In this week’s lectionary gospel text, Jesus teaches the disciples how to pray -- and, he suggests elliptically, if we are persistent in our praying we will eventually be rewarded and the door to the kingdom will be opened. He concludes by saying that “the heavenly Father [will] give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” -- but as part of his illustration he notes that we are evil, and that along with the good gifts we give to our children we are prone to give destructive ones: a snake instead of a fish, or a scorpion in place of an egg.
