Inter-Dependence

Gospel: Luke 11: 5-13

Today's Gospel portion is remote from many people's experiences.  In an age and nation where grocery stores are open around the clock, when groceries and any known thing can be delivered right to our door, we cannot understand the dynamic of asking a neighbor for some things we need unexpectedly.  In fact, for a long time the idea of inter-dependence has been under attack from a culture of independence and rugged individualism, self-interest, and a mocking of the common good.  

It is little wonder then that we find the idea of dependence on God or anyone else for anything as an utterly foreign concept.   The day of collective prayer is still Sunday, but only in autumn when our betting interests and the welfare of our football team is at stake.  We might seek divine intervention on lottery day, fantasy football, and sports gambling, but otherwise we take a rather Pelagian view of the spiritual life where we can take care of ourselves and we need no one.  

Yet the image Jesus presents to us is one where we mutually care for one another, a world where a need can be met at any time through the help of others in our life.  Along those lines the need for God in the spiritual realm is ever required - not for our Santa Claus list of wants but for our moral and spiritual growth as persons so that we might be like God, ever ready to help another when they are in need of loving kindness and mercy.