The Heart of Asking: Learning to Pray from the Father and a
Mother’s Love
Text: Matthew 6:5–15 (The Lord’s Prayer)
Occasion: Rogate Sunday (from Latin Rogate, “Ask”)
& Mother’s Day
Introduction: Two Gifts on One Sunday
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today is a beautiful collision on the Church calendar. It is
Rogate Sunday—the Sunday when the ancient Latin introit commands us: Rogate,
“Ask!” It is the Sunday when Jesus Himself leans in and says, “Ask, and it will
be given to you; seek, and you will find” (Matthew 7:7). And yet, today is also
Mother’s Day—a day when we honor the women who have taught us, often without
words, what it means to be heard, to be loved, and to be held.
At first glance, a sermon on prayer and a celebration of
mothers might seem like two separate themes. But look again at our text from
Matthew 6. Jesus is not giving a lecture on religion. He is giving a
masterclass on relationship. And there is no better teacher of relationship
than a godly mother—and no greater model of relationship than the Father to
whom Jesus teaches us to pray.
Let us see what happens when Rogate Sunday and Mother’s Day
meet in the prayer closet of Matthew 6.
I. The Problem Jesus Addresses: Prayer That Has Lost Its
Heart (vv. 5–8)
Jesus begins with a warning. He says, “When you pray, you
must not be like the hypocrites.” What was their problem? They loved to stand
and pray in synagogues and street corners—public, loud, performative. Why? So
that they might be seen by others. Their prayer was not an asking. It was
an announcing. They were not speaking to God; they were performing
for people.
Then Jesus says something striking: “When you pray, go into
your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your
Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Think about that image. A closed door. A quiet room. No
audience. No performance. Just you and the One who already knows what you need
before you ask.
Now, here is where a mother’s love sheds light on this text.
Have you ever watched a mother with a hurting child? The child does not need to
perform. The child does not need eloquent words. The child simply stumbles in,
shuts the door of pride, and says, “Mama, I’m scared.” Or “Mama, I hurt.” Or
sometimes just falls silent in her lap. And the mother—she already knows. She
already felt the tears coming. She was already waiting.
That is the kind of prayer Jesus is after. Not a speech. A
refuge. Not a religious performance. A child running home.
Rogate Sunday asks us: Have we reduced prayer to
a public duty rather than a private dependency? Have we forgotten that we are
not addressing a committee—but a Father?
II. The Model Jesus Gives: The Lord’s Prayer (vv. 9–13)
Then Jesus gives us words. But notice: He does not give a
magic formula. He gives a family portrait. Every petition in the
Lord’s Prayer is a declaration of dependence.
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”
First, it is a relationship. Not “Almighty Ruler” alone,
though He is that. But “Father.” A term of intimacy, trust, and belonging. If
you struggle to believe God is like a good father, then look
at the best mother you know. What does a mother do? She gives life, she
protects, she disciplines with tears, she rejoices over you with singing. God’s
fatherhood contains all the tenderness of motherhood and all the strength of fatherhood.
He is perfect love, whether we call Him Father or Mother in our prayer. The
point is: He is home.
“Give us this day our daily bread.”
This is the prayer of a child, not a creditor. A child does
not earn breakfast. A child receives it. On Mother’s Day, we remember all the
daily bread we never thanked our mothers for: the meals made, the clothes
washed, the fevers cooled, the silent sacrifices. And Jesus says: pray like
that with God. Every morning, every need—ask. Rogate.
“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our
debtors.”
No mother I know keeps a ledger of her child’s failures. She
might remember, but she does not hold ransom. She forgives because love cannot
hold a grudge. Jesus says: that is how the Father forgives you. And that is how
you must forgive others. Not as a condition of God’s love, but as the proof
that you have received it.
“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
This is the prayer of a child who knows they are not strong
enough alone. A good mother does not throw her child into danger to “toughen
them up.” She walks with them. She warns them. She prays over them at night.
And so our Father in heaven does the same. Rogate—ask for
protection. Not because God is reluctant, but because asking keeps us close to
Him.
III. The Reason Jesus Repeats: The God Who Gives (vv.
14–15)
After the prayer, Jesus comes back to one thing:
forgiveness. “If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will
also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father
forgive you.”
This is not God being petty. This is God being real.
An unforgiving heart is a closed-off heart. And a closed-off heart cannot
receive grace. You cannot hold a grudge with one hand and reach out for God’s
mercy with the other.
Think of the hardest thing you have not forgiven. Now think
of your mother—if she was a woman of faith. How many times did she forgive you
before you could even say sorry? How many times did she absorb your teenage
cruelty, your silence, your neglect—and still set a place for you at the table?
That is a whisper of God’s own heart. On Rogate Sunday,
Jesus says: Ask for forgiveness. And then, because you have been
forgiven so much, become a forgiver.
IV. Bringing It Home: What Mother’s Day and Rogate Sunday
Teach Each Other
So what do we take home today?
First, to every mother here: Thank you. You have
been living the Lord’s Prayer without even realizing it. You give daily bread.
You forgive debts. You pray in secret, behind closed doors, when no one sees
your tears. You have been to us a living icon of the God who listens. May the
Lord reward you openly for what you have done in secret.
Second, to those for whom Mother’s Day is hard: Perhaps
your mother is gone. Perhaps your mother failed you. Perhaps you long to be a
mother and are not. Or perhaps you are a mother carrying heavy burdens. Hear
Jesus: “Your Father who sees in secret.” The love of God is not less than a
mother’s love—it is the source of it. And when human mothers fall short, the
divine Mother-Father-God gathers you under wings like a hen gathers her brood
(Matthew 23:37). You are not forgotten. Rogate—ask Him to be the
parent your soul needs.
Third, to all of us: Jesus ends this passage by
returning to the beginning. He said in verse 7: “Do not heap up empty phrases.”
But then He gave us simple, deep words. Why? Because prayer is not about the
number of words. It is about the trust of the heart.
On this Rogate Sunday, here is your challenge: This week,
every time you say the Lord’s Prayer (and I hope you say it daily), pause on
the word “Father.” Remember a moment you felt truly safe—maybe in your mother’s
kitchen, maybe in a quiet room. That safety? It is a shadow of God’s presence.
Then ask. Ask for bread. Ask for forgiveness. Ask for
deliverance. Not because God is far, but because He is near. Not because He
needs your words, but because you need His ear.
Conclusion: The Door Is Open
Jesus said, “Go into your room and shut the door.” But here
is the secret: when you shut that door, you are not shutting the world out to
be alone. You are shutting the world out to be with your Father.
And He is already there. He has been waiting. His ear is tilted toward your
whisper. His hand is already reaching for the daily bread you haven’t even
asked for yet.
So today, on Rogate Sunday, do what the word says: Ask. On
Mother’s Day, do what children do: Trust. And in all things,
pray like the loved child of a loving God.
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name… For yours is
the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.”
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep
your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
