God doesn’t give us scorpions

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.’

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Friends in Christ, today Our Lord speaks to us about our attitude in prayer. Some people think that God is a begrudging God, who hardly answers prayers; as if getting God to help you is like squeezing a drop of water out of a block of granite. But Jesus clears up such an idea.

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Christ asks us to consider even the imperfect love of earthly parents. Do parents hate their own children? no. He gives 2 examples here, and another from the Gospel of Luke.

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‘If a son asks for bread, will his parent give him a stone; if he asks for a fish, will they give him a serpent, or an egg, will they give him a scorpion?

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Now notice that in each example, there is a resemblance between the things. William Barclay tells us that in Christ’s time, the little round sandstones had a shape and color like little loaves of bread. So if a son asks for bread, will his parent mock him by giving him a stone that looks like the bread but is really a rock? No.

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If he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? The ‘serpent’ mentioned here is probably referring to an eel. Jews were not allowed to eat eels, it was an unclean fish. So, if a son asks for a fish will they give him an eel, that he is not allowed to eat? no

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If he asks for an egg, will they give him a scorpion? A scorpion is a vicious creature, with a nasty stinger. When the scorpion is at rest with it’s claws and tail drawn in – and there is a white scorpion which, when like this, could look just like an egg – if a son asks for an egg will his parent trick him by handing him a stinging scorpion? – no.

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Then if earthly parents know how to give good things to their children, Jesus is telling us that God is far more loving and wise than earthly parents. We should pray often and ask God for help, and then trust that this good Father will give us what will really help us.