Persistent Praying
Preaching
Preaching the Parables
Series II, Cycle C
Object:
1He 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." 2He said to them, "When you
pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
3Give us each day our daily bread.
4And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive
everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial."
5And 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; 6for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.' 7And 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.' 8I 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. 10For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? 12Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? 13If 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!"
A special interest of Luke in both the Gospel and the Book of Acts is prayer. He frequently notes the prayer life of Jesus. Before every major crisis in his ministry Jesus spent time in prayer.
The parables for today with their surrounding materials give an occasion for the preacher to deal with the whole subject of proper praying. It is an opportunity to deal with common misconceptions of prayer. It is also an opportunity to consider the whole discipline involved in praying.
While Jesus gave a model prayer, just repeating it is not necessarily good praying. It is a guide and can help in knowing the form of prayer. The preacher may want to include consideration of the form of prayer, both in public acts of worship and private prayer.
Context
Context of the Church Year
Luke is rich in parables. In thirteen of the next fourteen Sundays the Gospel reading includes a parable. Only Proper 16 does not include a parable.
Note that the parable in Proper 24 has a similar thrust to the parable here. It might be good to look ahead and decide how to use the two parables so as not to duplicate the general intent of each in preaching.
Context of the Lectionary
The First Lesson. (Hosea 1:2-10) Hosea received his first message from God. The Lord instructed him to take a prostitute as a wife. He is to use her and the children born of her as a living parable of what is happening to Israel. Because of the people of Israel's unfaithfulness, their kingdom will come to an end. Nevertheless the promise of the covenant with Abraham will be fulfilled and Israel's people will be like the sands of the sea in number when they become children of the living God.
The Second Lesson. (Colossians 2:6-15) The passage encourages the Colossians to persist in faithfulness in the life they have in Christ. Paul warns against allowing themselves to become captive to false philosophies or human traditions. He reminds them, among other things, of how God made them alive by forgiving their trespasses. That is a central theme in the model prayer which introduces the parable in the Gospel lesson.
Gospel. (Luke 11:1-13) The parable is introduced by the prayer which Jesus gives his disciples in response to their request to teach them to pray. Jesus proceeds to tell the story of the insistent householder who needs bread for a traveler arriving at midnight. Jesus uses it as an admonition to constant prayer. He follows up with the assurance that if they are persistent enough God will grant them the good gift of the Holy Spirit.
Psalm. (Psalm 85) The psalm begins with the reminder of how God restored Jacob's fortunes. The theme of forgiveness of sins is part of that restoration. The psalmist calls upon the Lord to do the same now and grant the people salvation. He wants to hear God speak. He ends with an affirmation that what God gives is good and that from the Lord righteousness, peace, and prosperity will come.
Context of Related Scripture
Matthew 6:5-14 -- Parallel passage of proper praying and Lord's Prayer.
Acts 2:42 -- The early Christians devote themselves to the breaking of bread and prayer.
Times when Jesus was praying:
Matthew 14:23 -- Jesus went up to the mountains by himself to pray.
Matthew 26:36-41 -- Jesus praying in Gethsemane.
John 14:16 -- Jesus will ask the Father for an advocate for the disciples.
Other instances of prayer:
Job 42:9 -- The Lord accepted Job's prayer.
Psalm 39:12 -- The psalmist beseeches the Lord to hear his prayer.
Psalm 69:13ff. -- The psalmist directs a prayer for deliverance to the Lord.
Proverbs 15:8 -- God delights in the prayer of the upright.
Matthew 21:22 -- Jesus affirms that what we ask for in prayer with faith, we will receive.
Ephesians 6:18 -- Paul admonishes to pray in the spirit at all times.
James 5:16 -- The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.
The significance of bread:
Matthew 4:3-4; Luke 4:3-4 -- Jesus tempted to change stones to bread and his response.
Matthew 7:9-10 -- On giving stone for bread and a serpent for fish.
John 6:22-51 -- Jesus' explanation of the meaning of bread.
1 Corinthians 10:16 -- The breaking of bread as the sharing of life with Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:23-27 -- Paul's words about the institution of the Lord's Supper with the breaking of bread.
Jesus addresses God as Father:
Matthew 11:25-27 -- Jesus relates to the Father as Son.
