The Sermon on the Mount and the Plain
Home Essays Tips Journal Share
Downloads Settings About
Draft — not yet published

This study hasn’t been published yet, so it doesn’t appear on the home page or in site navigation. It’s still a work in progress: the content, structure, or scheduling may change substantially before then, and it’s possible this page won’t be published in its current form at all.

Day 4: Ask, Seek, Knock

Reading: Matthew 7:7-11

7“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Matthew 7:7–11 (ESV)

What They Had Heard

TODO — what a first-century hearer already had in their head when Jesus said this: the commandment itself, and the tradition of the elders built on top of it. What ruling was this teaching aimed at?

The Other Witness

9And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Luke 11:9–13 (ESV)

TODO — where Luke has this saying, and what is different in his wording, his placement, or his audience. Quote both and let the difference stand.

The Older Word

TODO — the Old Testament text underneath the teaching. Not a proof text: the passage Jesus is reaching back to, and what the Law actually said before the case law grew over it.

He Did It

TODO — where Jesus personally demonstrated this, usually later in the Gospels. If there is no scene — only a claim — say that instead of forcing one.

They Did It

TODO — the apostles, both halves. Where they taught this in the letters, and where they lived it in Acts.

Now Us

TODO — the payoff. Not “try harder”: what this looks like on an ordinary Tuesday, for a reader who has just watched three generations do it.

Reflection Questions

  1. TODO

Prayer

TODO