Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened

 "Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.  And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

"Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!  Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."

- Matthew 7:1-12

We are reading through the Sermon on the Mount, which began with chapter 5 of Matthew's Gospel and the Beatitudes.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught:  "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

"Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.  And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."  Jesus repeats a theme He has expressed earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, and is a part of the prayer He gave, which we call the Lord's Prayer or Our Father.   In the prayer, He linked the practice of forgiveness with the receiving of forgiveness.  Here He links God's judgment with our judgment.  Both are related to the practice of mercy and the righteousness of the Kingdom.  My study bible says that we will be judged with our own level of judgment, because we are guilty of the very things we judge in others (Romans 2:1).  We have also failed in repentance and in fleeing from sin.  To pass judgment, it says, is to assume God's authority.  Parts of this section are also found in Mark 4:24 and Luke 6:38, each in a different context.  There is no doubt that this message was repeated by Jesus many times.  To give correction to one another in the Church is viewed positively as guidance, but this is only possible for one who has been through considerable maturity in repentance and is actively engaged in self-awareness; only then can we truly help others.  Otherwise, we are blind to the plank in our own eye.  This is also related to the practice of mercy and "good judgment."

"Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."  This is another call to discernment, to good judgment, and how to wisely use our capacity for mercy.  Dogs and swine, my study bible says, refer to heathen peoples (Philippians 3:2; Revelation 22:15), but it would also apply to Jews who do not practice virtue.  (Of course, we need to keep in mind that Jesus is preaching to fellow Jews.)  According to Church Fathers, dogs are those so immersed in evil that they show no hope of change, while swine are those who habitually live immoral and impure lives.  The pearls are the inner mysteries of the Christian faith, including Jesus' teachings (13:46) and the great sacraments.  These holy things, my study bible says, are restricted from the immoral and unrepentant, but not in order to protect the holy things themselves, because Christ does not need our protection.  Rather, it says, spiritually we protect the faithless from the condemnation that would result from holding God's mysteries in contempt.  This is also a command for understanding the nature of the work of the Kingdom and the world in which we live, similar to Christ's command to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves (in 10:16).

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"  In the Greek, ask, seek, and knock are used as present progressives.  That is, what Jesus is saying here is "be asking," "be seeking," "be knocking."  There is a synergy here that is important to understand:  He is commanding our effort, but never apart from the immediate help of God.  We ask in our prayer, my study bible says; we seek by learning God's truth; and knock by doing God's will.  Jesus calls man evil not in condemnation of human beings, but rather to contrast the imperfect goodness in people (our goodness is mixed with sin) with the perfect goodness of God (see 19:16-17).  If imperfect and even wicked people can do some good, my study bible says, then all the more will God work perfect good.

"Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."  This "Golden Rule" fulfills the demands of the Law and the Prophets.  It is a practical application of the commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself (22:39-40).  This is a first step in spiritual growth, my study bible says.  There is a negative form of the Golden Rule that was well-known in Judaism:  "Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you."  Jesus uses a positive form to imply our proactive action.  This action begins to draw us toward God.

Jesus frequently puts us in a place where we have a proactive choice to be a part of this Kingdom, to practice the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven (which is the theme of the Sermon on the Mount).  As my study bible points out about the last verse in today's reading, this is a positive form of a saying that was already well-known in Judaism.  The well-known phrase was about refraining from certain actions or impulses:  "Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you."  But Jesus gives us an active positive form, one that gives us impetus to take an initiative.  This isn't unusual for Jesus.  In the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), He teaches us to take an active role in being a true neighbor.  That proactive teaching is also linked to Jesus' teachings on mercy in the Sermon on the Mount.  When Jesus asks the lawyer in the story of the Good Samaritan, "Which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?"  The man answers, "He who showed mercy on him."  And then Jesus commands:  "Go and do likewise."   He gives us the means whereby we can be true neighbors.  Another common theme in Jesus' teaching is about exchange.  He tells us, "With what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you."  As mentioned above, He gave us a similar formula twice in the teaching of the Lord's Prayer:  once formally in the prayer ("And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors") and again right after the prayer ("For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses").  In the latter case, we notice that there is both a positive and negative correlation to this exchange; when we forgive, we'll be forgiven -- and when we don't forgive, we won't be forgiven.  Altogether, He's giving us a positive way to approach our faith.  That is, we don't depend upon others in order to practice our faith.  We have ways, even in isolation, of being followers of Christ.  Our neighbors do not all have to agree with us.  Neither do we need to wait for others to "do the right thing" before we follow His commands.  Let us carefully note, however, His warning (and it's a negative command):  "Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."  He wants us to be discerning in the practice of our faith; neither do we need to "enlighten" anyone who does not choose to participate in the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven.  He tells us that we do so at our own peril.  Indeed, the way He puts it gives us the impression that this is impossible.  It is because this righteousness is not merely outward; it is a righteousness of the heart.  That is one more way of emphasizing the proactive nature of this faith:  it is simply up to us to put into practice what He teaches us.  We must be motivated within our own hearts.  And here is the most active command of all:  "Ask . . . seek . . . knock."  We remember the true tone of these verbs:  be asking, be seeking, be knocking.  Amidst the realities of daily life and its difficulties, these are things we can always be doing, and He commands us to do so.  They are the things that bring us a fuller faith, a deeper participation in the Kingdom, a closer communion with God.  We are not barred from seeking this Kingdom by any obstacle the world may throw in our way.  God responds to those who truly desire understanding and participation in this life.   This is both a command and a promise:  "For everyone who asks receives, and he seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."    It has also been the experience of the Church and its saints for 2,000 years.  Finally, there is one last command we have to take into account:  "First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."  This is the command for a lifelong process of repentance, and the need for self-awareness.  There will always be things we need to discover about ourselves, ways in which we have to come to know ourselves and our lives, and exchange the past for the righteousness of the Kingdom.  Implications in these teachings include a sense of freedom for human beings.  We all have the plank in our own eye we may not understand; nevertheless, His commands teach us that we are free to make choices.   The question is how we will use that ability to do as He asks and teaches.