So
I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock,
and the door will be opened for you. (Luke 11:9)
We enter now on quite sensitive ground. One of my former Classics teachers, renowned for his circumlocution, called it "ground on which the footprints of angels are conspicuous by their absence". Part of growing up in faith however
is taking leave of some assumptions in faith that may have been long held, even
cherished, taken for granted. Among
these is what secular thought sees as the “cargo cult”. This is the belief that if I think I have a
need, or if someone else does, I can beseech God to intervene and change the
course of events… praying for a fine day for the church picnic, for instance, or
for a parking space outside the dentist. Some apparently think also that the more
people praying for whatever it is, and the longer and “harder” they pray, the
more likely it is that God can be persuaded.[1] And then, if it doesn’t happen as they wish,
the rationalisation is that “God did answer but the answer was No”. Presumably this god actually lets someone die
if no one prays – and even sometimes if they do. This is superstition, it is not faith. Neither is it what Jesus meant.
Let’s take the three verbs together – Ask… Search… Knock… It is a literary
parallelism… a stylistic form common in Semitic writing… you say the same thing
twice or (here) three times, but in different words, for emphasis[2]. Taken together these three words are a
strong invitation from Jesus to open the mind and heart to God and to life, to
become a seeker, rather than merely a consumer or user of religion, to become a
pilgrim, someone not frightened off by a change of scenery or a change of mind,
or a change of events. Ask… Search… Knock… he says. It is a leaning forward in life. People who ask, search, knock, learn how to draw a
line under whatever is past, if necessary.
They are open to the future, with its hidden perils and unanswered
questions.
To Ask… Search… Knock… then,
we need to have dealt with fear, in this case fear of what we might find or
hear, or what might require change somehow.
People who can Ask… Search… Knock…
are people who are free to listen, who have an inner respect for truth,
even when it is ugly or inconvenient or threatening. Fear, writes John, evaporates with love[3]. Ask…
Search… Knock… is the attitude of people not concerned first with
self-protection, or with being always right, people who are not confusing love
with possessiveness and control. Søren
Kierkgaard , the Danish 19th century Christian philosopher, said
that for many people life is like sitting in a train with your back to the
engine – you look out the window and what you see is what’s now already past… so
you are experiencing the journey in retrospect.
If you are aware of the present moment, it too is already moving
on. Jesus as it were invites us to turn
around, to greet what’s coming, and to meet it in the openness of faith and
love. I think that is something of what he
means by Ask… Search… Knock…
[1] In
some quarters this is called “Power Prayer”. The prophet Elijah memorably demolishes
this superstition… see I Kings 18: 20-40
[2]
Donald J Trump does it all the time.
[3] I
John 4:18
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