9 And I say to you, “Ask, and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and the the door is opened to the one who knocks. 11 Which father among you would give a snake to his son when asked for a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, would give him a scorpion? 13 So if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
Luke 11:9-13 (my translation)
One question that regularly arises out of this story is simply this: Will God just give us anything we ask for? We should find an answer to this by simply reversing the question. Which father, if his son asked for a serpent, would actually give that son a serpent? There is an assumption behind the story that the son is seeking good things and the father is giving those good things. The question arises more with the passage in Matthew 7:7-11, where, instead of the Holy Spirit, our Father in Heaven is said to give “good things” to those who ask.
Luke’s focus is specifically on the Spirit and spiritual things, but the principles remains the same. A good father would not only provide good and appropriate gifts, he would also avoid dangerous gifts. A good father cares for the child who is asking and is not just a slot machine in the sky, prepared to rain whatever is asked on those asking.
Now this might be seen as narrowing or tightening the passage. I would say rather that it’s putting passage into it’s own logical context, or rather recognizing what type of a story it is. It’s a story about desire on the one hand and care on the other. And within that care is also a story of respect, of seeing the person.
This passage could say, “Don’t bother asking, because God already knows what you need and will surely take care of you.” But it doesn’t. It says ask, seek, knock.
If God is on the other side of the door, why do I have to knock. Why doesn’t God show me the door and encourage me to go through it?
God treats us as persons. God made us as persons. God recognizes our own being.
“Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens te door, I will go in to him and will eat with him and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). Wow! Courteous God! But it’s not courtesy. It’s actual caring. I’d like to be your friend, companion. I’d like you to be part of my community, represented by sharing a meal. But I’m going to wait until you open the door.
Think of the power on either side of that door. God the creator on the outside. Created being, totally dependent on that power on the other, and the one with all the power is waiting on the one without for permission. It’s our Luke 11 story turned inside out. But it tells the same story about the nature of our heavenly parent who is raising us up as his children.
Many fathers hope for their children to be what they, the parents, planned those children to be. They have a plan for their children’s lives and they’ll manipulate them with all their power to become just what their parents would like them to be.
Then there are those fathers–it is the week leading to Fathers’ Day!–who simply want their children to be whatever they choose to be and do that well.
There are those who think that free choice diminishes God’s sovereignty. I don’t agree. I see the ultimate real power in a God who could force everything, but instead says, “If you want it ask.” “If you want in, knock.” I’m powerful enough to be unthreatened by treating you as a real person, one with desires, joys and sorrows, strengths and weaknesses.
“I’m not threatened because I also choose to be the person who responds. You can’t make me, but I will.” So speaks the creator of everything from subatomic particles to galaxies.
“I’m your good Father.”
