NOTES for Luk 11:13

What do we usually ask God for? Well, of course, health... What else? Good weather, money, protection in danger... And do we always receive it? And if not always, why not? Are we asking for the right thing?

After all, it is said: "seek first the Kingdom of God..." The Kingdom of God is when God reigns in us, when we strive to fulfill His will, not because otherwise we will be punished, but by consent, out of love, because He is the Father. But only by receiving the Holy Spirit do we receive the spirit of adoption, which makes our relationship with the Father real. "All the rest will be added to you"; so the Father gives the most important thing: the Holy Spirit.

What can God give a person? A strange question, it would seem: obviously, everything He wants to give. But what does a person really need from God? No less obvious: what he can never, nowhere, in any way, and from no one else receive. As for earthly goods, a person receives them in an earthly way, from this world and in accordance with its laws.

Of course, God can help a person in this and often does, showing him where he can find what he needs and how to obtain it, but in the fallen world such things are often acquired without direct divine participation. The Holy Spirit, that breath of God with which the Kingdom is permeated and which is present in the world, can be received only from God. It would seem that if God's breath is poured throughout creation, why can it be received only from Him?

But the point is that it opens itself to a person only in the context of his relationship with God and in connection with it. God's breath does not exist by itself, apart from the Divine Person in all the fullness of His existence, and one can experience its reality only when firm and conscious relationships have been established with this Person.

In fact, without such relationships no spiritual life is possible at all, and life in general will be rather poor without them. Indeed, from the very beginning God conceived man as one who should be in a state of continual communion with Him; it is precisely God's "breath of life" that makes man human. And breath, meanwhile, implies a continuous process; one cannot manage with a single inhale and exhale.

But man is free, and in the fallen state he often used his freedom to ignore God's presence in his life, including His breath. Yet this did not lessen God's love for man, and He is always ready to meet the one who returns to Him. And then, after conversion, after a person's relationship with God again becomes firm and conscious, he will receive what he will never receive anywhere, from anyone, in this world: God's breath in all the fullness accessible to man. And life too, in all accessible fullness.

What do children mostly ask to us? Chewing gum, toys, to watch TV... And what do we give them in return? Food, a walk, to read a book … What do we often ask to God? Of course health … What do we ask again? A good weather, money, protection from danger … And do we always receive them? And if not always, then why so? Let's think – Are we really asking for the right thing? Is it not written "seek ye first the Kingdom of God "! The Kingdom of God is when God reigns in us, when we try to accomplish His will, and not because He will punish us, but by consent, by love, because He is the Father. It is only by accepting The Holy Spirit, that we receive the spirit of adoption, which makes real our relations with God. "And all these things shall be added unto you”, - And that is it, the Father gives us the most important – The Holy Spirit.

Today's reading includes two episodes joined by the evangelist into one account. It begins with the disciples' question about prayer, in response to which Jesus offers them, and through them all of us, the "Our Father" (vv. 1-4). Luke, as one can see, focuses chiefly on the importance of asking, and of asking persistently, as a necessary condition for receiving what is asked (vv. 5-13). It would seem that God is not a human being who needs, like a forgetful or unfriendly steward, to be reminded again and again of what is requested. On the other hand, persistence in this case turns out above all to be evidence that a person remembers his request and that it is truly important to him. Indeed, is it worth granting a request that the one who asks forgets the very next day? One can ask this way only for trifles; important requests are those that a person who truly cares about them is ready to repeat again and again, confirming the seriousness of his intentions.

The same seriousness is at issue in the second part of today's passage. The point is not only that the very idea of casting out demons by the power of their ruler was absurd (vv. 17-18, 21-22). The point is also that for those arguing, everything Jesus did was a kind of game, something remotely resembling their own disputes, which were undoubtedly fascinating but, in essence, demanded no commitment. This explains the demand for a sign that would prove Jesus right (vv. 14-16).

The proof had to be theologically correct; it had to correspond to the "right" ideas of the "right" rabbinic school in order to be accepted. And until such proof was presented, anything would do as an explanation of what was happening, including absurd claims about the "prince of demons." But Jesus Himself was not going to play these games, because for Him everything He did was absolutely serious. And He tries to explain to His listeners the full seriousness of what is happening (vv. 24-26). The games are over; what is at stake is a person's spiritual life and spiritual death.

But professional disputants, as one can see, have no concern for that. What matters to them is whether Jesus will manage to outargue them or not. And in their disputes they lose the Kingdom without noticing it. For the Kingdom is not a game; it is serious. And forever.