Bible
Study: Genesis 18, 20 to 32. Colossians 2, 12 to 14 and Luke 11, 1 to 13.
Like the previous
Sunday, today’s readings continue from where last Sunday’s readings stopped.
Abraham had just played Good Samaritan to the strangers without realizing they
were Angels from God and in reward for this good act of Abraham, the Angels not
only promised that he would have Son the following year, they also proceed to
tell him their mission on earth.
What was this
mission? They were on their way to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Why would God order the destruction of these two cities? Every time I sin,
every time I do what is displeasing to God, I bring myself closer and closer to
destruction. Indeed the reward of sin is death; death to my moral judgment as
every sin leads to further sin; death to my fellow brothers and sisters, as
every sin sets a bad example for others to copy; death also to the environment
as every sin obstructs the plan and purpose of creation; and above all, death
to me as a person, as every sin reduces my life span, brings sickness, takes
away my happiness and peace of mind and destroys my relationship with God.
That Sodom
and Gomorrah were to be destroyed shows that God’s Mercy should not be taken
for granted. “If today, you hear his word, change your ways before it becomes
too late.” God gives me time to change and he wants this change to come from me
freely out of love for him not necessarily out of fear. That is why he does not
strike me down the moment I sin. He continues giving me another chance,
followed by another and then another. But the fact that I am not yet dead
despite my sins does not remove the fact that every sin draws death closer and
closer.
Abraham
extended his Good Samaritan attitude to the entire cities of Sodom and
Gomorrah. He had just performed a corporal work of mercy by feeding the hungry
and giving drink to the thirsty. Now, he realizes these men are not ordinary
humans and that they are on a mission to destroy. So Abraham switches from
corporal to spiritual work of mercy. He decided to pray to the men on behalf of
Sodom and Gomorrah. He practically begged them to spare these cities from
destruction, even to the point he started bargaining with them in terms of the
number of righteous persons they could find.
Many times, I
see people in need of help and feel there is nothing I can do because I don’t have
money. How easily I forget that there is something I can do for them which I have
in abundance? How easily I forget that one essential spiritual work of mercy is
to pray for sinners? When last did I like Abraham pray for others and pray
sincerely for God to spare them from destruction? Perhaps I am too self-centered
and too pre-occupied with my own problems that I forget that people need to be
prayed for. But for the fact that there were not up to ten righteous people in
the land, Abraham would have succeeded in saving the whole nation of Sodom and
Gomorrah.
Once again,
this tells me not to ever get carried with evil in the guise of “Everybody is
doing it.” That phrase comes from the devil himself. He uses it to convince me
of the rightness of evil. Somehow I feel that whatever everybody is doing is
okay and I get to do it myself based on its popularity. In Sodom and Gomorrah,
there were not up to ten righteous persons because those who would have been
righteous fell into temptation under the cloak of “everybody is doing it.” Dear
friends, if something is sinful, it is sinful. I must call a spade by its real
name. Even if all the people I know are doing it, so long as God is against it,
I don’t have to join them. Dare to be different. Your righteousness may just be
the saving grace for an entire nation.
Abraham prayer
for Sodom and Gomorrah came as a negotiation. From fifty, Abraham begged until
he arrived at ten. In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus emphasized the aspect of
perseverance in prayer. After teaching his disciples to pray, Jesus gave two
parables that emphasize the need for us never to give up when we do not see the
immediate result of what we are praying for. The parable of the friend who had
to get up in the middle of the night to lend a person three loaves of bed
because he kept knocking and the description of as a Father who will not give
his child stone in place of a bread show that I must not stop praying.
Does God
always answer prayer? This is a very tricky question. If I were to sample
opinions, I would get different answers and some people will even share stories
of how they have been praying for a particular thing for so many years now and
are yet to get what they were asking for. I have also prayed for things in the
past which I have not received. But the bitter truth is this: each time we
pray, God always answers. However he answers “Yes” or “No.” When God answers “Yes”,
I get what I pray for. When he says “No” I don’t get it.
When Abraham
prayed for Sodom and Gomorrah, God answered him but Sodom and Gomorrah were
eventually destroyed. God’s answer was “No”. When Jesus prayed at the Garden of
Gethsemane for God to prevent him from carrying the cross, God answered his
prayer but God’s answer was “No”. At times, when God answers “No” I assumed he
has not yet answered. What Jesus is teaching us today is that even when we hear
“No” as a response, we should not give up. We should continue to ask. In mathematics,
we know and minus multiplied by minus is equal to plus. But minus plus minus is
equal to minus two. We should not get discouraged when we get minus two. Instead
we should multiply rather than add.
Again, when
we pray, we need to have a basic underlining trust that the God we are praying
to is actually a father. And being a father, God loves us dearly and even if he
does not do exactly what we are asking for, he is always going to do what he
considers best for us. Jesus gave an analogy that no father will give the son a
snake when he asks for fish or will give the son a scorpion instead of an egg. The
fact that God will not give me snake when I ask for fish does not mean he
cannot decide to give me beef in place of fish. The point of emphasis here is
not that I must always get fish each time I ask for fish. The emphasis is that
even if God does not give me fish, he may decide to give me something else but
definitely he wouldn’t give me something that will destroy me.
So when I pray
and God responds with a “No” I should realize that God’s “No” is what is best
for me. His “No” does not mean I have been given a snake. It means that I have
just gotten beef in place of the fish I asked for. What I pray for, is my will
but whatever I get, is God’s will. If my will happens to coincide with God’s
will, I am lucky but if my will is different from God’s will then God’s will
which is superior to mine takes over. Isn’t it a contraction that after praying
“thy will be done” I get annoyed that my will was not done?
I shouldn’t get
angry when I don’t get what I pray for because God’s will must surely take
place. I should continue to pray in the hope that God’s will may change just as
Abraham continued pressing the Angels in the hope that Sodom and Gomorrah will
not be destroyed. I am sure that if Abraham had continued his bargain further,
even to just one single righteous person, God would have changed his mind just
as he changed his mind when Moses interceded on behalf of the Israelites in
their journey through the wilderness.
My problem is
in accepting God’s will. And by refusal to accept or allow God’s will, I find
myself going from one prayer house to another. I find myself attending
countless crusades and consulting different men and women of God. At times, I even
go as far as giving money to people to pray on my behalf. I allow people take
advantage of my condition, they make a living off me; they abuse me and even
divide my family by making me believe some member of my family is responsible
for my situation. I soon begin to habour hatred towards God because I assume he
has given me snake when I asked for fish. That distrust in God destroys my
faith and it even pushes me to the devil who pretends he has fish only to end
up swallowing me up in the long run.
I do myself a
disfavor if I assume God no longer loves me or that God is powerless when after
praying my will is not done. God always answers prayers. When God says “No” the
first time, I must keep asking, I must keep bargaining, I must keep trusting
that someday God may change his mind and say “Yes.” But in the meantime, while I
wait, I must trust that my current situation no matter how painful is the best
option for me. I must trust in God’s love because he would never give me a
snake, he would never allow me suffer for nothing, he would never throw me
away. Above all, I must not be stingy with God. As much as I ask him for what I
want, I must do what he wants from me as well by keeping away from sin not as
way of bribing God but because every sin I commit further destroys me.
Let us Pray:
Lord God, if it is your
will, grant me my heart desires, take this cross away but nevertheless not as I
will but let your will be done. Amen
Good
morning. Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. Happy Sunday.
