A Midnight Friend
Preaching
Preaching The Parables
Series III, Cycle C
1. Text
He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." [2] He said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. [3] Give us each day our daily bread. [4] And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial."
[5] And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; [6] for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.' [7] And he answers from within, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.' [8] I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
[9] "So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. [10] For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. [11] Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? [12] Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? [13] If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
2. What's Happening?
First Point Of Action
Jesus responds to the request of a disciple to teach the disciples to pray as John taught his disciples by teaching them the Prayer of our Savior.
Second Point Of Action
Jesus tells the present parable. A person to whose house a friend has arrived unexpectedly at midnight goes to the house of another friend at midnight and asks him for three loaves of bread as he has nothing in his own house with which to show hospitality.
Third Point Of Action
At first the friend refuses. He has already locked his door for the night and is settled into bed with his family.
Fourth Point Of Action
The asking person persists. Jesus says the friend finally gets up and gives him what he needs not because of their friendship but because of his persistence.
Fifth Point Of Action
Jesus speaks the familiar trilogy of sayings: Ask, and it will be given you. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you.
Sixth Point Of Action
Jesus adds the mini-parable about the human parent, albeit with human shortcomings, who gives to the child who asks not something that will harm that child but gives only good gifts.
Seventh Point Of Action
Jesus makes the analogy between the care of the flawed human parent and the generosity of God as a spiritual parent.
3. Spadework
Ask/Receive
For what do we ask? What were the biblical people asking of God? How did God respond to their asking?
"[A]nd we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him" (1 John 3:22). God found pleasure in Solomon's request also. When God said to him, "Ask what I should give you," Solomon said, "Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?"
In turn, "God said to [Solomon], 'Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you' " (from 1 Kings 3:5-13). See also 2 Chronicles 1:7.
Were the Psalmist's questions, then, the wrong questions? Hoping for a word from God, the Psalmist asks, "When will you comfort me?" and "How long must your servant endure?" and "When will you judge those who persecute me?" See Psalm 119:81-84.
What type of asking is best? Zechariah suggests that our prayers be timely: "Ask rain from the Lord in the season of the spring rain" (Zechariah 10:1). We may ask for the wrong things: "You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures" (James 4:3). "And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, 'Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation' " (Mark 8:12).
God invites our asking: "I will tell of the decree of the Lord: / He said to me, 'You are my son; / today I have begotten you. / Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, / and the ends of the earth your possession' " (Psalm 2:7-8).
Can one imagine even God's frustration and sense of helplessness when God stands ready for being approached and no one comes? We miss-communicate even with God. After much had happened, Isaiah says to God, "After all this, will you restrain yourself, O Lord? Will you keep silent, and punish us so severely?" (Isaiah 64:12).
God answers Isaiah: "I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask, to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, 'Here I am, here I am,' to a nation that did not call on my name. I held out my hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices" (Isaiah 65:1-2).
When God asked Ahaz to ask a sign of God, Ahaz refused, saying, "I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test" (Isaiah 7:12). Whereupon, Isaiah, chiding Ahaz for wearying God with his messing around, said the Lord himself would give him a sign without his asking. (See Isaiah 7:14.)
As with many of our prayers, we initially plan to ask for "two things" then ask for more: "Two things I ask of you; do not deny them to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that I need" (Proverbs 30:7-8). The Proverb writer gains in boldness, stomping his foot with this ultimatum: "or I shall be full, and deny you, and say, 'Who is the Lord?' or I shall be poor, and steal, and profane the name of my God" (Proverbs 30:9).
The following Matthean passage is the benchmark on communication with God: "When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him" (Matthew 6:7-8). Before we even ask, God anticipates our needs.
Paul speaks to the wordless yearning that is itself prayer: "But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God" (Romans 8:24-28).
Friend (Friendship)
Consider in this parable that the friend did not go to a relative for the bread. With some things, one dares not approach relatives. Only a friend will do. Might a relative judge, ridicule, scorn, or say, "Absolutely not. You can wait until morning"? Relatives are too risky. A friend is nearby but not as close as a relative. One can trust a good friend even with one's foolishness. One certainly can count on a friend during a crisis: "Do not forsake your friend or the friend of your parent; do not go to the house of your kindred in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is nearby than kindred who are far away" (Proverbs 27:10).