Matthew 12:50 -- Doing the will of Jesus' Father in heaven.
Matthew 26:29; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42 -- Jesus asks the Father to remove the cup from him.
John 5:17 -- Jesus' Father is working and he is also working.
John 5:19 -- Whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.
John 14:10 -- Jesus in the Father and the Father in him.
John 17:1 -- Jesus prays to the Father for protection of the disciples.
Content
Precis of the Parable
After Jesus gives the disciples a model for praying he tells the parable of the householder who has an unexpected midnight guest. He is without bread to feed the traveler. He goes to his neighbor to borrow bread but the neighbor is already in bed. The neighbor is reluctant to disturb the family to answer the door. The man continues to plead with the neighbor. Finally, to get rid of the nuisance at the door, the neighbor rouses from bed and gives him three loaves.
A second saying compares the readiness of God to answer prayer. Jesus compares God to anyone who would not give a stone when children ask for bread, or a serpent when they ask for fish.
Thesis: God is more ready to answer prayer than a good neighbor or parents.
Theme: Persistence in prayer results in response.
Key Words in the Passage
1. "John Taught His Disciples." (v. 1) It was customary for a Jewish rabbi to give his followers instruction in praying. Apparently John the Baptist followed the custom. The disciples, having observed Jesus' prayer life, ask for similar instruction.
2. "Hallowed." (v. 2) God is to be treated with reverence and respect. God's holiness means that one comes with a mixture of adoration and awe.
3. "Daily Bread." (v. 3) The prayer is for support one day at a time. It is reminiscent of the manna given in the wilderness. The Hebrew people were given enough each day except on the day before the Sabbath when they gathered enough so they did not need to work for it on the Sabbath.
4. "Forgive Us Our Sins." (v. 4) Matthew uses a term for a debt which tends to make it a bookkeeping transaction. Luke uses a term which means that we have fallen short of the standard. This leads to alienation, whether it is person to person or a person to God.
5. "Go to Him at Midnight." (v. 5) Travelers in Israel often did so at night. By so doing they avoided the heat of the day. Temperatures can reach into the high nineties or up to one hundred. So it would not be uncommon for a person to arrive so late. Hospitality for a friend was part of the culture in a society without a system of hotels and motels. No reservations needed!
6. "Nothing to Set Before Him." (v. 6) It would be a severe breech of hospitality not to provide refreshment for a traveler even though he arrived so late. Bread is usually baked for only one day. In some cultures people still want fresh bread daily. They do not like to keep bread overnight when it would become stale.
7. "My Children are with Me in Bed." (v. 7) Palestinians did not have separate bedrooms as a rule. The typical peasant house usually had one large room. A part of it might be set aside for sleeping quarters. A person could hardly get up, light a lamp to find the bread, and give it to the neighbor at the door without disturbing the entire family.
8. "Ask ... Search ... Knock ..." (v. 9) The three imperatives are in a progression of intensity. By the time you get to knocking, the word almost says to batter the door down. The knocking is not just a polite tapping to arouse attention. It is an insistent pounding almost to force entrance.
9. "An Egg ... a Scorpion." (v. 12) Apparently a scorpion with its appendages folded in has somewhat the shape of an egg. It is a poisonous animal whose sting is painful and can even be lethal.
10. "How Much More." (v. 13) Both the parable of the insistent man and the good parent argue from the lesser to the greater. If human beings can be so good in responding to requests, how much more is the good God going to respond to human need?
11. "Give the Holy Spirit." (v. 13) The Holy Spirit is the gift of God's presence. The Holy Spirit is a guide, an advocate, an encourager, and a provider of strength. Thus the Holy Spirit answers prayer since that is how real human needs are met.
Contemplation
Issues and Insights
1. Unanswered Prayer. Jesus seems to suggest that a simple equation exists between asking and receiving, searching and finding, and knocking and finding openings. Yet people often pray intensely for what they perceive to be reasonable requests. They may pray for healing from illness. They pray for cure from disease but it doesn't come. They search for answers to why it appears that the wicked prosper and they struggle to survive. They look for love and do not seem to find it. They look for openings in the job market and find none.
