Church Fathers Commentary Luke 11:9-13

"And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. And of which of you that is a father shall his son ask a loaf, and he give him a stone? or a fish, and he for a fish give him a serpent? Or [if] he shall ask an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall [your] heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" — Luke 11:9-13 (ASV)

St. Augustine of Hippo: Having set aside the metaphor, our Lord added an exhortation, explicitly urging us to ask, seek, and knock until we receive what we are seeking. Therefore, He says, And I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you.

St. Cyril of Alexandria: The words, I say to you, have the force of an oath. For God does not lie, but whenever He reveals anything to His hearers with an oath, He shows the inexcusable smallness of our faith.

St. John Chrysostom: Now by "asking," He means prayer, but by "seeking," He means zeal and anxiety, as He adds, Seek, and you will find. For the things we seek require great care, and this is particularly the case with God, for many things block our senses.

Just as we search for lost gold, so let us anxiously seek after God. He also shows that even though He does not immediately open the gates, we must still wait. Therefore, He adds, Knock, and it will be opened to you. If you continue seeking, you will surely receive. For this reason, just as a shut door makes you knock, He did not grant your request at once, so that you would be moved to entreat Him.

Greek Expositors: Or by the word "knock," He perhaps means seeking effectively, for one knocks with the hand, and the hand is a sign of good work. Or these three may be distinguished in another way: The beginning of virtue is to ask to know the way of truth. The second step is to seek how we must travel that way. The third step, when a person has attained this virtue, is to knock at the door, so that they may enter the wide field of knowledge.

A person acquires all these things through prayer. Alternatively, to "ask" is to pray, to "seek" is to perform good works that are fitting for our prayers, and to "knock" is to continue in prayer without ceasing.

St. Augustine of Hippo: But He would not encourage us to ask if He were not willing to give. Let human laziness be ashamed; He is more willing to give than we are to receive.

St. Ambrose of Milan: Now, one who promises anything ought to convey a hope for the thing promised, so that obedience may follow commands, and faith may follow promises. And therefore He adds, For everyone who asks receives.

Origen of Alexandria: But someone may ask how it is that those who pray are not heard. To this we must answer that whoever begins seeking in the right way, omitting none of the things that help in obtaining our requests, will truly receive what he has prayed to be given to him.

But if a person turns away from the object of a proper petition and does not ask as he should, he is not truly asking. That is why, when he does not receive what is promised here, there is no falsehood in the promise. For example, when a teacher says, "Whoever will come to me will receive the gift of instruction," we understand this to mean a person going to a teacher in true earnest, so that he may zealously and diligently devote himself to his teaching.

Hence, James also says, you ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, namely, for the sake of vain pleasures. But someone will say, "But when people ask to obtain divine knowledge and to recover their virtue, they do not receive it?" To this we must answer that they did not seek to receive these good things for themselves, but so that they might gain praise from others.

St. Basil the Great: If anyone, out of laziness, surrenders to his desires and betrays himself into the hands of his enemies, God neither assists him nor hears him, because by sin he has alienated himself from God. It is proper, then, for a person to offer whatever belongs to him but to cry out to God to assist him.

We must ask for divine assistance not half-heartedly, nor with a mind wavering back and forth, because such a person will not only fail to obtain what he seeks but will instead provoke God to anger. For if a man standing before a prince keeps his eyes fixed, both inwardly and outwardly, for fear that he might be punished, how much more ought he to stand watchful and trembling before God?

If, when awakened by sin, you are unable to pray steadfastly with all your strength, you must check yourself, so that when you stand before God you may direct your mind to Him. And God pardons you, because it is not from indifference, but from weakness, that you cannot appear in His presence as you should. If, then, you discipline yourself in this way, do not leave until you receive.

For whenever you ask and do not receive, it is because your request was made improperly: either without faith, or carelessly, or for things that are not good for you, or because you stopped praying. Some frequently raise the objection, "Why do we pray? Is God ignorant of what we need?" He undoubtedly knows, and He richly gives us all temporal things even before we ask. But we must first desire good works and the kingdom of heaven. Then, having this desire, we must ask in faith and patience, bringing into our prayers whatever is good for us, with a conscience clear of any offense.