The code of Middle Eastern hospitality demands kindness in welcoming guests and strangers as well as friends. So also was the hospitality of those on the Great Plain. Folk traveling long distances across the mid-section of our country once needed to stay awhile to revive from the journey. Food was necessary for survival and for fortification for the continuation of the journey. Shelter was a necessity to protect travelers both from the elements and from wildlife. However, beyond the necessity of hospitality lies the friendship of being a neighbor.
Friendship requires generosity of spirit. "If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be" (Deuteronomy 15:7-8).
What is friendship about? "Some friends play at friendship but a true friend sticks closer than one's nearest kin" (Proverbs 18:24). Whereas relatives are "born to share adversity," according to Proverbs 17:17, "a friend loves at all times." Friends refrain from withholding kindness. See Job 6:14. David went out to meet [Benjaminites and Judahites who came to him] and said to them, "If you have come to me in friendship, to help me, then my heart will be knit to you" (1 Chronicles 12:17).
From among the six biblical references to "friendship" and the fifty references to "friend," one can glean several characteristics of God's friendship and our friendship with God: "Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend" (Exodus 33:11a). "The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, / and he makes his covenant known to them" (Psalm 25:14). "Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, 'Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,' and he was called the friend of God" (James 2:23). Christ was "a friend of tax collectors and sinners" (Luke 7:34).
Christ addressed a unique collection of acquaintances as "friend" at other singular moments in his ministry. When Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, "Jesus said to him, 'Friend, do what you are here to do' " (Matthew 26:50a). In Luke 5:20, when Jesus saw the faith of the friends of the paralyzed man whom they let down through the roof, Jesus said to the stranger, "Friend, your sins are forgiven you." See also Luke 12:14 and 14:10.
Knock/Open
Not to everyone who knocks is the door opened: "When once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us,' then in reply he will say to you, 'I do not know where you come from' " (Luke 13:25).
The door must be open or opened before one can enter through it. "Open to me the gates of righteousness, / that I may enter through them / and give thanks to the Lord" (Psalm 118:19). Consider how we are to respond to the knock that comes on our door: "[T]he stranger has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler" (Job 31:32). "[B]e like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks" (Luke 12:36).
Are we ever to reject the person who comes to our door? "When once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us,' then in reply he will say to you, 'I do not know where you come from' " (Luke 13:25).
"Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me" (Revelation 3:20). God wants us to be as prompt to open this door as those who waited for their master to return from the wedding banquet. (See Luke 12:36.)
God is a hospitable God who opens many doors for us unasked. For those who obey God, this generous God will "open for you a rich storehouse, the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season and to bless all your undertakings" (Deuteronomy 28:12a). See Acts 14:27, 1 Corinthians 16:8-9, and Psalm 145:16.
Is it possible that, if we observe closely, we will notice that the door has been ajar all along? "I know your works. Look, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut" (Revelation 3:8a).
Our Father
Christ tells us we are to address God as one who is as close to us and as caring for us as a parent. Isaiah gives further meaning to this closeness with God. As a parent, God stands ready to save or redeem us: "[Y]ou, O Lord, are our father; our Redeemer from of old is your name" (Isaiah 63:16b). "Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you" (Isaiah 30:18a).
As a parent, God is active creator and shaper, one who influences our being: "Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand" (Isaiah 64:8). "The Lord is just in all his ways, / and kind in all his doings. / The Lord is near to all who call on him, / to all who call on him in truth" (Psalm 145:17-18).
The present parable is the first of three in this cycle that address prayer. (See also Cycle C, Parable 17, The Uncaring Judge, and Cycle C, Parable 18, Two Men At Prayer.)
Seek/Find
Benchmark passages for the seek/find relationship we hold with God include the following: "I sought the Lord, and he answered me, / and delivered me from all my fears" (Psalm 34:4) and "When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13). See also Deuteronomy 4:29.
While we seek God, and even when we do not seek God, God is searching us: "You search out my path and my lying down, / and are acquainted with all my ways" (Psalm 139:3) and "For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10).
The Chronicles' historian suggests that active and persistent seeking will be fruitful: "Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his presence continually" (1 Chronicles 16:10-11). See also Psalm 105:3-4.