What kind of explanation do you give that satisfies such questioning? Some religious leaders suggest that such conditions result from evil committed in some previous life. Others place it in the mystery of God's action which we cannot fully grasp in our limited human understanding. God's purposes are hidden from our sight in such situations.
Jesus concludes by saying that persistent praying results in the gift of the Holy Spirit. God of compassion and mercy provides the presence of the Holy Spirit to enable us to accept the trials of life even when we do not fully know all the answers to why a world has in it disappointment, suffering, and death.
2. Praying for Wants or Needs? Prayer is not so much intended to bring wants to the attention of an unknowing and uncaring God. What prayer does is to discover our real needs. If we believe that God is present to each person and cares about each person, then prayer is to help us know our true needs as we communicate with the mind of God.
People too easily assume that what they want will work for their welfare. Too often if people get what they want, they get unexpected consequences that work against their welfare. Recent research shows that 4.7 million children over six are extremely overweight. They eat what they want but it does not serve their real needs. Obesity contributes to many illnesses that shorten life, such as diabetes, heart diseases, cancer, strokes, and other similar diseases.
True prayer seeks and searches for God's will. It brings our desires and wants to accord with God's will for us. Even though it may appear to us that God's will does not serve our welfare, ultimately, only God's will meets our real needs.
3. Is God a Reluctant Giver? The parable would seem to indicate on first reading that God is reluctant to respond to prayer. The host who had the unexpected midnight guest had to persist and raise a ruckus before the neighbor responded. Is that the kind of God Jesus prayed to?
We should not allegorize the parable by trying to identify each of the characters. A true parable has a single point to make and that is the case here. It is the host who was insistent in his knocking and asking and that is the point Jesus is making, not a point about the petulant neighbor.
In the verses following the parable Jesus discloses the nature of the God to whom he prayed. God is like the parent who will not give bad things when asked for a fish or an egg. God is much better than the neighbor or the parent. It is our failure in the discipline of praying that makes prayer unproductive. It is not God who is unwilling or slow to hear our prayers and respond.
Homily Hints
1. Praying at a Certain Place. (v. 1) What are the conditions that are best for praying?
A. A Regular Place. It helps to pray if a place is set up that is conducive to prayer.
B. A Regular Time. The practice of having a set time to engage in prayer makes it easier to enter into it. It also assures that one will not neglect to pray regularly.
C. Praying Regularly. Besides more concentrated time of prayer, turning one's attention to God many times through the day keeps one on course.
2. A Model for Praying. (vv. 2-4) Use the Lord's Prayer as a model for personal prayers.
A. Adoration of God. Establishing relationships as you do in a phone conversation (v. 2).
B. Addressing Life's Physical Needs. Asking to recognize your real needs and trusting God to provide them (v. 3).
C. Addressing Spiritual Life. Ridding the burdens of the past regarding offenses of your neighbor or against the neighbor, your own offenses, and threats of the future (v. 4).
3. Persistence in Praying. (v. 8) The need for constant prayer. A. To Meet the Needs of Others.
B. To Be Constantly Aware of the Source of Life.
C. Regardless of Convenience or Inconvenience.
4. Ask, Search, Knock. (v. 9)
A. Asking. Not so much to bring our wants to God, but to let God make us aware of our real needs.
B. Searching. Looking to know God's will and way for our lives.
C. Knocking. Seeking to remove the barriers that block us from real living in the presence of God.
5. A Fish or Snake, an Egg or Scorpion? (vv. 11, 12)
A. Appearances Are Not Always Real. Through prayer discover what appears to be good but is not, and thereby avoid it.
B. Meeting Needs, Not Wants. What people, ourselves included, want is not necessarily what they need. Prayer helps us to know the difference.
C. Meeting Others' Real Needs. People need the gift of the Holy Spirit to respond to others so that they can serve their real needs instead of controlling them for their interests.
Contact
Points of Contact
1. Persistence in Praying. People need to persist in praying, not because of what it does to God, but what it does to them. It is in prayer that the Holy Spirit enables the person who prays in the spirit of Jesus to discover what the will of God is. People also need to pray to position themselves so that they are ready to receive and respond to the gifts God is ready to bestow. It was only after persisting in prayer and struggle with his desire to escape the suffering and uncertainty of the cross that Jesus could pray, "Not my will but yours be done." People also need to examine what they are asking God to do when they pray. They may find that they are not ready to do what is required of them before the prayer can be answered or that they will be ready to do what is needed to make the answer to their prayer possible.
