We read things like this in the Gospel according to Luke: "And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock 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?" Luke 11: 9-13.
When we read things like this, sometimes we can't help but think: "Yeah, right." For example, Lesley and I have been praying nearly two years that our house would sell. Ask and you will receive? How many unanswered prayers are out there. Desperate mothers praying for their children who are lost in the world of drugs and alcohol? People praying for a miracle to heal them from cancer? And in these economic times, how many unanswered prayers are out there for work?
How, then, do we understand these words?
The apostle James, gives us some insight: "You ask, but do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." James 4:3. I have to admit, with Lesley and I and the house situation, we have been looking for a house that is within the credit range that we can afford, but that is much more house than we need. There's a great line in the movie "Shadowlands." The movie is about C.S. Lewis and his wife, who died of cancer. A friend of C.S. Lewis is talking to him about turning to God in prayer, and Anthony Hopkins, who plays C.S. Lewis, responds, "We do not pray to change God's mind, but our own."
There's another way to think about this. Allow me to be so bold as to paraphrase Jesus. "Which of you would give your son a venomous snake, if he asks for one?" Sometimes we don't give our children what they ask for because we know it wouldn't be good for them. They're asking for the wrong thing. Sometimes, God doesn't answer our prayers just as we pray them because we're praying for something that ultimately would be bad for us. God knows what is best. If we can hold on to our faith, we believe that God will answer our prayers in a way that is better than anything we could possibly wish for ourselves.
I'd like to put this discussion in a larger context. This thought came to me several years ago, and I've found it to be more and more true since then. I think God's answer to prayers is something like using a GPS. God knows the destination and the route. We're asking for directions, even when we don't quite know what the destination is. We have an idea. I know that Lesley and I want to provide an appropriate home for our children to grow up that will allow us to provide for them a Catholic education and an occasional vacation. God knows exactly where that place is. So I pray, listening for directions for God to position us in a place where He will be glorified in our family life. God doesn't give me the entire route at once. He gives me turn by turn directions. I have to listen for those directions, step by step.
Lesley and I were going to look at an open house one day, and we plugged the address in to our GPS. The GPS led us to the 179 and Missouri Blvd interchange that's closed down. We couldn't take the directions the GPS gave. That happens with God's directions, too, although it's usually not that we can't do what God asks. We just don't. (That's called sin.) If we're faithful, however, and return to listening to God, He says like that GPS system, "You are now off course. Recalculating route." And God gives us turn by turn directions to get us back to the right place.
Prayer then, becomes asking for directions, not asking for things. Instead of praying, "Lord, heal my loved one." We begin to pray, "Lord, show me how to bring Your healing to my loved one." Very different. My prayer has changed. Instead of praying, "Lord, give us a house." I've started praying, "Lord, lead us to the house that you want us to have, and lead the one to this house whom you want to buy it." Very different prayers.
Ultimately, Jesus gives the answer in the gospel. "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?" What we should be praying for is the Holy Spirit. "Seek ye first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added." Matthew 6:33. If we seek the Holy Spirit, pray for the Holy spirit, and listen for the Holy Spirit, every other prayer will be answered, although it may be in ways we didn't expect.
GPS: God's Positioning Spirit.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Mary and Martha
St. Augustine used the story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42) as an example of how the contemplative life was superior to the active life. Well, I don't want to take on St. Augustine, but I have often thought that this interpretation is one way to look at it.
I think another way to see this story is that Mary and Martha are actually two sides of one person. I'm not saying that Mary and Martha are make believe characters that are symbolic. I believe that they were two, very real sisters. I believe that their juxtaposition, however, demonstrates a dual reality that exists in all of us.
Martha was so busy serving the Lord, that she forgot to listen to him.
How many of us have done that? We get so busy serving the Lord in our work, family, church, community, that we forget to take time to just sit still at his feet and hear him speak to us. We take St. Paul's injunction to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17) as an excuse to never sit down with scripture, meditation, spiritual reading, and make time to listen to the Lord. We say that we "pray at every moment of the day even when we're doing other things." We should be doing that, but let me ask you this. If every time you wanted to have a serious, heart-to-heart conversation with someone you love, that person said, "Sure, we can talk while I'm at work (or doing laundry or fixing supper or watching TV or ministering or fill in the blank with any other activity), how that would that make you feel?
Jesus wants to speak to our hearts. He wants us to set aside the activity, even the ministry activities in which we participate, to have some time to just sit with him, at his feet.
Here's what Mary knew that Martha didn't. Jesus was a cool guest. When it was time to help fix supper, he would have said, "Hey, what can I do to help?" When it was time to clean up afterwards, he would have said, "Here, let me bring the dishes to the sink for you." When it was time to be involved in the activity, he would have been there, hands on, side by side with Mary and Martha. It wasn't time. It was time for Martha to set aside her active service of the Lord to be still in his presence for a while.
Jesus wants to spend time with us. The Lord of the Universe wants to be with us. Can you imagine that? We are important enough to him that he emptied himself to be with us. Is he important enough to us to set aside time to be with him, to have our attention solely focused on him, for just a little while each day?
I think another way to see this story is that Mary and Martha are actually two sides of one person. I'm not saying that Mary and Martha are make believe characters that are symbolic. I believe that they were two, very real sisters. I believe that their juxtaposition, however, demonstrates a dual reality that exists in all of us.
