DAY TEN – Saturday, March 12, 2022
Matthew 7: 7-11
In this passage from Jesus’ sermon on the mount, Jesus encourages his listeners not to be passive as they live the way that he models and as they travel the way along which he leads. Rather than being passive, they are to take certain actions. They are to ask, presumably of God in prayer. They are to search, presumably not for some item that they have lost item, but for something that is missing that would make their life meaningful or their self whole. They are to knock, presumably to pursue some opportunity that they could easily let go by.
By way of reassuring them of the wisdom of those actions, Jesus reminds them of how caring and giving they are to their own children, whom they love dearly, and that this is just as true of parents who fall well short of perfection. How much more caring and giving will their father in heaven, who loves them dearly, be!
The trouble that we have with this teaching is that we know from personal experience that we don’t always get what we ask for, that we don’t always find what we are looking for, that the door on which we knock isn’t always opened for us. Of course, in this passage we’re dealing specifically with our relationship with God. It may be that we are not asking for the right thing, or that we aren’t searching for the right thing. Or that what we receive or what we find isn’t what we are hoping for. We note that the passage doesn’t promise us that we will get what we ask for or that we will find what we are searching for, only that we will receive, only that we will find.
It’s worth bearing in mind that Jesus has just finished teaching his listeners to attempt some tough things: to love their enemies, not to worry about food or shelter, to refrain from judging others. All things that seem to us impossible to do. Left to ourselves that is true, but maybe not if we ask for help from the one with whom all things are possible.
This passage reassures us that we are to expect great things from God at least as much as we are to attempt great things for God. Just as we take seriously the teachings of the sermon on the mount, we are to take more seriously still God’s readiness to help us to live according to those teachings.
Don Willmer
Matthew 7: 7-11
In this passage from Jesus’ sermon on the mount, Jesus encourages his listeners not to be passive as they live the way that he models and as they travel the way along which he leads. Rather than being passive, they are to take certain actions. They are to ask, presumably of God in prayer. They are to search, presumably not for some item that they have lost item, but for something that is missing that would make their life meaningful or their self whole. They are to knock, presumably to pursue some opportunity that they could easily let go by.
By way of reassuring them of the wisdom of those actions, Jesus reminds them of how caring and giving they are to their own children, whom they love dearly, and that this is just as true of parents who fall well short of perfection. How much more caring and giving will their father in heaven, who loves them dearly, be!
The trouble that we have with this teaching is that we know from personal experience that we don’t always get what we ask for, that we don’t always find what we are looking for, that the door on which we knock isn’t always opened for us. Of course, in this passage we’re dealing specifically with our relationship with God. It may be that we are not asking for the right thing, or that we aren’t searching for the right thing. Or that what we receive or what we find isn’t what we are hoping for. We note that the passage doesn’t promise us that we will get what we ask for or that we will find what we are searching for, only that we will receive, only that we will find.
It’s worth bearing in mind that Jesus has just finished teaching his listeners to attempt some tough things: to love their enemies, not to worry about food or shelter, to refrain from judging others. All things that seem to us impossible to do. Left to ourselves that is true, but maybe not if we ask for help from the one with whom all things are possible.
This passage reassures us that we are to expect great things from God at least as much as we are to attempt great things for God. Just as we take seriously the teachings of the sermon on the mount, we are to take more seriously still God’s readiness to help us to live according to those teachings.
Don Willmer
