Luke 11 contains two strong parables. The first speaks to the importance of prayer and being sincere in our askings to God. Jesus speaks of knocking on the door of a friend in the night and how, if we keep asking, our friend will come to our aid. Jesus speaks too, that when we ask for good from others that care for us—such as our parents and family—will seek to give us the good things for which we ask and not an evil in its place. Jesus says:
“And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened you. For every one that asketh, receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. And which of you, if he asks his father bread, will give him a stone? Or a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father from heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask him?”
To me, this message reminds us that we should be willing to seek God in aid and the provision of our needs; not with a selfishness, but with a love and also understanding that—just as parents do not always give us what we ask—there is a reason for what those that love us provide and, too, deny.
Next, Jesus confronts a crowd that claimed he cast out demons in the name of the devil, and tempted him to give sign from God to prove untrue. Jesus speaks to them that a kingdom “divided against itself, shall be brought to desolation, and house upon house shall fall.” For Jesus to cast out demons in the name of the greater demon is to destroy the devil’s own intent.
Jesus then speaks of the tribulations that befall a man who, after ridding himself of an evil, returns to it for perception of a comfort.
“When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through places without water, seeking rest; and not finding, he saith: I will return into my house whence I came out. And when he is come, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then he goeth and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and entering in they dwell there. And the last state of the man becomes worse than the first.”
How many times in life do we fell this happen in regressions? I’ve struggle with several things in life, and I have felt the state to which Jesus speaks when returning to old ways and “comforts” in perception of false-comfort and enjoyments. Gratefully, with God and will of both surrender and perseverance (for to rid some demons requires the paradox of both surrender of our own will and desire and, too, the exercise of after will to live and stay the course), there is always hope.
In speaking to the crowd that seeks to tempt Jesus to give signs from God, Jesus condemns, “This generation is a wicked generation: it asketh a sign, and a sign shall not be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas was a sign to the Ninevites; so shall the son of man also be to this generation.”
Faith is not a demand for sign. Faith is a following and belief in the absence of. What power is the will to follow a God whose love is expressed most profound in the gift and blessing of free will when that free will is shaped and compelled by sings of force? There is not love or Spirit in such a following and obeyance, only fear; and ours is a loving God, and this life is opportunity to express and live this same love towards others. Love is not force. Love is the liberty to offer and give of ourselves however, and to whomever, we feel God call for us to aid in spirit of charity.
What is the greatest of the Commandments? “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments dependeth the whole law…” (Matthew 22: 37-40). Love is to all and everyone—an act of faith—even when such, sometimes, makes us look a fool to the world. Jesus suffered far worse for living the same.
Last, Jesus speaks to the light within us.
“No man lighteth a candle, and putteth it in a hidden place, nor under a bushel; but upon a candlestick, that they that come in, may see the light. The light of thy body is thy eye. If thy eye be single, thy whole body will be lightsome: but if it be evil, thy body also will be darksome. Take heed, therefore, that the light which is in thee, be not darkness. If thy whole body be lightsome, having no part in darkness; the whole shall be lightsome; and as bright as a lamp, shall enlighten thee.”
What do we sense of our own light? Are we divided or single-eyed? How do we purify and shine more full as lamps and lights to others? What do you think?