Jesus Talks About Prayer
Luke 11:9-13
Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
Luke 11:9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find;
knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 “For everyone who asks receives, and the
one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened. 11 “Now which
one of you fathers will his son ask for a fish, and instead of a fish, he will give him
a snake? 12 “Or he will even ask for an egg, and his father will give him a scorpion?
13 “So if you, despite being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how
much more will 2your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 11, verses 9 to 13, we have five statements about God
answering prayer. Jesus offers this repetition to drive home the point that God does
answer prayer. However, there are some stipulations around prayer, as we learned
throughout the centuries. This particular set of five statements is chock-full of the
culture of the day. Now I must say that over the centuries the interpretation of the five
statements is dead on even though many commentators and interpreters over the years
did not understand the culture. What I’d like to do is to explain the culture of each one
of the statements one by one.
So, Jesus said, Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and it will
be opened to you. Interestingly enough, in Jesus' day, different kinds of people knocked
differently at a door. The woman of the house knew the different kinds of knocks and
knew that the severity of the person at the door by the loudness and pattern of the
knocks. In other words, a neighbor had a different knock than a beggar. If the person
at the door was a beggar, they would be knocking where the door met the ground,
which gave an entirely different sound than if it was a stranger who would use a rock
or stick knocking at the door. Therefore, the woman of the house would bring some
bread if she knew that the person at the door was a beggar.
So, by Jesus saying, Knock and it will be opened to you immediately, we understand
that God will open the door so that our prayers could come in, metaphorically, of
course. Jesus is saying God will hear our prayers, and he will know who is asking for
that prayer to be answered.
In verse 11 we hear the words that a father will give his son a fish if he asks for it instead
of a snake. This has to do with a child who cries in the middle of the night that he is
hungry. It was very dark at night in the homes because there were no lights to turn on.
One did not light a candle in the middle of the night because it would disturb the rest
of the family who were asleep. Therefore, metaphorically, the father could make a
mistake and give the child the wrong kind of food. The father would not intentionally
give his child a snake instead of a fish. Rather, parents were cautious and made sure
they gave their children what they needed. That is what this phrase is saying. Therefore,
we can deduce that God will give us that which we require even if we ask for something
that God does not believe we require.
In verse 12 it says if the child asks for an egg with his father, give him a scorpion. This
one I always found interesting and was thrilled to see that it is cultural. If the family
owned chickens, the chickens would stay in the house with the family. A nest of straw
would be constructed for the chicken. Scorpions were known to scurry into the house
and would hide inside the straw seeking food. Therefore, when the woman of the house
would go to get eggs from the chicken, she would be cautious so that the scorpion
would not sting her. If it were the middle of the night, it would not be a good idea to
stick your hand into the chicken nest to try to grab the egg because you might get a
scorpion instead. Again, this is a repetition that God will give you what you need.
In verse 13 we are reminded that parents always want the best for their children and
will give them the gifts they need to help them succeed in life. We are supposed to
imagine God as being that wonderful parent who wants to make sure that we get exactly
what we require.
When we discuss prayers being answered, we have to be so careful because not all
prayers seem to get answered. Perhaps it’s because we don’t wait for God to answer
prayers, but rather we just continue on and assume that the prayer is answered. What
exactly am I talking about? I have sat in many church meetings where I was asked to
offer a prayer before the meeting started. However, we don’t sit and wait for God to
give us an answer; rather, we move right into the business of that particular meeting.
Offering a prayer to God to make sure that the meeting goes well and whatever it is we
need to do gets accomplished is an incredible thing, but since we’re not waiting for
God’s answer, maybe it was just a bunch of words. One could say that the opening
prayer at such a meeting affected each of us to make us think about the topic at hand
and not so much about ourselves.
Richard Foster wrote an excellent book about prayer. One of the things he said was
that God is spiritual and I know we can all agree with that. He then said that God does
not answer materialistic prayers. That makes sense. I know some of you listening or
reading this message disagree with that statement. There is so much randomness in the
world that we can attribute in answering to materialistic prayer as just good luck. The
next time you ask for a materialistic prayer, you might not get it. Foster said that prayer
changes us because you can’t change God’s mind. It makes us think about what it is we
really need and what it is we are about to do.
I believe that God has given each of us intelligence, and as Scott Peck said in his book,
part of the Holy Spirit is in each one of us so that we can figure out what the right thing
is to do. Prayer then enables us to step back for a moment and think about what it is
we want or what it is we want to do to see if it’s in compliance with God’s ways.
That does not mean that God does not answer prayers in the spiritual sense. One of
the most difficult things is to wait for that answer. How many times have you heard
someone offer a prayer, and 30 seconds later they are off and doing whatever it is they
prayed about?
Let me give you an example of materialistic prayers that were not answered. I was at a
church where the majority of the people wanted to put up an addition to the building.
I had people come into my office and say to me that God told them that we need to
put up this edition so that we can spread the gospel in the town. Furthermore, I also
had people come in and tell me God told them that we shouldn't put the building up
because we just didn’t need it nor the additional expense. So, who is receiving the real
message from God? Was it the people in favor of the building, or was it the people who
were against the building? One of my instructors in seminary said that she believed if
75% or more of the people believed that the project needed to be done, it was God’s
will that it would be done.
I can’t tell you that there’s a percentage involved that actually works, but I can say that
building a building addition is a materialistic prayer, and according to Foster, God does
not answer materialistic prayers. Even though it seems like he does for some people but
not for other people. So, as you can see, this whole topic of prayer is interesting and
difficult to deal with.
Here’s my view of the whole thing. Even if your prayer is materialistic, it can’t hurt if
you ask God to help give you direction in that area. It never hurts to talk to God and
ask for guidance. The hardest part is waiting for the guidance which may never come
because God will determine what is the best for each one of us. Pray that’s the bottom
line and keep communicating with God about all the aspects of your life, and then listen
for the answer.
