How Much More: A Snake or a Fish?

How Much More: A Snake or a Fish?

“You fathers – if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father keep giving the Holy Spirit to those who continue to ask Him.” (Luke 11:11-13, also refer to Matthew 7:11).

It is fascinating that the teacher Jesus we find in the gospels nonetheless remained in the historic flow of Jewish tradition. He taught and preached and demonstrated and told His stories in ways that were accepted in rabbinic circles. Jesus taught like a Jew, He argued like a Jew, He reasoned like a Jew.

One classic method of rabbinic teaching was called the “Kal v’Chomer (pronounced as it looks, except the c is silent).” This was a commonly used strategy of reasoning and persuasion used throughout the Hebrew Bible and Jewish tradition. Breaking down that Hebrew phrase, “kal” means “Of course, obviously Yes.” And “v’chomer” means “all the more so.” The Hebrew understating of this teaching strategy can be described in many ways: light to heavy; lesser to greater; simple to complex; minor to major; lenient to strict. The kal v’chomer is a strictly logical process used everywhere in Jewish culture, from the courtrooms to the corner conversations to the synagogues. It is used by a speaker when he or she wants the listener to logically arrive at an inescapable conclusion. If A is obviously true, then it stands to reason that B is true as well. This process is often spoken of as the “How much more” argument. If A is commonly accepted, then how much more is it likely that B should be accepted as well?

Like all effective rabbis, Jesus used this traditional strategy of argument when He read the room and believed that His audience was up to a logical argument. He would say, ‘If something is true in a minor matter, then how much more true will this major matter be?’ Jesus made successful use of Kal v’Chomer in His public ministry. ‘If this is obviously good, then that must be good as well.’ This is a commonsense type of reasoning that Jesus used many times in His speaking. There are at least eight different times He used this ‘lesser to greater’ approach to persuasion. In fact, because St. Paul loved to use this type of argument, and was probably taught it by the Master Rabbi Gamaliel, the New Testament has well over twenty different passages that include Kal v’Chomer reasoning.

Luke 11. Prayer was a hot topic with Jesus and His disciples, and He had much to say about it. Luke 11 is a collection of Christ’s thoughts on the topic of prayer, closing with His words about the Father’s gifts to His children.

The disciples were observing Jesus once when he was engaged in prayer with the Father, and after waiting respectfully for Jesus to finish, they approached Him and asked Him to teach them how to pray, how to pray like He did. Jesus didn’t respond with a five-point sermon on prayer, or a reference to a passage about prayer, or some ready-made formula for how to reach the Father. He gave them an example of what He prayed, the words to use as they start to learn how to pray as He did. Jesus told them, “When you pray, say this...” (11:2). Jesus assumed that they would learn how to pray by praying, learning by doing. Jesus gave them a model prayer to get started in the right direction.

After teaching them “the Lord’s Prayer,” Jesus offered a simple but profound parable regarding hospitality, the importance of persistence in prayer, and the assurance of God’s intention of responding to their prayers. The story is about an ill-timed request for bread in the middle of the night, directed at an irritable, unresponsive neighbor.

After the story about the resistant neighbor, Jesus leads the reader into our passage about the loving Father with the famous words, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.” (11:9).  The biblical interpreters all agree that the Greek tenses in these words all clearly state, “Keep on asking… keep on seeking… keep on knocking.” Jesus is saying that persistence is rewarded, and persisting in your prayers is a good test of faith. God promises that those who continue to ask will receive from God, that those who keep seeking will find what God wants you to discover, and if you remain at the door knocking and making yourself heard, God will indeed answer the door.

Jesus then moves right into the nature of the loving Father who gives good gifts to His children. Because the Jewish faith is so child-centered, Jesus just assumed the parents in His audience are good parents and that they display a loving concern for their children. We can go all the way back to Father Abraham regarding the importance of a loving parent. In fact, that seems to be why God chose him in the first place, that he was good father. The Lord knew that Abraham would be a responsible and diligent father to “lead his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.” (Gen. 18:19). If Abraham was not a good father, the Chosen People will not have a chance of surviving the first generation.

