I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves
because of their friendship,
he will get up to give him whatever he needs
because of his persistence.
Is the premise of this Gospel really that we can annoy God into doing what he would not have done based merely on our friendship? Obviously not. We aren't going to convince or manipulate God into doing something other than his will for us. If we know who God is we shouldn't even want to. So why this need to persist, if not to change his mind? It can only be to change ourselves, and our own hearts and minds. When we continue to bring our requests to God as we grow spiritually they are purged of the excesses of self-love that often contaminate them in the beginning. When we don't give up on them our own hearts take on something of the commitment that God himself has toward us. It is comforting to know that God recognizes that this process can be difficult, as he demonstrates by how response the individual receives in the parable. It often does feel to us as though it's midnight, the door is locked, and like hearing an immediate refusal from the far side of a door, without much in the way of consideration or compassion. We may well feel like the Syrophoenician woman during the initial response to her request for Jesus to heal her demon possessed daughter. It might feel like we're up against a wall of impossibility. But we should remember that what seemed initially impossible for her was in the end granted by Jesus. It cost him nothing to give scraps from the master's table. But she gained a great depth of faith by her persistence.
Whenever this passage comes up we can't help but reiterate that Jesus does not simply say to seek, knock, and ask once and then forget about it. The grammar really indicates that we must ask and keep asking, seek and keep seeking, knock and keep knocking until the door is opened for us. Again we cite the Amplified translation of this passage:
So I say to you, ask and keep on asking, and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking, and you will find; knock and keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you (see Luke 11:9, AMP).
We are too quick to give up when things seem difficult or impossible. This is problematic because it implies both a lack of true concern for either ourselves or our neighbors, whomever are prayers are meant to benefit, and also because our surrender implies we have accepted some lesser vision of God than all loving and all powerful. It is a problem of faith and of good will. But when we don't succumb we find healing at all of the levels of our being and miracles can finally happen.
If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit
to those who ask him?
We might not get exactly what we asked when we started asking. But we may eventually be led to openness to something better, something that does fulfill the initial good impulse that led us to pray, but in a way that goes beyond what we asked, expected, or could even imagine. Many of us who started out asking for an egg or a fish would initially find the Holy Spirit to be a paltry consolation prize. Let's keep praying until we realize that this is precisely backward. There is nothing better that God can give us than more of himself. The way to receive that gift is to be constant in prayer.
Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer (see Romans 12:11-12).
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you (see First Thessalonians 5:16-18).
praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication (see Ephesians 6:18).
Prayer is the way to begin in the Spirit and also end, not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. When we do it, we experience what Zachariah described, freedom to worship without fear. Since we have a lot of fear in our world and probably our own lives let us take prayer is the antidote. We have a divine guarantee as to its efficacy.
because of their friendship,
he will get up to give him whatever he needs
because of his persistence.
Is the premise of this Gospel really that we can annoy God into doing what he would not have done based merely on our friendship? Obviously not. We aren't going to convince or manipulate God into doing something other than his will for us. If we know who God is we shouldn't even want to. So why this need to persist, if not to change his mind? It can only be to change ourselves, and our own hearts and minds. When we continue to bring our requests to God as we grow spiritually they are purged of the excesses of self-love that often contaminate them in the beginning. When we don't give up on them our own hearts take on something of the commitment that God himself has toward us. It is comforting to know that God recognizes that this process can be difficult, as he demonstrates by how response the individual receives in the parable. It often does feel to us as though it's midnight, the door is locked, and like hearing an immediate refusal from the far side of a door, without much in the way of consideration or compassion. We may well feel like the Syrophoenician woman during the initial response to her request for Jesus to heal her demon possessed daughter. It might feel like we're up against a wall of impossibility. But we should remember that what seemed initially impossible for her was in the end granted by Jesus. It cost him nothing to give scraps from the master's table. But she gained a great depth of faith by her persistence.
Whenever this passage comes up we can't help but reiterate that Jesus does not simply say to seek, knock, and ask once and then forget about it. The grammar really indicates that we must ask and keep asking, seek and keep seeking, knock and keep knocking until the door is opened for us. Again we cite the Amplified translation of this passage:
So I say to you, ask and keep on asking, and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking, and you will find; knock and keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you (see Luke 11:9, AMP).
We are too quick to give up when things seem difficult or impossible. This is problematic because it implies both a lack of true concern for either ourselves or our neighbors, whomever are prayers are meant to benefit, and also because our surrender implies we have accepted some lesser vision of God than all loving and all powerful. It is a problem of faith and of good will. But when we don't succumb we find healing at all of the levels of our being and miracles can finally happen.
If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit
to those who ask him?
We might not get exactly what we asked when we started asking. But we may eventually be led to openness to something better, something that does fulfill the initial good impulse that led us to pray, but in a way that goes beyond what we asked, expected, or could even imagine. Many of us who started out asking for an egg or a fish would initially find the Holy Spirit to be a paltry consolation prize. Let's keep praying until we realize that this is precisely backward. There is nothing better that God can give us than more of himself. The way to receive that gift is to be constant in prayer.
Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer (see Romans 12:11-12).
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you (see First Thessalonians 5:16-18).
praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication (see Ephesians 6:18).
Prayer is the way to begin in the Spirit and also end, not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. When we do it, we experience what Zachariah described, freedom to worship without fear. Since we have a lot of fear in our world and probably our own lives let us take prayer is the antidote. We have a divine guarantee as to its efficacy.
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