There’s an attention-grabbing dynamic to be noticed within the Gospels.
Usually, earlier than Jesus will heal or bless somebody, he makes them reply a query: “What would you like?”
That is true when the request somebody needs to make isn’t instantly obvious, as when Jesus is approached by the mom of James and John or when two of the disciples of John the Baptist begin following after him. But it surely’s additionally true when the factor somebody desires is clear and wouldn’t require omnipotence to determine, as when Jesus encounters a blind man. Even when Jesus learns {that a} man has been sick for nearly 40 years, earlier than he steps in to assist, he asks the person to affirm his intent: “Do you need to get effectively?”
Maybe this factors to the sample of prayer; there could also be a number of functions to that follow, however certainly certainly one of them is to get a petitioner to articulate that which may be hidden even from themselves: what it’s they need.
But this sample additionally applies past the spiritual realm.
Many individuals really feel stressed and dissatisfied with the present state of their lives. However, once you ask them what a greater life would seem like, they’ll’t precisely say. They yearn for one thing, however aren’t positive what that one thing is. They don’t like what they do, however don’t know what they’d love to do as an alternative. They lengthy for a change, however can’t articulate what that change ought to seem like.
As a result of they need issues to be totally different, however can’t envision what they need to be doing otherwise to get there, their life stays eternal the identical.
It’s been stated that religion precedes the miracle. However to result in any transformation — whether or not supernatural or on a regular basis — there’s something that should precede even that: the crystallization of need.
