approaches him and asks him to teach them a prayer to pray just “as John taught his disciples.” Understand that the disciple was not asking Jesus to teach them how to pray. They were religious people, and they already knew how to pray. No, what they were asking Jesus for was for him to teach them a particular prayer . . . one of his prayers . . . a prayer that would identify them as his followers.
This was not an uncommon practice at the time of Jesus. The Jewish masters used to give their followers some short form of prayer, as a peculiar badge of their relation to them . . . as a way of identifying them as a follower. John probably did this with his followers and now the Jesus’ disciples wanted it from him. Upon hearing this prayer people would know that they were Jesus’ disciples. A spiritual uniform of sorts that people would recognize and know as being from Jesus.
That is what Jesus does. He teaches them a prayer:
“‘Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation.’”
Spiritual clothing! With that we what the rubric for what we call the Lord’s Prayer. When people hear the disciples recite this prayer, they know that they are in Jesus’ group. But more importantly, Jesus gives them more than a prayer to wear . . . Jesus tells them about the added bonus . . . they also get the Holy Spirit.
The prayer that Jesus teaches his disciples serves as an affirmation of the worldview he teaches and embodies in his ministry and life. The words have power in that they point to the way that one is to live life in doing God’s will. It is grounded in relationship between God and others. It is based on grace and love . . . peace and justice . . . inclusiveness . . . of doing what God would want done. It is a model of how one is to share and embody the “good news” Jesus has shared.
The power of the prayer comes from the presence of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that makes the new clothes pop out and be seen. You see it is one thing to recite words of a spoken prayer . . . it is another to live the words spoken in the prayer. It is the Spirit that moves the prayer into action. And it is also the Spirit that holds one accountable to the living out of the prayer.
Jesus tells his disciples that this is the prayer: God’s will. He tells them that by praying to fulfill God’s will their prayers will be answered. Yet, he also tells them through the parable that is shared that prayer is nothing without action . . . something must be done. If it is God’s will it will be done. Jesus tells them: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
God’s will is not to be denied.
The Spirit is there to remind us of and prompt us in that prayer. The Spirit is there to remind us that faith is more than mere words . . . more than window dressing. Faith is how we live out the prayer . . . live out what Jesus taught, preached, and lived.
The question is whether or not we listen to the Spirit.
Throughout the story of the emperor’s new clothes the various characters had their moments in which they were faced with the truth and reality of what was taking place. They could easily see that there were no clothes. At the same time, they knew the price of going against the emperor. So, they ignored the prompts they were given and went along with the scam. In the end everyone in the emperor’s court—including the emperor himself—got egg on their faces.
If they all had only stated the truth imagine how much embarrassment would have been avoided.
New clothes are nothing if they can’t be seen. When we come into relationship with God through Jesus, we are given new clothes to wear. Clothes that help others to know about our relationship with God. Clothes that reflect what is important to God . . . God’s will. But those clothes are nothing without action . . . without us acting upon what those words represent in that simple prayer. People know us by what we do. Isn’t that what we proclaim when we sing, “They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love. Yes, they will know we are Christians by our love.”
It is the Spirit’s job to remind and prompt us to wear those clothes so that others will know whose we are . . . to whom we belong. We are to be persistent in our prayer . . . in our living out of God’s will. In doing so God’s will shall be done.
The disciples wanted a prayer. Jesus gave them a prayer . . . a way of sharing and living the “god news” . . . and then he told them a parable. At the end of the parable, we learn that there are two responses to the request for hospitality . . . the right way and the wrong way. Blessed are those who answer in the right way. With the prayer that Jesus gives to his disciples he has put before them what needs to be done. It cannot be accomplished without their acceptance and willingness to act upon that prayer. In such a way Jesus becomes the one seeking hospitality . . . seeking the loaves of bread . . . in the middle of the night. He wants to know how the disciples will respond.
And so, it is with us. Amen.
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