Lent Day 20: Knowing God enough to not ask

How easy is it to ask something to a loved one? Even though many think it is easy, that is not the case. We will be reluctant on two counts. One, we won’t ask because we don’t want to trouble them. Two, we won’t ask because we know that they are not in a position to give. Contrary to what we think, the more we love a person, the less we would want to ask. We also care a lot about the person close to us that we always want the best for them and we also wouldn’t want them being troubled by anyone else as well.

St. Mark 11: 24 reveals a difficult verse for us. It says, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” The problem with this verse is the problem of expectation. Since there is a promise in the prayer, when someone prays and still does not get an answer, it can be felt and argued that the priest or person praying does not have the gift to pray, ask and receive. Since Jesus’ words are very assuring the prayer is as good as being answered.   

There are two kinds of children. The ones who will keep asking even though they know that their parents either do not want to buy them something or have other pressing concerns and the ones who understand the situation their parents are in and are therefore very empathetic and understanding in their approach. Lent is a time for developing this understanding. Being a child of God does not just mean that all our prayers will be answered. A child should have the maturity to know what and when to ask. Some children gain this maturity at a young age and take up the responsibility of the house along with this.

We can ask for something and relentless asking will also lead to God accepting. But during lent, if we consider ourselves part of God’s plan for the kingdom of God, we will become part of God’s solution for the world. We will brainstorm along with God, provide food for the hungry on behalf of God and worry about the world along side God. Lent is a time to develop a spiritual maturity which will take us to higher heights of renunciation which will mean being closer to God than we ever were. Amen.

 

 

Don't replace God with self styled God men

Mob violence based on blind belief on self proclaimed God men

St. Luke 11:9-20

Jesus is teaching his disciples about faith and the need to bring faith into practice by asking, searching and knocking. The society then and even now is in the habit of being human and one part of us is the part which asks, searches and knocks. But who do we ask, where do we search and when do we knock? In today’s world it is not that we have lost the ability to ask, search and knock but we are doing it in a way which is different from what Jesus is talking about.

We ask self-proclaimed Guru’s, God men and women, and wait to receive blessings from them instead of concentrating on God and what only God can give. Going to church is to receive guidance from God through God’s servant and not to see a person who has replaced God’s self! We are going to places and asking diviners and prophets about what we should do in life, which course we should take, what time we should start a business and where we can built a house. How can men and women be greater than God? Anything that we need can be answered by God and then why are we wasting time on people who can’t even save themselves?!

Jesus teaches us to ask God and not just to waste time with people who are misleading the public. Jesus was questioned by the Pharisees because he was eating into their supremacy and putting an end to the lies they were spreading by replacing God with their selves. The sanctity of worship places were being challenged by changing them from places of peace to places of violence where importance of money was increasing rather than the essence on the importance on God.

What is Jesus then trying to tell us? If a man who has called it a day at home will help his neighbor in being hospitable and if a father will provide for his children how much more will our Father in heaven do for us? We are bound to be sad if we keep our faith in men. Instead we should replace this with faith in God. If someone on earth will offer us help, God will do several times more for us and will do so without expecting anything in return because God will always help people as they are God’s own creation and God loves them (us). 

Jesus casts out a demon from a person who was mute. He then starts speaking. But some then said that Jesus did it because he was associated with the demons. Jesus challenges this and says that a kingdom cannot stand against itself. We must belong to God’s kingdom to be healed by God and be taken care of by God because we are God’s family. We do not need magic, tricks and hallucinations to be healed.

The passage teaches us to be with God and live a life of faith which asks, searches and knocks at the feet of God. Do not place your trust with man made God’s but with the God who can only do good, save human kind and usher in peace. Amen.