We underestimate the proximity of God through those difficult times that draw us toward feelings of abandonment or isolation. We might slip then into wondering if God has gone "where we cannot come." "Jesus then said, 'I will be with you a little while longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will search for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come' " (John 7:33-34), and "With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the Lord, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them" (Hosea 5:6).
Most needing to seek God's presence are also vulnerable to a lack of trust and of the faith that God still is present. God is still present and as immediate as the Psalmist's use of the present tense, "you discern": "O Lord, you have searched me and known me. / You know when I sit down and when I rise up; / you discern my thoughts from far away" (Psalm 139:1-2).
"And you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve him with single mind and willing heart; for the Lord searches every mind, and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will abandon you forever" (1 Chronicles 28:9). See also Jeremiah 17:10.
God answers our call: "[B]ut when in their distress [Israel] turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them" (2 Chronicles 15:4). "[T]hose who seek the Lord lack no good thing" (Psalm 34:10b).
4. Parallel Scripture
This parable is unique to the New Testament. Consider the following Ask, Seek, and Knock passages:
Ask, And You Shall Receive
"So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours" (Mark 11:24).
"Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive" (Matthew 21:22).
"On that day you will ask nothing of me. Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete" (John 16:23-24).
"You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name" (John 15:16).
"If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you" (John 15:7).
After the Lukan preface of "So I say to you," Luke mirrors the Matthew 7:7 parallel of the ask-seek-knock sayings.
5. Chat Room
Charles: Why did you go to your friend at midnight of all times? And did you have to have three loaves of bread?
Reuben: Isn't that always when the emergencies occur? I had no choice. I did not expect my friend's arrival. He was exhausted, hungry. He had missed the evening meal. You know that is the main meal. I had to feed him plenty to be gracious, to honor him. He is my friend. I could not send him away either empty-of-stomach or empty-handed. I would have done the same had my trusted friend come to my own door at midnight.
Charles: You know that your friend needed some convincing to open his door.
Reuben: I do, but I also know that my friend is a friend. If I could rouse him enough, wake him up enough, he would come to the door. I owe him one.
Charles: How far is too far too push in friendship? At some point I would not get out of bed for anyone. Are you online yet, Jeanne?
Jeanne: I'm back. I been wondering if that breadth of hospitality holds true with prayer. Reuben's generosity suggests to me that God's relationship to us also is one of hospitality. I think of praying as addressing a trusted friend upon whom I can count.
Charles: So what is prayer? Why do we persist in praying to God? Can we pray too much and drive God away?
Jeanne: Sometimes prayer is active on my part, but mostly prayer comes to me. Sometimes I am intentional about praying, but mostly it catches me unawares. As my thoughts turn to pondering, I find myself addressing them to God, including God as listener. I feel welcome before God. I do not have to censor my words but speak freely.
Charles: For me, prayer is as much action and relating with others as speaking words. When I treat a friend or even a stranger in a way consistent with my faith, God is present. That is prayer. I'm better at living a prayer than shaping the words. I get a lot of things sorted out as I go about the routine chores of the day. In that time, I may not have addressed God in the form of a prayer, yet I have been communicating with God the entire time.
Jeanne: The way we ask, seek, and knock is not as important as that we persist in asking, seeking, and knocking because we sense that we are welcome to do so. We have to have someone to talk to, soul to soul, with or without words. Otherwise, the struggle is too lonely. The challenge is too likely to overwhelm. The job of peacemaking is too great.
Charles: How are we to pray? What if the Prayer of our Savior were the only prayer to which we gave words? It was, after all, Christ's answer to the disciple who asked him to teach the disciples how to pray. It has, after all, been the communal prayer of the people at weekly worship for a long time.
Jeanne: When you think about it, all of the basics are there. We address God as one might speak to a trusted and revered parent. Our hope is for the realm of God to be a reality. Despite our supposed independence, we are interdependent and concerned about physical needs. We fall short in our relationships to God and those with each other. We know about fear. It is all there in this prayer.
Charles: Why do we persist in praying to God in the first place? After a while I get to thinking that God is causing all the turmoil of the human family. If God is not in charge, if God cannot do anything about the messes in our world, then why do we persist in praying to God?
Jeanne: I think of prayer as our determination not to be undone by fear, terror, or the waiting for the unknown to happen. Perhaps the prayer is the persistence. Perhaps prayer is itself the expression of hope. Perhaps praying is our opening the door to empower God's hospitality to happen.