2. The Discipline of Prayer. Prayer can take many forms. Most people find that a set time for quiet and meditation best enables them to engage in serious and prolonged prayer. Praying requires a discipline in which a person first must empty oneself from the distractions and preoccupations of the day.
For some, the best time to pray is early in the morning as they prepare to face the demands and challenges of the day. For others it is an extended period at the end of the day when they review the activities of the day and seek the solace of forgiveness for failures and strengthening of resolve to greater faithfulness in following Christ.
Posture may also assist in prayer. Some simply bow their heads and fold their hands in adoration and supplication of God. That fosters an attitude of prayer for them. For others they find it most helpful to kneel in prayer. Still others find it best to sit in a comfortable position where the body can relax and the spirit focuses on the prayer process.
Prayer requires discipline and practice. Yet persons must guard against the tendency to become routine. It requires an interaction between the person praying and the spirit of God who is responding.
3. The Structure of Prayer. Prayer has several components. As in any conversation, it begins with an address to God. In praying this most frequently is done in adoration and reverence before the power and wisdom of God. Adoration acknowledges that the person is in the presence of God.
Adoration may be followed by or include an expression of thanksgiving and recognition of blessings received from the hand of God. This establishes a relationship of trust and readiness to respond to the speaking of the Holy Spirit.
Petition and intercession may follow. These recognize our needs and the needs of others. They acknowledge the dependency on God as the giver of all good gifts. They also connect us with the wider community, both of believers and of the entire human race.
Petition will include the request for forgiveness and the releasing of others from guilt toward us. That requires a true repentance which means a change of our actions and attitudes. From that we become renewed and ready for restoration of right relationships with other persons.
Finally the prayer should conclude with a commitment to follow Christ more perfectly. It is also a prayer for strength and courage to follow the will of God according to the insights received and the strengthening of the human spirit by the presence and action of the Holy Spirit.
4. Modeling Prayer. Jesus is, of course, the supreme model of the person who knew how to pray. According to the records we have, he engaged in prayer before every important decision and crisis in his ministry. His disciples solicited his help in their prayer lives. We can learn much from studying his prayers and prayer life.
Reading the collected prayers of other outstanding Christians whose lives have demonstrated the power of prayer can also help in learning how to pray. It is not sufficient just to read the words they have uttered in prayer. To be most helpful, we need also to examine how they acted in response to prayer. Did they, as Jesus did, not only engage in formal acts of praying, but did they also act out the answer to prayer in trust and obedience to the will of God?
Illustrative Materials
1. Serving Whose Needs? A young man wanted to go to college. His father wanted him to carry on the family farm. He acceded to the father's wishes but was always frustrated. He never fulfilled the possibilities a college education would have provided him. Whose interest was the father serving?
2. Praying with Open Eyes. A young woman wanted four children. She had only one small child. She decided she should pray about it. So she laid her baby on the bed, closed her eyes, and prayed fervently about her desire. While she was praying, the baby rolled off the bed. Fortunately the baby was not injured. The woman decided she should pray, but keep her eyes open when responsible for a child!
3. A Misplaced Good. The Shah of Iran thought he would modernize agriculture. He imported modern machinery in what was part of the so-called White Revolution. To use the machinery well, the 3,000-year-old system of irrigation ditches had to be destroyed. They made the fields too small for the extensive agriculture machinery required. The heavy machinery compacted the soil and the land did not get the needed water. Instead of Iran exporting food, as it had done previously, it now had to import as much as a third of its agricultural products. What was thought to be an egg proved to be a scorpion for many people in the land.
4. Answered Prayer.
A. A young man was assigned a certain job by a church agency. At one point he applied for transfer to another assignment under the church agency. He was not transferred but was left where he was for over a year. He felt doors were closed to him. In fact, over the year he rose to new responsibilities where he was. Later he was transferred to a better opportunity which he had not requested but which the year prepared him to do. The new position was a significant preparation for his later career. In retrospect he saw God's leading through closed and opened doors. His prayers were answered in unexpected and unforeseen ways.
