Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
Which one of you would hand his son a stone
when he asked for a loaf of bread,
or a snake when he asked for a fish?
If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your heavenly Father give good things
to those who ask him.
“Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.
This is the law and the prophets.”
We first heard the reading from Esther. She turned to God for help when her people were being persecuted and murdered .
In a desperate attempt to save them she planned to go before the King and plead for their lives, which could mean her death. She prayed to God like many of us pray when we have nothing and no one else to help us and often … no reasonable reason to believe of a favorable outcome. We place it all in Gods hands.
And rushing forward to Jesus and the Gospel above we see Jesus teaching that we only need to ask to receive. But maybe our experience has not been as fruitful as Esther’s.
Maybe our prayers did not seem to be answered. Illness led to death. Hardship led to loss of possessions.
And we are left wondering what happened. Did God hear our prayers?
Does he even care?
Maybe at times it doesn’t make sense what happened, but many times we get to see the reason for unanswered prayers that earlier we didn’t understand. For God wants the best for us. He wants us to not suffer. He understands hunger and pain and temptation. He came down so he could be born into humanity like us and experience what we experience.
He knows every sparrow and clothes every rose. So much more will he want for his beloved children.
When we are focused on this world down here it can be difficult to understand why things that are painful or destructive to us or our life are allowed to happen. And we may never know or understand all the reasons or whys.
But we do know a few things that Jesus told us.
We are loved and every painful moment God sees. He never wanted pain and suffering for us. But more than anything else he wanted us to choose to love him back. He gave us the choice of living for this life on earth and prioritizing everything around it … or focusing on heaven and developing a love for God so we choose him here and now and for eternal life. Which is what we were created for.
Our primary goal is to arrive safely in heaven with our Father.
Our secondary is to love others. Everything else is optional.
How long we live is valuable for it gives us time to open our hearts and develop our spirit to receive the Holy Spirit. Suffering is not Gods plan but he can use it for our sake and others. Every thing that happens to us gives us a chance to choose again, his will and love, or our will and different priorities.
We will all die one day and leave this world. We must use all experiences good and bad to grow closer to being ready by always choosing his will.
As a two time cancer survivor I understand the desire for healing. As someone who has been told I have a terminal cancer I truly get it.
Why me we ask. Why is this happening to me? And with a world where sin and wrongdoing is rampant our suffering may actually be a result of others sin and it is evident why it happened. We live in a world full of poisons and profits over people being the goal.
Our world is impacted by sin as much as we are. And we are all sinners.
When we live in a world where a corrupted creation now results in even children dying from devastating cancers… the question is not why me, but maybe why not me. We are all loved by God and he truly wants the best. But above all he wants us to grow and become holy. Even if it is a short time. God didn’t want me to have cancer. God doesn’t want children to suffer either.
When a bad thing happens and we are faced with fear and anxiety … even when our world is turned upside down, we always have a choice to allow fear to own us…. Or look into the eyes of Jesus, knowing we have a God that loves us. Now more than ever it is time to choose him
And stay close to him.
If we are about to meet our creator, use every minute to now focus on him and give our suffering and pain to him.
God will give us what we need but that doesn’t mean we will avoid suffering. But when our request is said with a contrite heart. When like Esther we finally realize we have no one but God to help us. When our request has the correct order of priorities of love then yes he will give us what we need. Always.
Deacon Tony Pynes 
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