Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you

Eucharistic Vine and Doves, 6th century, Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy

 "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 who 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 currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount.  Yesterday we read that 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."  My study bible says that we will be judged with our own level of judgment because we are often guilty of the same things we judge in others (Romans 2:1).  It says that to pass judgment is to assume God's authority.  The second part of this verse is found elsewhere as well, in Mark 4:24, and in Luke 6:38 -- but each is in a different context.  The idea of reciprocal expectation is repeated in different contexts, indicating its centrality to Jesus' preaching.  In this case, it's about judgment and criticism.  Jesus' example of the speck and the plank asks us to focus on our own need for repentance and change, before we consider even helping others.

"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."  My study bible tells us that dogs and swine refer to heathen peoples (Philippians 3:2, Revelation 22:15), but also that this would include Jews who fail to practice virtue.  According to commentary from the Church Fathers, "dogs" are those who are so immersed in evil that they show no hope of change, and "swine" and those who habitually engage in immoral and impure lives.  The pearls are the inner mysteries of the Christian faith, my study bible says, which include Christ's teachings (13:46) as well as the great sacraments.  It adds that these holy things are restricted from those who are immoral and unrepentant, not in order to protect the holy things, as Christ needs no protection.  Instead, faithless people are protected from the condemnation that would result from holding God's mysteries in contempt.

"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 who 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!"  My study bible points out that the verbs for ask, seek, and knock are given as present progressives, with the meaning, "be asking," "be seeking," "be knocking."    It notes the synergy involved:  Christ commands our efforts, but never separately from the immediate help of God.  We ask in prayer.  We seek by learning God's truth.  We knock by pursuing God's will.  Jesus says, "If you then, being evil . . .."   In this context, it's not a condemnation of humankind, but rather contrasts the imperfect goodness of human beings (meaning that our goodness is also mixed with imperfection, with sin) to the perfect goodness of God (see 19:16-17).  If imperfect or even wicked people can do some good, it says, 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."  Again, Jesus gives us a type of reciprocal prescription for behavior; this verse is known as the Golden Rule.  It fulfills the demands of the Law and the Prophets.  My study bible calls it a practical application of the commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself (22:39-40).  It adds that this is a first step in spiritual growth.  The negative form of this Golden Rule ("Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you") was already well known in Judaism, but Jesus gives us a positive, pro active form of the rule.  This is the action that draws us toward God.  This Golden Rule is also the principle at work in the parable of the Good Samaritan.

There is an interesting balance in today's reading:  Jesus gives us things we're told not to do, and then positive prescriptions for things we are actively to do.  First, we're warned about judgment.  As is usual for Jesus, there's a message behind this teaching, that's not quite obvious.  We use judgment all the time to assess a situation, or to make a plan.  But Jesus' emphasis here is on self-knowledge -- about the importance of our own awareness of personal flaws.  In other words, the more we focus on others, the less likely we are to understand that we might share the same flaws.  This is a deep psychological insight on the common problem called "projection."  We tend to project our own flaws onto others.  Jesus calls us to a deep awareness of our own need for change, for repentance, and awareness of our own imperfections as focus.  For, after all, even if one is to have a positive effect on others through a constructive kind of criticism, the only really effective way to do that is through a prepared experience of dealing with our own flaws first.  This gives us maturity.  In the context of faith, it gives us spiritual maturity.  The only truly good spiritual director is going to be one with loads of experience regarding their own imperfections and fallibility.  Only then, with such awareness, do we have the real and necessary insight to help others positively to deal with their problems.  Needless to say, the bedrock of Christ's persona, teachings, and gift to us is compassion.  Without this experience, we will lack the appropriate compassion it takes to be really helpful, even if our criticism is constructive and true.  By speaking of the plank in our own eye, Christ cautions that our own flaws  may be many times greater than the ones we see in others.  Then we are given another negative teaching:  do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not cast your pearls before swine.  This is important to be taken in the context of giving advice or being helpful to others.  There is meant to be a great caution against investment in those who are not ready to hear what we are offering.  This follows in the subject of "constructive criticism" or spiritual direction, and how we approach others with our faith.  Jesus tells us there are those who are simply not ready to hear it, those who cannot hear it, and those who will respond with rage and abuse to what is truly beautiful -- the spiritual teachings He offers.  He is warning us about the realities of the spiritual life:  that it is not up to us to "save" everybody.  In fact, we cannot do so.  He couples the sobering, reality-based understanding that we may have hidden flaws which are not only greater than the problems we see in others, but also that we must look carefully before we offer the beauties of spiritual life, insight, and faith to those who will not responsibly accept what is offered, and who might be incapable of doing so.  In the context of discipleship, we must keep in mind that Jesus speaks to those who would follow Him, and for whom evangelism will be an important piece of their own lives on some level.   Then the positive commandments come.  In the context of what He has already taught, we are all told that we must keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking.  Our spiritual life is meant to continually grow.  In this way, we will come to know ourselves better and our own flaws, so that we can practice repentance on deepening levels.  We will come to know the pearls found in our own faith more truly and deeply, and be able to live them and put them to work in our own lives.  We are continually to seek expansion within our faith and spiritual life.  So important is this teaching, that He includes a depth of promise in emphatic ways:  our Father in heaven loves us so that if we cannot imagine a good worldly father refusing such effort, we know our heavenly Father will surely respond in turn with positive reward, and opening to greater, deeper personal growth in faith.  Jesus ends with the positive and proactive teaching known as the Golden Rule.  What we would like in our lives for others to do for us, so we are to do for others.  It is a reminder that the righteous life is a choice, one in which we choose to engage and actively participate.  Let us remember both His warnings and also the things Christ exhorts us to do!  When there is seemingly nothing before us, we are always to keep asking, seeking, and knocking -- and to practice proactively His Golden Rule.  This is the way of life He teaches to us to do.