Ask, Seek, and Knock: Jesus Teaches Authentic Way of Making a Petition Prayer for Blessings - Thursday of the First Week of Lent

In the Gospel Reading of Thursday of the First Week of Lent (Matthew 7:7-12), Jesus teaches us:

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened (Matthew 7:7-8).

Jesus encourages us to make our petition to God in our prayer with the above statement.

Why making our petition to the Father?

It is because the Father provides exactly what we need – just as a father gives his son a loaf of bread, not a stone (Matthew 7:9), not a snake when his son asks for fish (Matthew 7:10). It is devil who gives a stone, rather than bread (i.e. Matthew 4:3). It is the Father (i.e. Exodus 16:1-36) and the incarnated Christ the Son (Matthew 14:13-21//Mark 6 :31-44//Luke 9:10-17//John 6:5-15; cf. John 6:35-58; e.g. Mathew 22:26; 1 Corinthians 11:24), who gives bread. And nobody but the Father knows exactly what is to be given to us (i.e. Matthew 7:12).

The First Reading (Esther C:12, 14-16, 23-25) describes a petition prayer of Queen Esther to the Father, to circumvent the holocaust of the Jews plotted by Haman in the Persian Empire. Esther is the wife of Ahasuerus (who is believed to be Xerxes I (Xerxes the Great), the Persian king, reigning 486-465 BC).

Esther’s prayer in intense distress is found in Esther C:12-30, following Mordecai’s prayer (Esther C:2-10) to save the Jews from the Haman’s plot to exterminate (Esther 3:1-15).

Both Esther’s (Esther C:12-30) and Mordecai’s (Esther C: 2-10) petition prayers to the Father reflect Jesus’ teaching on making petition to God (Matthew 7:7-8). They asked the Father, sought His providence, and knocked His heart’s door, facing an extreme difficult challenge. Both Esther and Mordecai sought God the Father first, rather than consulting other humans. In fact, Esther could have sought her husband, Ahasuerus, king of Persia, for a solution to Haman’s evil plot. But she first sought God the Father. They knew that they could trust only God the Father.

It is also important to note the humility of Esther and Mordecai in praying to the Father at their vulnerable state.

Because of the petition prayers of Esther and Mordecai (Esther C:1-30), God saved the Jews from Haman’s plot of holocaust, giving the protection assured by Ahasuerus (Esther 8:1-12; E:1-24). The Jews celebrate this victorious providence of God with the Purim festival every year, preceding the festival Pesach (Passover), which celebrates God’s deliverance of the Jews from Egypt.

Jesus taught the importance a prayer of petition to God the Father (Matthew 7:7-8) during his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-7:29). He reasoned it to the Father’s understanding of our needs, as nobody else can see and provide for what exactly we need (i.e. Matthew 7:9-11).

So, in conclusion, Jesus now calls us to respond to our neighbors’ needs as the Father responds to our needs with his providential provision (Matthew 7:12), evoking Leviticus 19:18, as our way to love our neighbors, and Luke 6:36, as we are to respond to our neighbors in need with mercy as the Father does so to us in need.

During Lent, we are called by Jesus to make our earnest petition to have our needs met by the Father’s providence. Perhaps, some of us are facing extremely distressing challenges with a thinning hope. If that is the case, then, you can make a petition prayer as Esther and Mordecai did in their dire situation (Esther C:1-30).

Yes, God will answer, provides, and opens the closed door – as He is the one to give the providential providence. And His grace through the Son is enough for us to live (i.e. 2 Corinthians 12:9). However, let us not misunderstand and make a mistake on Jesus’ teaching on making a petition prayer to God the Father, though.

Some people become angry at God and lose their faith, complaining that God did not answer their petition prayers. They asked God, they sought God to provide, and they knocked on God’s heart. But they did not receive what they asked. So, they complain that what Jesus teaches in Matthew 7:7-8 is not true.

What is a problem here? ‘

This is a problem of theodicy. This is a result of misunderstanding and misinterpretation of Jesus’ teaching on a petition prayer in Matthew 7:7-8.

To understand what Jesus means in Matthew 7:7-8, I invite you to reflect on this, known as “Prayer of Unknown Civil War Soldier”:

I asked God for strength that I might achieve

I was made weak, that I might learn humility to obey

 

I asked for health, that I might do great things

I was given infirmity, that I might do better things

 

I asked for riches, that I might be happy

I was given poverty, that I might be wise

 

I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men

I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God

 

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life

I was given life, that I might enjoy all things

 

I got nothing I asked for - but everything I hoped for

Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered

 

I am among all men, most richly blessed!

 

Now we know that Jesus assures that making our petition prayer to God the Father (Matthew 7:7-8), not only is like receiving this day and our daily bread (Matthew 6:11) but also is leading us to the beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12; Luke 6:20-22).

Remember, we are called to pray, fast (abstain), and give alms, as reminded in the Gospel Reading of Ash Wednesday (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18) throughout Lent, in expressing our sincere penance. So, we make petition prayers, as well, not necessarily for what we want but for what we need to transform transcendentally to grow into the fullness upon conversion and to be blessed.

You may have wondered what the chapter C in the Book of Esther is. In fact, in the Book of Esther, you find the chapters A, B, D, E, F, in addition to the chapter C, inserted. But, in the Protestant cannon and the Jewish Tanakh, you do not find these. Why?

It is because these chapters, A, B, C, D, E, F, inserted in the Book of Esther for the Roman Catholic cannon and the Greek Orthodox cannon are from the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew Testament).

The Book of Esther is believed to have been written sometimes in the third or second century BC. Because the Greeks ruled the Israelites upon Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Persian Empire in 336 BC, many Jews, who were once protected by Persian king, thanks to Esther and Mordecai petitioned to God for His providence, were Hellenized. For this reason, the Hebrew testament was also translated in Greek, and this Greek translation is known as the Septuagint.