B. Paul was looking for new fields for his work on the second missionary journey. He tried to go into northern Asia Minor. Illness apparently closed the door. He then had the vision of the Macedonian call. A closed door of opportunity and human judgment led to an open door that opened all of Europe to Paul's missionary activity.
5. Effective Prayer. Frank Laubach was an admittedly ineffective missionary in his early years. Then he committed himself to a life of prayer. People who knew him reported how he got up early in the morning, about 4:00 a.m., to pray. The busier he was, the more time he spent in prayer.
Laubach sought to be conscious of God's presence and to interact with him in every minute of his waking hours. Through this disciplined approach to prayer that was constant and persistent, Laubach became a renewed and effective missionary. One well-known and significant aspect of his ministry was the literacy program he launched. His motto of "Each one teach one" led to a worldwide program to eradicate illiteracy. The creativity and extent of his influence in that program is only one demonstration of the power of prayer in his life.
Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
3Give us each day our daily bread.
4And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive
everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial."
5And 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; 6for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.' 7And 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.' 8I 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. 10For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? 12Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? 13If 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!"
A special interest of Luke in both the Gospel and the Book of Acts is prayer. He frequently notes the prayer life of Jesus. Before every major crisis in his ministry Jesus spent time in prayer.
The parables for today with their surrounding materials give an occasion for the preacher to deal with the whole subject of proper praying. It is an opportunity to deal with common misconceptions of prayer. It is also an opportunity to consider the whole discipline involved in praying.
While Jesus gave a model prayer, just repeating it is not necessarily good praying. It is a guide and can help in knowing the form of prayer. The preacher may want to include consideration of the form of prayer, both in public acts of worship and private prayer.
Context
Context of the Church Year
Luke is rich in parables. In thirteen of the next fourteen Sundays the Gospel reading includes a parable. Only Proper 16 does not include a parable.
Note that the parable in Proper 24 has a similar thrust to the parable here. It might be good to look ahead and decide how to use the two parables so as not to duplicate the general intent of each in preaching.
Context of the Lectionary
The First Lesson. (Hosea 1:2-10) Hosea received his first message from God. The Lord instructed him to take a prostitute as a wife. He is to use her and the children born of her as a living parable of what is happening to Israel. Because of the people of Israel's unfaithfulness, their kingdom will come to an end. Nevertheless the promise of the covenant with Abraham will be fulfilled and Israel's people will be like the sands of the sea in number when they become children of the living God.
The Second Lesson. (Colossians 2:6-15) The passage encourages the Colossians to persist in faithfulness in the life they have in Christ. Paul warns against allowing themselves to become captive to false philosophies or human traditions. He reminds them, among other things, of how God made them alive by forgiving their trespasses. That is a central theme in the model prayer which introduces the parable in the Gospel lesson.
Gospel. (Luke 11:1-13) The parable is introduced by the prayer which Jesus gives his disciples in response to their request to teach them to pray. Jesus proceeds to tell the story of the insistent householder who needs bread for a traveler arriving at midnight. Jesus uses it as an admonition to constant prayer. He follows up with the assurance that if they are persistent enough God will grant them the good gift of the Holy Spirit.
Psalm. (Psalm 85) The psalm begins with the reminder of how God restored Jacob's fortunes. The theme of forgiveness of sins is part of that restoration. The psalmist calls upon the Lord to do the same now and grant the people salvation. He wants to hear God speak. He ends with an affirmation that what God gives is good and that from the Lord righteousness, peace, and prosperity will come.
Context of Related Scripture
Matthew 6:5-14 -- Parallel passage of proper praying and Lord's Prayer.
Acts 2:42 -- The early Christians devote themselves to the breaking of bread and prayer.
Times when Jesus was praying:
Matthew 14:23 -- Jesus went up to the mountains by himself to pray.
Matthew 26:36-41 -- Jesus praying in Gethsemane.
John 14:16 -- Jesus will ask the Father for an advocate for the disciples.
Other instances of prayer:
Job 42:9 -- The Lord accepted Job's prayer.
Psalm 39:12 -- The psalmist beseeches the Lord to hear his prayer.
Psalm 69:13ff. -- The psalmist directs a prayer for deliverance to the Lord.
Proverbs 15:8 -- God delights in the prayer of the upright.
