Thur of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
If you’re feeling rather imperfect as a Christian, today’s readings might reassure that you are in good company. First, we have Paul addressing the Galatians as stupid, “O stupid Galatians!” (Galatians 3: 1). Then in the gospel (Luke 11: 5-13) we read of Jesus referring to his disciples as wicked, “If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children….” (vs. 13) I don’t think the intent was to insult the audience in either case, but to get their attention or make a point. Paul is frustrated, maybe even angry, with the people of Galatia for being in danger of deserting their salvation by trading the true Gospel (based on faith in Jesus) for a false gospel (based on Jewish rules and customs). In his letter to the Galatians, Paul is trying to emphasize that they seem to have forgotten what they first heard, something we can be reminded of as well: that our trust is to be in Jesus Christ and not in our own ability to please God through a perfect keeping of religious laws.
Like a child desiring to please her parents or teacher, wanting to be viewed so favorably in their eyes, we might worry that we’re just not “good enough” or that we fall too short of expectations. But Paul reminds us that we simply must put our faith in Jesus; we don’t have to (and can’t!) earn God’s love or our salvation.
In Luke’s gospel, at their request, Jesus is instructing his disciples on how to pray. The emphasis is on asking and being persistent in prayer, not on doing it the “right way.” Jesus is teaching them and us to simply ask and seek with persistence. And just as we would find it hard to imagine not giving our children what they need and sometimes even what they desire, so Luke’s gospel tells us “how much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (vs. 13) Notice that the gospel passage reads, “give the holy Spirit,” not give whatever we ask.
So, we might not get the answer to our prayer that we hope for. We might not get the healing from cancer, or the job we wanted, or the children we dreamed of, or the family without conflict, but we will be given the Holy Spirit to be with us in whatever we have to face in life. And that is truly what we need. God’s love, God’s presence, God’s gift of salvation.
-Eileen Miller