St. Ambrose of Milan: The argument, then, for frequent prayer is the hope of obtaining what we pray for. The basis for this persuasion was first in the command; afterward, it is contained in the example He presents, adding, If a son shall ask bread of any of you, will he give him a stone? etc.

St. Cyril of Alexandria: In these words, our Savior gives us a very necessary piece of instruction. For we often rashly give way to harmful desires from the impulse of pleasure. When we ask for any such thing from God, we will not obtain it.

To show this, He provides an obvious example from the things we see in our daily experience. When your son asks you for bread, you give it to him gladly, because he is seeking wholesome food. But when, from a lack of understanding, he asks for a stone to eat, you do not give it to him, but rather prevent him from satisfying his harmful desire.

So the meaning may be: Which of you, if his son asks his father for bread (which the father gives), will then give him a stone (that is, if he were to ask for the stone)? The same argument applies to the serpent and the fish, about which He adds, Or if he asks a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? And likewise for the egg and the scorpion, He adds, Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

Origen of Alexandria: Consider this, then: if the bread is not indeed the soul's food of knowledge, without which it cannot be saved—for example, the well-planned rule of a just life. But the fish is the love of instruction, such as knowing the constitution of the world, the effects of the elements, and whatever else wisdom discusses. Therefore, God does not offer a stone in place of bread, which the devil wanted Christ to eat, nor does He give a serpent in place of a fish, which the Ethiopians, who are unworthy to eat fish, consume. Nor, generally, does He give what is inedible and harmful in place of what is nourishing, which relates to the scorpion and the egg.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Or, the bread signifies charity, because we have a great desire for it, and it is so necessary that without it all other things are nothing, just as a table without bread is meager. Opposed to this is hardness of heart, which He compared to a stone.

The fish signifies belief in invisible things, either because it comes from the waters of baptism or because it is taken from invisible places the eye cannot reach. Because faith, though tossed about by the waves of this world, is not destroyed, it is rightly compared to a fish. In opposition to this, He placed the serpent on account of the poison of deceit, which had its first seed in the first man through evil persuasion.

Or, the egg is understood as hope. For the egg contains the young, not yet formed but hoped for through nurturing. Opposed to this, He placed the scorpion, whose poisoned sting is to be feared from behind. This is because the contrary of hope is to look back, since the hope of what is to come reaches forward to the things that are ahead.

What great things the world says to you, roaring them behind your back to make you look away! O unclean world, why do you clamor? Why do you attempt to turn him away? You would detain him while you are perishing; what would you do if you were to last forever? Whom would you not deceive with sweetness, when even in your bitterness you can offer false nourishment?

St. Cyril of Alexandria: Now, from the example just given, He concludes that if you, being evil (that is, having a mind capable of wickedness, and not uniformly and permanently settled in good, as God is), know how to give good gifts, how much more will your heavenly Father?

The Venerable Bede: Or, He calls the lovers of the world "evil," who give those things which they judge to be good according to their own senses—things which are also good in their nature and are useful for sustaining this imperfect life. Therefore, He adds, Know how to give good gifts to your children.

Even the Apostles, who by the merit of their election had exceeded the goodness of humanity in general, are called evil in comparison with divine goodness, since nothing is good in itself but God alone. But the part that is added, How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him—for which Matthew has written, will give good things to those who ask Him—shows that the Holy Spirit is the fullness of God's gifts, since all the benefits received from the grace of God's gifts flow from that source.

St. Athanasius of Alexandria: Now, unless the Holy Spirit were of the substance of God, who alone is good, He would by no means be called good, since our Lord refused to be called good, inasmuch as He was made man.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Therefore, O covetous man, what do you seek? Or if you seek anything else, what will satisfy you, for whom the Lord is not enough?