Seeking and Finding

Quote of the day:
"A high station in life is earned by the gallantry with which appalling experiences are survived with grace."
--Tennessee Williams

In preparing for a sermon this Sunday at First United Methodist Church of La Mesa, I am again struck by how questionable biblical interpretations become embedded in our culture.

This Sunday’s reading is from Luke. It includes two sentences everyone who has been to third-grade Sunday school will remember:

“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”

The usual interpretation--the one that is embedded so strongly that there is no shaking it loose--is an “if, then” statement.

We say, we assume, we live this: if you search, then you will find.

What is actually being said is something very different, and very hard for us to get our lives around: searching is finding. The act or attitude of searching is also the act or attitude of finding.

Conventionally, we think that the importance lies in finding, which is the result of searching. Searching becomes just something we have to do in order to find. Searching is, in itself, not important. Finding is the important part.

To me, this text says that the importance lies in searching, which is the same as finding.

It is surprising and life-giving to give up the desire for a result and simply step into searching. And it is how great things are found.