“Keep on knocking and the door will be opened”
The Asking Prayer
The Asking Prayer
July 25, 2010: 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Genesis 18:20-32 Colossians 2:12-14 Luke 11:1-13
Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke.
Glory to you, Lord.
The Lord’s Prayer
Genesis 18:20-32 Colossians 2:12-14 Luke 11:1-13
Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke.
Glory to you, Lord.
The Lord’s Prayer
Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not put us to the test.”
Persistence in prayer
Then He said to them, “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread, and you would shout up to him, saying, `A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I don’t have anything to give him to eat.’ And he would call down from his bedroom window, `Friend, don’t bother me. The door is already locked for the night, and my kids and I are in bed. I’m not going to help you this time.’ I tell you if he doesn’t get up to give the man the loaves he wants because they’re friends, he will get up to give him the bread because of the man’s persistence. So I tell you, keep on asking and you will receive. Keep on seeking and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? 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?"
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Introduction
The Lord’s Prayer
The Lord's Prayer, also known as the Our Father or Pater Noster, is perhaps the best-known prayer in Christianity. On any Easter morning it is estimated that two billion Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Protestant and Eastern Orthodox Christians either read, recite, or sing the Our Father in hundreds of languages. Despite the many differences which divide Christians, at the end of the day we all say, “Our Father, who art in heaven,” and that is the one thing that always unites us. The Lord’s prayer as found in Matthew 6: 9-13 is longer than Luke’s, and is more like the one we are accustomed to pray.
A parable about persistence in our ` asking prayer’
The catechism lines up four kinds of prayer: The prayer of adoration of one who experiences the mystery of God. The prayer of thanksgiving of one who is deeply grateful for blessings from on high. The prayer of forgiveness of one who is painfully aware of his waywardness. And then there is the prayer of petition of one who finds himself in a great need. It’s also called `the asking prayer.’.
In Luke’s gospel, the Lord’s Prayer is followed by a parable about persistence in our `asking prayer.’ It likens God to a dad who’s snug in bed with his kids, and is inconveniently awakened late at night by a neighbor who keeps knocking away at his door. A friend has suddenly dropped in on him, and he’s in an embarrassing situation: he has no bread to feed his hungry visitor. The sleepy man is reluctant to get out of his warm bed in the middle of the night, and go downstairs to help his friend out. But he does so, not only because he is the man’s friend but also because the man is persistent: he keeps on knocking at the door. After getting rid of his friend by giving him the three loaves he asked for, he slams the door shut, locks it and hurries back up to his warm bed. The parable is about persistence in our `asking prayer.’ It’s about persistently knocking at God’s door when we’re in a great need of something.
Luke likes that theme; he reiterates it in the eighteenth chapter of his gospel. “One day Jesus told His disciples a parable to illustrate their need for constant prayer, and to show them that they must keep on praying until the answer comes.” A widow keeps knocking at the door of an evil judge “who fears neither God nor man.” She begs the judge to plead her case. He keeps putting her off, but finally gives in exclaiming, “This woman is driving me crazy! I’ll take her case; if I don’t, she’ll keep coming back and wear me down.” Luke continues, “Then Jesus said, `If even an evil judge can be worn down like that, don’t you think that God will surely give justice to His people who plead with Him day and night?’” (Lk 18:1-8)
In Luke’s gospel, the Lord’s Prayer is followed by a parable about persistence in our `asking prayer.’ It likens God to a dad who’s snug in bed with his kids, and is inconveniently awakened late at night by a neighbor who keeps knocking away at his door. A friend has suddenly dropped in on him, and he’s in an embarrassing situation: he has no bread to feed his hungry visitor. The sleepy man is reluctant to get out of his warm bed in the middle of the night, and go downstairs to help his friend out. But he does so, not only because he is the man’s friend but also because the man is persistent: he keeps on knocking at the door. After getting rid of his friend by giving him the three loaves he asked for, he slams the door shut, locks it and hurries back up to his warm bed. The parable is about persistence in our `asking prayer.’ It’s about persistently knocking at God’s door when we’re in a great need of something.
Luke likes that theme; he reiterates it in the eighteenth chapter of his gospel. “One day Jesus told His disciples a parable to illustrate their need for constant prayer, and to show them that they must keep on praying until the answer comes.” A widow keeps knocking at the door of an evil judge “who fears neither God nor man.” She begs the judge to plead her case. He keeps putting her off, but finally gives in exclaiming, “This woman is driving me crazy! I’ll take her case; if I don’t, she’ll keep coming back and wear me down.” Luke continues, “Then Jesus said, `If even an evil judge can be worn down like that, don’t you think that God will surely give justice to His people who plead with Him day and night?’” (Lk 18:1-8)
The Holy Spirit instead of a fish or egg
There is a notable variance in this parable as found in Matthew and in Luke. In Matthew the parable ends with Jesus saying, "If you, bad as you are, know how to give good things to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Mt 7:11) God is a kind of Santa Claus who gives His children the things they ask for.
