Queen Esther prays in fear.

She is not praying from safety.
She is praying from danger.

Her people are threatened with destruction.
She herself is powerless before the king.
And she knows that if God does not act,
there is no other help.

She does not begin with confidence in herself.
She begins with truth.

“O my Lord, you only are our King;
help me, who am alone and have no helper but you.”

This is not dramatic language.
It is accurate.

Esther strips away illusion.

No army will save them.
No clever plan will guarantee success.
Only God can intervene.

And so she does not ask vaguely.

She asks for courage.
She asks for favour.
She asks that her words be placed rightly on her lips.

Her prayer is humble.
It is direct.
And it is full of trust.

She knows that God is faithful to His people
even when they are weak.

This prepares us for the Gospel.

Jesus says:

“Ask, and it will be given to you;
seek, and you will find;
knock, and it will be opened to you.”

These are not slogans.
They are promises.

But they are not promises of control.

Jesus does not say:
You will get whatever you imagine.

He says:
You will receive what a Father gives.

“Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread,
will give him a stone?”

God is not indifferent.
But He is not manipulable.

Prayer is not forcing God’s hand.
It is placing ourselves in His.

Esther shows us what that looks like.

She does not say:
Save us however I want.

She says:
Give me the words to speak.
Give me the courage to act.

Her prayer leads to obedience.

And Jesus makes this clearer still:

“If you then, who are evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father who is in heaven
give good things to those who ask him!”

Prayer rests on trust in God’s goodness.

Not in His usefulness.
Not in His convenience.
But in His fatherhood.

This is why Lent insists on prayer.

Not as an escape.
But as dependence.

We are tempted to pray
only when we feel desperate.

Esther was desperate.
But she also knew where to turn.

The Gospel reminds us
that God is not only a last resort.

He is the source.

And Jesus adds one more line
that gives shape to the whole passage:

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you,
do also to them,
for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

Prayer and action belong together.

We ask for mercy.
We must show mercy.

We ask for help.
We must become helpers.

We ask for bread.
We must not give stones.

Esther prays
not to protect herself alone,
but to save her people.

Her prayer is not private comfort.
It is public responsibility.

And this is the measure of true prayer.

Not how intense it feels.
But what it produces.

Jesus does not promise
that life will be easy.

He promises
that God will be faithful.

And that fidelity is learned
by those who ask,
who seek,
who knock.

These verbs are not passive.

They require persistence.

To ask is to admit need.

To seek is to refuse distraction.

To knock is to believe someone is home.

Lent is the season
for learning this again.

Not to fill time with words.
But to place life in God’s hands.

Esther’s prayer comes before action.

Jesus’ promise comes before the Golden Rule.

First trust.
Then obedience.

We do not act kindly
in order to make prayer effective.

We act kindly
because prayer has aligned us with God.

The danger is to reverse this.

To pray without changing.
Or to act without trusting.

Both readings refuse that separation.

Esther prays and then goes to the king.

Jesus teaches us to pray and then teaches us how to live.

The heart of today’s Gospel is not technique.

It is relationship.

God is Father.
We are children.

Children ask.
Children trust.
Children act like the family they belong to.

So the question today is not: Do we pray?

It is: Do we trust enough to ask?

And when we ask,
do we live as though God is good?

Esther stood before a king
who could destroy her.

We stand before a Father
who desires to give.

That is why Jesus can say:

Ask.
Seek.
Knock.

Not because life is simple. But because God is faithful.

And Lent teaches us to believe that again.