Charles: Perhaps.
He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." [2] He said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. [3] Give us each day our daily bread. [4] And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial."
[5] And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; [6] for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.' [7] And he answers from within, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.' [8] I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
[9] "So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. [10] For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. [11] Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? [12] Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? [13] If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
2. What's Happening?
First Point Of Action
Jesus responds to the request of a disciple to teach the disciples to pray as John taught his disciples by teaching them the Prayer of our Savior.
Second Point Of Action
Jesus tells the present parable. A person to whose house a friend has arrived unexpectedly at midnight goes to the house of another friend at midnight and asks him for three loaves of bread as he has nothing in his own house with which to show hospitality.
Third Point Of Action
At first the friend refuses. He has already locked his door for the night and is settled into bed with his family.
Fourth Point Of Action
The asking person persists. Jesus says the friend finally gets up and gives him what he needs not because of their friendship but because of his persistence.
Fifth Point Of Action
Jesus speaks the familiar trilogy of sayings: Ask, and it will be given you. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you.
Sixth Point Of Action
Jesus adds the mini-parable about the human parent, albeit with human shortcomings, who gives to the child who asks not something that will harm that child but gives only good gifts.
Seventh Point Of Action
Jesus makes the analogy between the care of the flawed human parent and the generosity of God as a spiritual parent.
3. Spadework
Ask/Receive
For what do we ask? What were the biblical people asking of God? How did God respond to their asking?
"[A]nd we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him" (1 John 3:22). God found pleasure in Solomon's request also. When God said to him, "Ask what I should give you," Solomon said, "Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?"
In turn, "God said to [Solomon], 'Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you' " (from 1 Kings 3:5-13). See also 2 Chronicles 1:7.
Were the Psalmist's questions, then, the wrong questions? Hoping for a word from God, the Psalmist asks, "When will you comfort me?" and "How long must your servant endure?" and "When will you judge those who persecute me?" See Psalm 119:81-84.
What type of asking is best? Zechariah suggests that our prayers be timely: "Ask rain from the Lord in the season of the spring rain" (Zechariah 10:1). We may ask for the wrong things: "You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures" (James 4:3). "And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, 'Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation' " (Mark 8:12).
God invites our asking: "I will tell of the decree of the Lord: / He said to me, 'You are my son; / today I have begotten you. / Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, / and the ends of the earth your possession' " (Psalm 2:7-8).
Can one imagine even God's frustration and sense of helplessness when God stands ready for being approached and no one comes? We miss-communicate even with God. After much had happened, Isaiah says to God, "After all this, will you restrain yourself, O Lord? Will you keep silent, and punish us so severely?" (Isaiah 64:12).
God answers Isaiah: "I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask, to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, 'Here I am, here I am,' to a nation that did not call on my name. I held out my hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices" (Isaiah 65:1-2).
When God asked Ahaz to ask a sign of God, Ahaz refused, saying, "I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test" (Isaiah 7:12). Whereupon, Isaiah, chiding Ahaz for wearying God with his messing around, said the Lord himself would give him a sign without his asking. (See Isaiah 7:14.)
As with many of our prayers, we initially plan to ask for "two things" then ask for more: "Two things I ask of you; do not deny them to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that I need" (Proverbs 30:7-8). The Proverb writer gains in boldness, stomping his foot with this ultimatum: "or I shall be full, and deny you, and say, 'Who is the Lord?' or I shall be poor, and steal, and profane the name of my God" (Proverbs 30:9).
The following Matthean passage is the benchmark on communication with God: "When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him" (Matthew 6:7-8). Before we even ask, God anticipates our needs.
Paul speaks to the wordless yearning that is itself prayer: "But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God" (Romans 8:24-28).
Friend (Friendship)
Consider in this parable that the friend did not go to a relative for the bread. With some things, one dares not approach relatives. Only a friend will do. Might a relative judge, ridicule, scorn, or say, "Absolutely not. You can wait until morning"? Relatives are too risky. A friend is nearby but not as close as a relative. One can trust a good friend even with one's foolishness. One certainly can count on a friend during a crisis: "Do not forsake your friend or the friend of your parent; do not go to the house of your kindred in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is nearby than kindred who are far away" (Proverbs 27:10).