Matthew 21:22 -- Jesus affirms that what we ask for in prayer with faith, we will receive.
Ephesians 6:18 -- Paul admonishes to pray in the spirit at all times.
James 5:16 -- The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.
The significance of bread:
Matthew 4:3-4; Luke 4:3-4 -- Jesus tempted to change stones to bread and his response.
Matthew 7:9-10 -- On giving stone for bread and a serpent for fish.
John 6:22-51 -- Jesus' explanation of the meaning of bread.
1 Corinthians 10:16 -- The breaking of bread as the sharing of life with Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:23-27 -- Paul's words about the institution of the Lord's Supper with the breaking of bread.
Jesus addresses God as Father:
Matthew 11:25-27 -- Jesus relates to the Father as Son.
Matthew 12:50 -- Doing the will of Jesus' Father in heaven.
Matthew 26:29; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42 -- Jesus asks the Father to remove the cup from him.
John 5:17 -- Jesus' Father is working and he is also working.
John 5:19 -- Whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.
John 14:10 -- Jesus in the Father and the Father in him.
John 17:1 -- Jesus prays to the Father for protection of the disciples.
Content
Precis of the Parable
After Jesus gives the disciples a model for praying he tells the parable of the householder who has an unexpected midnight guest. He is without bread to feed the traveler. He goes to his neighbor to borrow bread but the neighbor is already in bed. The neighbor is reluctant to disturb the family to answer the door. The man continues to plead with the neighbor. Finally, to get rid of the nuisance at the door, the neighbor rouses from bed and gives him three loaves.
A second saying compares the readiness of God to answer prayer. Jesus compares God to anyone who would not give a stone when children ask for bread, or a serpent when they ask for fish.
Thesis: God is more ready to answer prayer than a good neighbor or parents.
Theme: Persistence in prayer results in response.
Key Words in the Passage
1. "John Taught His Disciples." (v. 1) It was customary for a Jewish rabbi to give his followers instruction in praying. Apparently John the Baptist followed the custom. The disciples, having observed Jesus' prayer life, ask for similar instruction.
2. "Hallowed." (v. 2) God is to be treated with reverence and respect. God's holiness means that one comes with a mixture of adoration and awe.
3. "Daily Bread." (v. 3) The prayer is for support one day at a time. It is reminiscent of the manna given in the wilderness. The Hebrew people were given enough each day except on the day before the Sabbath when they gathered enough so they did not need to work for it on the Sabbath.
4. "Forgive Us Our Sins." (v. 4) Matthew uses a term for a debt which tends to make it a bookkeeping transaction. Luke uses a term which means that we have fallen short of the standard. This leads to alienation, whether it is person to person or a person to God.
5. "Go to Him at Midnight." (v. 5) Travelers in Israel often did so at night. By so doing they avoided the heat of the day. Temperatures can reach into the high nineties or up to one hundred. So it would not be uncommon for a person to arrive so late. Hospitality for a friend was part of the culture in a society without a system of hotels and motels. No reservations needed!
6. "Nothing to Set Before Him." (v. 6) It would be a severe breech of hospitality not to provide refreshment for a traveler even though he arrived so late. Bread is usually baked for only one day. In some cultures people still want fresh bread daily. They do not like to keep bread overnight when it would become stale.
7. "My Children are with Me in Bed." (v. 7) Palestinians did not have separate bedrooms as a rule. The typical peasant house usually had one large room. A part of it might be set aside for sleeping quarters. A person could hardly get up, light a lamp to find the bread, and give it to the neighbor at the door without disturbing the entire family.
8. "Ask ... Search ... Knock ..." (v. 9) The three imperatives are in a progression of intensity. By the time you get to knocking, the word almost says to batter the door down. The knocking is not just a polite tapping to arouse attention. It is an insistent pounding almost to force entrance.
9. "An Egg ... a Scorpion." (v. 12) Apparently a scorpion with its appendages folded in has somewhat the shape of an egg. It is a poisonous animal whose sting is painful and can even be lethal.
10. "How Much More." (v. 13) Both the parable of the insistent man and the good parent argue from the lesser to the greater. If human beings can be so good in responding to requests, how much more is the good God going to respond to human need?