In Luke, however, the parable ends with Jesus saying, “If you, bad as you are, know how to give your children good things, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" (Lk 11:13) No Santa Claus image of God here. We ask God for a fish or an egg, but He doesn’t give us the fish or egg we ask for. He gives us, instead, the Holy Spirit (whom we didn’t ask for, in the first place!). We ask for some thing, and instead we get some one: the Holy Spirit! All of a sudden, it's about the Holy Spirit! That, indeed, is puzzling, and Luke offers no further comment.
In Luke, however, the parable ends with Jesus saying, “If you, bad as you are, know how to give your children good things, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" (Lk 11:13) No Santa Claus image of God here. We ask God for a fish or an egg, but He doesn’t give us the fish or egg we ask for. He gives us, instead, the Holy Spirit (whom we didn’t ask for, in the first place!). We ask for some thing, and instead we get some one: the Holy Spirit! All of a sudden, it's about the Holy Spirit! That, indeed, is puzzling, and Luke offers no further comment.
The problem with `asking prayer’
The `asking prayer’ is problematic. Along our journey we’ve earnestly asked God for something, but it was not granted. We’ve begged God to cure a loved one, but the loved one was not cured. We’ve pleaded with God to lift a mountainous problem from our shoulders and cast it into the sea (Lk 17:6), but it’s still weighing us down. We’ve beseeched God to release a loved one from some addiction or bondage, but he’s still addicted or bound. In these hard economic times the unemployed (who have a family they have to feed or rent they have to pay) pray fervently to God for work, but they’re still unemployed.
On top of the heap of `unanswered prayers’ stands the Holocaust. We remember (because we can’t forget) that six million Jews in the concentration camps of Dachau, Auschwitz and Buchenwald earnestly implored the Lord God of Israel to deliver them from Hitler and his Nazi thugs, and they were not delivered. The `asking prayer’ is problematic, and most of the time we’re simply `too pious’ to talk openly about it.
On top of the heap of `unanswered prayers’ stands the Holocaust. We remember (because we can’t forget) that six million Jews in the concentration camps of Dachau, Auschwitz and Buchenwald earnestly implored the Lord God of Israel to deliver them from Hitler and his Nazi thugs, and they were not delivered. The `asking prayer’ is problematic, and most of the time we’re simply `too pious’ to talk openly about it.
A more profound idea of `asking prayer’
Luke has Jesus saying “How much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” Is he perhaps offering us a more profound understanding of our `asking prayer?’ Could he possibly mean that in response to our prayer of petition the Father in heaven does not give something: a fish, an egg, a cure, a job, a deliverance, etc. (we ourselves must try as best we can to give ourselves these things!) Instead, the Father in heaven gives us some one: His Holy Spirit!
Some say that sounds a bit shocking and even Marxist! On the other hand, however, a mystic friend writes,
Some say that sounds a bit shocking and even Marxist! On the other hand, however, a mystic friend writes,
When you speak that way, you’re really speaking to us about the poverty of God, who comes to us so poor that all God has to give us is Himself —His Holy Spirit. When you speak that way you are leading us into deep waters and into the darkness of God. You invite us to leave our playgrounds when we pray our asking prayer, and you invite us to follow you into the river of rebirth.
The power to forgive God!
To say that heaven perhaps does not give us something but only some one - the Holy Spirit – should not shock us. To be left with `only’ the Holy Spirit is not to be left with nothing! With the Holy Spirit of God, we have whatever we need for the human journey. With the Holy Spirit we have not only the power to forgive men’s sins against God (Jn 20: 23) but also the very power to forgive God’s sin against man!
What in the world is “God’s sin against man?” That’s God seemingly not opening the door when we keep knocking. That’s God not working the miracle we ardently pray for. “God’s sin against man!” That’s God not being a good Santa Claus, giving His children the things they ask for: a fish, an egg, a cure, a job, a deliverance. That’s God not giving us something but `only’ some one: His Holy Spirit
What in the world is “God’s sin against man?” That’s God seemingly not opening the door when we keep knocking. That’s God not working the miracle we ardently pray for. “God’s sin against man!” That’s God not being a good Santa Claus, giving His children the things they ask for: a fish, an egg, a cure, a job, a deliverance. That’s God not giving us something but `only’ some one: His Holy Spirit
Conclusion
The power to want the thing we get!
At the end of the day, whatever our theology and feelings about the `asking prayer’ might be, we still keep on knocking at God’s door and asking Him for what we need, because Jesus said we should. And if, when the door is opened, we’re given the thing we asked for -- the fish, the egg, etc. -- God be praised and thanked. If, however, when the door is opened, we are not given the fish or egg but are given instead `only’ the Holy Spirit, God be praised and thanked for that too. For though we don’t get the thing we want, with the Holy Spirit we are given the power to want the thing we get! That’s power, indeed! And that probably is what Luke’s mysterious and unexpected switch from fish and egg to Holy Spirit is all about.