The code of Middle Eastern hospitality demands kindness in welcoming guests and strangers as well as friends. So also was the hospitality of those on the Great Plain. Folk traveling long distances across the mid-section of our country once needed to stay awhile to revive from the journey. Food was necessary for survival and for fortification for the continuation of the journey. Shelter was a necessity to protect travelers both from the elements and from wildlife. However, beyond the necessity of hospitality lies the friendship of being a neighbor.
Friendship requires generosity of spirit. "If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be" (Deuteronomy 15:7-8).
What is friendship about? "Some friends play at friendship but a true friend sticks closer than one's nearest kin" (Proverbs 18:24). Whereas relatives are "born to share adversity," according to Proverbs 17:17, "a friend loves at all times." Friends refrain from withholding kindness. See Job 6:14. David went out to meet [Benjaminites and Judahites who came to him] and said to them, "If you have come to me in friendship, to help me, then my heart will be knit to you" (1 Chronicles 12:17).
From among the six biblical references to "friendship" and the fifty references to "friend," one can glean several characteristics of God's friendship and our friendship with God: "Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend" (Exodus 33:11a). "The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, / and he makes his covenant known to them" (Psalm 25:14). "Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, 'Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,' and he was called the friend of God" (James 2:23). Christ was "a friend of tax collectors and sinners" (Luke 7:34).
Christ addressed a unique collection of acquaintances as "friend" at other singular moments in his ministry. When Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, "Jesus said to him, 'Friend, do what you are here to do' " (Matthew 26:50a). In Luke 5:20, when Jesus saw the faith of the friends of the paralyzed man whom they let down through the roof, Jesus said to the stranger, "Friend, your sins are forgiven you." See also Luke 12:14 and 14:10.
Knock/Open
Not to everyone who knocks is the door opened: "When once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us,' then in reply he will say to you, 'I do not know where you come from' " (Luke 13:25).
The door must be open or opened before one can enter through it. "Open to me the gates of righteousness, / that I may enter through them / and give thanks to the Lord" (Psalm 118:19). Consider how we are to respond to the knock that comes on our door: "[T]he stranger has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler" (Job 31:32). "[B]e like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks" (Luke 12:36).
Are we ever to reject the person who comes to our door? "When once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us,' then in reply he will say to you, 'I do not know where you come from' " (Luke 13:25).
"Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me" (Revelation 3:20). God wants us to be as prompt to open this door as those who waited for their master to return from the wedding banquet. (See Luke 12:36.)
God is a hospitable God who opens many doors for us unasked. For those who obey God, this generous God will "open for you a rich storehouse, the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season and to bless all your undertakings" (Deuteronomy 28:12a). See Acts 14:27, 1 Corinthians 16:8-9, and Psalm 145:16.
Is it possible that, if we observe closely, we will notice that the door has been ajar all along? "I know your works. Look, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut" (Revelation 3:8a).
Our Father
Christ tells us we are to address God as one who is as close to us and as caring for us as a parent. Isaiah gives further meaning to this closeness with God. As a parent, God stands ready to save or redeem us: "[Y]ou, O Lord, are our father; our Redeemer from of old is your name" (Isaiah 63:16b). "Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you" (Isaiah 30:18a).
As a parent, God is active creator and shaper, one who influences our being: "Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand" (Isaiah 64:8). "The Lord is just in all his ways, / and kind in all his doings. / The Lord is near to all who call on him, / to all who call on him in truth" (Psalm 145:17-18).
The present parable is the first of three in this cycle that address prayer. (See also Cycle C, Parable 17, The Uncaring Judge, and Cycle C, Parable 18, Two Men At Prayer.)
Seek/Find
Benchmark passages for the seek/find relationship we hold with God include the following: "I sought the Lord, and he answered me, / and delivered me from all my fears" (Psalm 34:4) and "When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13). See also Deuteronomy 4:29.
While we seek God, and even when we do not seek God, God is searching us: "You search out my path and my lying down, / and are acquainted with all my ways" (Psalm 139:3) and "For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10).
The Chronicles' historian suggests that active and persistent seeking will be fruitful: "Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his presence continually" (1 Chronicles 16:10-11). See also Psalm 105:3-4.
We underestimate the proximity of God through those difficult times that draw us toward feelings of abandonment or isolation. We might slip then into wondering if God has gone "where we cannot come." "Jesus then said, 'I will be with you a little while longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will search for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come' " (John 7:33-34), and "With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the Lord, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them" (Hosea 5:6).