11. "Give the Holy Spirit." (v. 13) The Holy Spirit is the gift of God's presence. The Holy Spirit is a guide, an advocate, an encourager, and a provider of strength. Thus the Holy Spirit answers prayer since that is how real human needs are met.
Contemplation
Issues and Insights
1. Unanswered Prayer. Jesus seems to suggest that a simple equation exists between asking and receiving, searching and finding, and knocking and finding openings. Yet people often pray intensely for what they perceive to be reasonable requests. They may pray for healing from illness. They pray for cure from disease but it doesn't come. They search for answers to why it appears that the wicked prosper and they struggle to survive. They look for love and do not seem to find it. They look for openings in the job market and find none.
What kind of explanation do you give that satisfies such questioning? Some religious leaders suggest that such conditions result from evil committed in some previous life. Others place it in the mystery of God's action which we cannot fully grasp in our limited human understanding. God's purposes are hidden from our sight in such situations.
Jesus concludes by saying that persistent praying results in the gift of the Holy Spirit. God of compassion and mercy provides the presence of the Holy Spirit to enable us to accept the trials of life even when we do not fully know all the answers to why a world has in it disappointment, suffering, and death.
2. Praying for Wants or Needs? Prayer is not so much intended to bring wants to the attention of an unknowing and uncaring God. What prayer does is to discover our real needs. If we believe that God is present to each person and cares about each person, then prayer is to help us know our true needs as we communicate with the mind of God.
People too easily assume that what they want will work for their welfare. Too often if people get what they want, they get unexpected consequences that work against their welfare. Recent research shows that 4.7 million children over six are extremely overweight. They eat what they want but it does not serve their real needs. Obesity contributes to many illnesses that shorten life, such as diabetes, heart diseases, cancer, strokes, and other similar diseases.
True prayer seeks and searches for God's will. It brings our desires and wants to accord with God's will for us. Even though it may appear to us that God's will does not serve our welfare, ultimately, only God's will meets our real needs.
3. Is God a Reluctant Giver? The parable would seem to indicate on first reading that God is reluctant to respond to prayer. The host who had the unexpected midnight guest had to persist and raise a ruckus before the neighbor responded. Is that the kind of God Jesus prayed to?
We should not allegorize the parable by trying to identify each of the characters. A true parable has a single point to make and that is the case here. It is the host who was insistent in his knocking and asking and that is the point Jesus is making, not a point about the petulant neighbor.
In the verses following the parable Jesus discloses the nature of the God to whom he prayed. God is like the parent who will not give bad things when asked for a fish or an egg. God is much better than the neighbor or the parent. It is our failure in the discipline of praying that makes prayer unproductive. It is not God who is unwilling or slow to hear our prayers and respond.
Homily Hints
1. Praying at a Certain Place. (v. 1) What are the conditions that are best for praying?
A. A Regular Place. It helps to pray if a place is set up that is conducive to prayer.
B. A Regular Time. The practice of having a set time to engage in prayer makes it easier to enter into it. It also assures that one will not neglect to pray regularly.
C. Praying Regularly. Besides more concentrated time of prayer, turning one's attention to God many times through the day keeps one on course.
2. A Model for Praying. (vv. 2-4) Use the Lord's Prayer as a model for personal prayers.
A. Adoration of God. Establishing relationships as you do in a phone conversation (v. 2).
B. Addressing Life's Physical Needs. Asking to recognize your real needs and trusting God to provide them (v. 3).
C. Addressing Spiritual Life. Ridding the burdens of the past regarding offenses of your neighbor or against the neighbor, your own offenses, and threats of the future (v. 4).
3. Persistence in Praying. (v. 8) The need for constant prayer. A. To Meet the Needs of Others.
B. To Be Constantly Aware of the Source of Life.
C. Regardless of Convenience or Inconvenience.
4. Ask, Search, Knock. (v. 9)
A. Asking. Not so much to bring our wants to God, but to let God make us aware of our real needs.
B. Searching. Looking to know God's will and way for our lives.
C. Knocking. Seeking to remove the barriers that block us from real living in the presence of God.
5. A Fish or Snake, an Egg or Scorpion? (vv. 11, 12)
A. Appearances Are Not Always Real. Through prayer discover what appears to be good but is not, and thereby avoid it.
B. Meeting Needs, Not Wants. What people, ourselves included, want is not necessarily what they need. Prayer helps us to know the difference.
