Luke 11:9-10

Luke 11:9-10. “ 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. 10. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. ” Luke 11:9 formally expresses the application of the preceding example; all the figures appear to be borrowed from that example. That is evident in the case of knocking. The word ask probably alludes to the cries of the friend in distress, and the word seek to his efforts to find the door in the night, or in endeavouring to open it. The gradation of those figures includes the idea of increasing energy in the face of multiplying obstacles.

A precept this which Jesus had learned by His personal experience (Luke 3:21-22).

Ver. 10. confirms the exhortation of Luke 11:9 by daily experience. The Future, it shall be opened, which contrasts with the two Presents, receiveth, findeth, is used because in this case it is not the same individual who performs the two successive acts, as in the former two. The opening of the door depends on the will of another person.

How can we help admiring here the explanation afforded by Luke, who, by the connection which he establishes between this precept and the foregoing example, so happily accounts for the choice of the figures used by our Lord, and brings into view their entire appropriateness? In Matthew, on the contrary, this saying is found placed in the midst of a series of precepts, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, detached from the parable which explains its figures; it produces the effect of a petal torn from its stalk, and lying on the spot where the wind has let it fall. Who could hesitate between the two narratives?