So ever since Abraham, the Jewish faith has been family-oriented and child-centered. Jewish tradition is to remain effective in the home, responsible parents, leading the children into the faith and maturity. Jesus knew that of course a good Jewish father would never even consider giving a snake after a child asked for fish, or a scorpion after a child asked for an egg. Rabbi Jesus intentionally illustrated His lesson with the snake and the egg. What appear to be random examples actually were helpful to His point. When a scorpion rolls itself up and hides its claws and tail, it actually looks like an egg. Fishermen regularly catch in their nets a snake-like eel from the Sea of Galilee which has the appearance of a snake. So a fisherman father would make sure he investigated his catch carefully so he wouldn’t make the terrible mistake of giving his child an unclean eel instead of kosher fish from the Sea. And when looking for an egg to give his child for breakfast, he would carefully make sure it wasn’t a rolled-up scorpion. A good, kind father wouldn’t carelessly give his child something that would be harmful or unclean. Well, Jesus said, if an imperfect, sinful father knows how to care for his children, how much more will a perfect, loving heavenly Father? A good parent, even though he has a goodness mixed with sin, knows enough to be decent to a child, and not to trick or harm the child in any way. The loving Father in heaven can be trusted to care for his children much better than that! If a fallen, flawed human being is able to be kind to his children, imagine how much better the perfect, sinless God will treat His children? As the Message put, “Don’t you think the Father who conceived you in love will give you the Holy Spirit when you ask Him?”

The parallel passage in Matthew 7 states that the heavenly Father will give “good things” to those who ask Him. The passage in Luke 11:13 has the Father giving the Holy Spirit, not merely “good things.” Jesus is saying here that the greatest of all good gifts, the ultimate gift from the Father, is His Holy Spirit. All the other good gifts from God are caught up and included in this one Super-Gift. Jesus is promising to give His Spirit to those who keep asking. He is asking believers to make a lifestyle out of asking for the Holy Spirit. And just as at Pentecost (Acts 2), the promise of Jesus will come true as the Spirit makes Himself at home in our hearts.

And what do we receive when God gives us this Super-Gift? The Holy Spirit is the eternal life-giving Third Person of the Holy Trinity; the intimate bond of divine love and truth shared by God the Father and God the Son; the dynamic power of God offered to every human being on earth; the supernatural Presence in the Community of God who is personal without being material; the invisible creative force with divine intelligence who truly knows the mind of God from the inside; the Spirit of God who thus has all knowledge and is present everywhere in the universe; the sacred energy streaming forth from the Father and the Son, pouring love into our hearts (Romans 5:5), producing virtuous qualities in us (Galatians 5:22-23), and gradually transforming each believer into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Like any other gift offered by someone who loves us, all we have to do is reach out and receive it! The Holy Spirit is that gift, and He came straight from heaven, His eternal homeland. Jesus didn’t leave us empty-handed when He returned to the Father. He graciously gave us the gift of His Spirit to do all the work in each of us that Jesus and the Father want to be done in us. Christ left us with the very special gift of His presence within each of us. The Holy Spirit is the Gift that most definitely just keeps on giving.

“For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with agape love; God has poured out His agape love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us; We can now experience the endless agape love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us!” (Romans 5:5, various versions).

Pour Forth – “ekkechytai” = to pour out in abundance; a lavish outpouring to the point of super abundance; a pouring out that began at some point earlier (the Cross, or perhaps one’s conversion), and continues to the present time; a continuous pouring out that floods the heart and is immeasurable; an ongoing soaking stream that is never withdrawn.

The Holy Spirit isn’t given to us in dribs and drabs. When we receive the Spirit from the hand of God, we don’t experience merely a “little” anointing. The Holy Spirit isn’t dribbled, drop by drop, but instead is poured till overflowing on the newly baptized and those who ask God for His Spirit. Whenever we see the Holy Spirit being given, He is poured:

• “...till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high.” (Isaiah 32:15);
• “Exalted to the right hand of God He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.” (Acts 2:33);
• “They were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.” (Acts 10:45);
• “God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” (Romans 5:5);
• “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.” (Titus 3:5-6);
• “Then, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophecy. Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on servants – men and women alike.” (Joel 2:28-29).

We can trust our heavenly Father, who is full of goodness and always poised to offer good gifts to His children… not just good gifts, but the greatest Gift: Himself. No snakes. No scorpions.