Most needing to seek God's presence are also vulnerable to a lack of trust and of the faith that God still is present. God is still present and as immediate as the Psalmist's use of the present tense, "you discern": "O Lord, you have searched me and known me. / You know when I sit down and when I rise up; / you discern my thoughts from far away" (Psalm 139:1-2).
"And you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve him with single mind and willing heart; for the Lord searches every mind, and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will abandon you forever" (1 Chronicles 28:9). See also Jeremiah 17:10.
God answers our call: "[B]ut when in their distress [Israel] turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them" (2 Chronicles 15:4). "[T]hose who seek the Lord lack no good thing" (Psalm 34:10b).
4. Parallel Scripture
This parable is unique to the New Testament. Consider the following Ask, Seek, and Knock passages:
Ask, And You Shall Receive
"So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours" (Mark 11:24).
"Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive" (Matthew 21:22).
"On that day you will ask nothing of me. Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete" (John 16:23-24).
"You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name" (John 15:16).
"If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you" (John 15:7).
After the Lukan preface of "So I say to you," Luke mirrors the Matthew 7:7 parallel of the ask-seek-knock sayings.
5. Chat Room
Charles: Why did you go to your friend at midnight of all times? And did you have to have three loaves of bread?
Reuben: Isn't that always when the emergencies occur? I had no choice. I did not expect my friend's arrival. He was exhausted, hungry. He had missed the evening meal. You know that is the main meal. I had to feed him plenty to be gracious, to honor him. He is my friend. I could not send him away either empty-of-stomach or empty-handed. I would have done the same had my trusted friend come to my own door at midnight.
Charles: You know that your friend needed some convincing to open his door.
Reuben: I do, but I also know that my friend is a friend. If I could rouse him enough, wake him up enough, he would come to the door. I owe him one.
Charles: How far is too far too push in friendship? At some point I would not get out of bed for anyone. Are you online yet, Jeanne?
Jeanne: I'm back. I been wondering if that breadth of hospitality holds true with prayer. Reuben's generosity suggests to me that God's relationship to us also is one of hospitality. I think of praying as addressing a trusted friend upon whom I can count.
Charles: So what is prayer? Why do we persist in praying to God? Can we pray too much and drive God away?
Jeanne: Sometimes prayer is active on my part, but mostly prayer comes to me. Sometimes I am intentional about praying, but mostly it catches me unawares. As my thoughts turn to pondering, I find myself addressing them to God, including God as listener. I feel welcome before God. I do not have to censor my words but speak freely.
Charles: For me, prayer is as much action and relating with others as speaking words. When I treat a friend or even a stranger in a way consistent with my faith, God is present. That is prayer. I'm better at living a prayer than shaping the words. I get a lot of things sorted out as I go about the routine chores of the day. In that time, I may not have addressed God in the form of a prayer, yet I have been communicating with God the entire time.
Jeanne: The way we ask, seek, and knock is not as important as that we persist in asking, seeking, and knocking because we sense that we are welcome to do so. We have to have someone to talk to, soul to soul, with or without words. Otherwise, the struggle is too lonely. The challenge is too likely to overwhelm. The job of peacemaking is too great.
Charles: How are we to pray? What if the Prayer of our Savior were the only prayer to which we gave words? It was, after all, Christ's answer to the disciple who asked him to teach the disciples how to pray. It has, after all, been the communal prayer of the people at weekly worship for a long time.
Jeanne: When you think about it, all of the basics are there. We address God as one might speak to a trusted and revered parent. Our hope is for the realm of God to be a reality. Despite our supposed independence, we are interdependent and concerned about physical needs. We fall short in our relationships to God and those with each other. We know about fear. It is all there in this prayer.
Charles: Why do we persist in praying to God in the first place? After a while I get to thinking that God is causing all the turmoil of the human family. If God is not in charge, if God cannot do anything about the messes in our world, then why do we persist in praying to God?
Jeanne: I think of prayer as our determination not to be undone by fear, terror, or the waiting for the unknown to happen. Perhaps the prayer is the persistence. Perhaps prayer is itself the expression of hope. Perhaps praying is our opening the door to empower God's hospitality to happen.
Charles: Perhaps.