Martha was so busy serving the Lord, that she forgot to listen to him.
How many of us have done that? We get so busy serving the Lord in our work, family, church, community, that we forget to take time to just sit still at his feet and hear him speak to us. We take St. Paul's injunction to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17) as an excuse to never sit down with scripture, meditation, spiritual reading, and make time to listen to the Lord. We say that we "pray at every moment of the day even when we're doing other things." We should be doing that, but let me ask you this. If every time you wanted to have a serious, heart-to-heart conversation with someone you love, that person said, "Sure, we can talk while I'm at work (or doing laundry or fixing supper or watching TV or ministering or fill in the blank with any other activity), how that would that make you feel?
Jesus wants to speak to our hearts. He wants us to set aside the activity, even the ministry activities in which we participate, to have some time to just sit with him, at his feet.
Here's what Mary knew that Martha didn't. Jesus was a cool guest. When it was time to help fix supper, he would have said, "Hey, what can I do to help?" When it was time to clean up afterwards, he would have said, "Here, let me bring the dishes to the sink for you." When it was time to be involved in the activity, he would have been there, hands on, side by side with Mary and Martha. It wasn't time. It was time for Martha to set aside her active service of the Lord to be still in his presence for a while.
Jesus wants to spend time with us. The Lord of the Universe wants to be with us. Can you imagine that? We are important enough to him that he emptied himself to be with us. Is he important enough to us to set aside time to be with him, to have our attention solely focused on him, for just a little while each day?
Sunday, July 11, 2010
The Good Samaritan
Somehow, for some people, "the man going from Jerusalem to Jericho" has been thought of as a Jewish man. Scriptures give us no indication, however, that the man sat upon by robbers was Jewish. Instead, he is just "a man." He could have been Roman, Greek, Egyptian, or any other ethnicity. Jesus begins right away to challenge us in this story. He completely ignores any divisions that may occur, and rather presents a human being in need of help.
Another thing I think unfortunate is that the priest and the levite who pass by the man have been impuned with cowardice. It's often explained that perhaps they were afraid that they, too, would be harmed if they helped this man. That may be, but it surprises me that it is so rarely mentioned that the priest and levite were actually following the Jewish law.
The man was beaten and left for dead. There must have been blood on the man. If they had helped the man, they would have violated the Jewish law concerning contact with blood, and would have themselves become ritually unclean. With this, they would have been ostracized from their communities and unable even to enter the temple or synagogues until they had completed the ceremonial purification acts, which as described in Jewish law, took an extended period of time.
They didn't help the man because they were obeying the law: a fact that would not have been missed by the "scholar of the law" to whom Jesus told this story.
It took someone who was already ostracized, a Samaritan, to ignore the "legal" consequences of contact with blood and to obey the more important law of God, "to love your neighbor as yourself." How often have we not helped someone who was in need because of fear thar we ourselves would be ostracized by others? I wonder if I have walked by on the other side of the road because I'm afraid of what others may think. When have we not done the right thing, because doing the right thing might mean being made fun of, losing status, or losing a friend? Or how often have we not helped others in need because we consider ourselves to be holy, and do not want to be "defiled" or made "unclean"?
We are called to love our neighbor as ourself. Jesus does not make a distinction about whom our neighbor is, any human being in need is our neighbor. Jesus does not make a distinction about what the need is, any person who is suffering. Jesus does not care about how righteous we think we are, the law of love is the supreme law. Jesus, the Son of God, who was eternally perfect and holy, emptied himself, took the form of a slave, and died on a cross in order to help us.
Now he gives us a very simple command, "Go, and do likewise."
Another thing I think unfortunate is that the priest and the levite who pass by the man have been impuned with cowardice. It's often explained that perhaps they were afraid that they, too, would be harmed if they helped this man. That may be, but it surprises me that it is so rarely mentioned that the priest and levite were actually following the Jewish law.
The man was beaten and left for dead. There must have been blood on the man. If they had helped the man, they would have violated the Jewish law concerning contact with blood, and would have themselves become ritually unclean. With this, they would have been ostracized from their communities and unable even to enter the temple or synagogues until they had completed the ceremonial purification acts, which as described in Jewish law, took an extended period of time.
They didn't help the man because they were obeying the law: a fact that would not have been missed by the "scholar of the law" to whom Jesus told this story.
It took someone who was already ostracized, a Samaritan, to ignore the "legal" consequences of contact with blood and to obey the more important law of God, "to love your neighbor as yourself." How often have we not helped someone who was in need because of fear thar we ourselves would be ostracized by others? I wonder if I have walked by on the other side of the road because I'm afraid of what others may think. When have we not done the right thing, because doing the right thing might mean being made fun of, losing status, or losing a friend? Or how often have we not helped others in need because we consider ourselves to be holy, and do not want to be "defiled" or made "unclean"?
We are called to love our neighbor as ourself. Jesus does not make a distinction about whom our neighbor is, any human being in need is our neighbor. Jesus does not make a distinction about what the need is, any person who is suffering. Jesus does not care about how righteous we think we are, the law of love is the supreme law. Jesus, the Son of God, who was eternally perfect and holy, emptied himself, took the form of a slave, and died on a cross in order to help us.
Now he gives us a very simple command, "Go, and do likewise."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