C. Meeting Others' Real Needs. People need the gift of the Holy Spirit to respond to others so that they can serve their real needs instead of controlling them for their interests.
Contact
Points of Contact
1. Persistence in Praying. People need to persist in praying, not because of what it does to God, but what it does to them. It is in prayer that the Holy Spirit enables the person who prays in the spirit of Jesus to discover what the will of God is. People also need to pray to position themselves so that they are ready to receive and respond to the gifts God is ready to bestow. It was only after persisting in prayer and struggle with his desire to escape the suffering and uncertainty of the cross that Jesus could pray, "Not my will but yours be done." People also need to examine what they are asking God to do when they pray. They may find that they are not ready to do what is required of them before the prayer can be answered or that they will be ready to do what is needed to make the answer to their prayer possible.
2. The Discipline of Prayer. Prayer can take many forms. Most people find that a set time for quiet and meditation best enables them to engage in serious and prolonged prayer. Praying requires a discipline in which a person first must empty oneself from the distractions and preoccupations of the day.
For some, the best time to pray is early in the morning as they prepare to face the demands and challenges of the day. For others it is an extended period at the end of the day when they review the activities of the day and seek the solace of forgiveness for failures and strengthening of resolve to greater faithfulness in following Christ.
Posture may also assist in prayer. Some simply bow their heads and fold their hands in adoration and supplication of God. That fosters an attitude of prayer for them. For others they find it most helpful to kneel in prayer. Still others find it best to sit in a comfortable position where the body can relax and the spirit focuses on the prayer process.
Prayer requires discipline and practice. Yet persons must guard against the tendency to become routine. It requires an interaction between the person praying and the spirit of God who is responding.
3. The Structure of Prayer. Prayer has several components. As in any conversation, it begins with an address to God. In praying this most frequently is done in adoration and reverence before the power and wisdom of God. Adoration acknowledges that the person is in the presence of God.
Adoration may be followed by or include an expression of thanksgiving and recognition of blessings received from the hand of God. This establishes a relationship of trust and readiness to respond to the speaking of the Holy Spirit.
Petition and intercession may follow. These recognize our needs and the needs of others. They acknowledge the dependency on God as the giver of all good gifts. They also connect us with the wider community, both of believers and of the entire human race.
Petition will include the request for forgiveness and the releasing of others from guilt toward us. That requires a true repentance which means a change of our actions and attitudes. From that we become renewed and ready for restoration of right relationships with other persons.
Finally the prayer should conclude with a commitment to follow Christ more perfectly. It is also a prayer for strength and courage to follow the will of God according to the insights received and the strengthening of the human spirit by the presence and action of the Holy Spirit.
4. Modeling Prayer. Jesus is, of course, the supreme model of the person who knew how to pray. According to the records we have, he engaged in prayer before every important decision and crisis in his ministry. His disciples solicited his help in their prayer lives. We can learn much from studying his prayers and prayer life.
Reading the collected prayers of other outstanding Christians whose lives have demonstrated the power of prayer can also help in learning how to pray. It is not sufficient just to read the words they have uttered in prayer. To be most helpful, we need also to examine how they acted in response to prayer. Did they, as Jesus did, not only engage in formal acts of praying, but did they also act out the answer to prayer in trust and obedience to the will of God?
Illustrative Materials
1. Serving Whose Needs? A young man wanted to go to college. His father wanted him to carry on the family farm. He acceded to the father's wishes but was always frustrated. He never fulfilled the possibilities a college education would have provided him. Whose interest was the father serving?
2. Praying with Open Eyes. A young woman wanted four children. She had only one small child. She decided she should pray about it. So she laid her baby on the bed, closed her eyes, and prayed fervently about her desire. While she was praying, the baby rolled off the bed. Fortunately the baby was not injured. The woman decided she should pray, but keep her eyes open when responsible for a child!
3. A Misplaced Good. The Shah of Iran thought he would modernize agriculture. He imported modern machinery in what was part of the so-called White Revolution. To use the machinery well, the 3,000-year-old system of irrigation ditches had to be destroyed. They made the fields too small for the extensive agriculture machinery required. The heavy machinery compacted the soil and the land did not get the needed water. Instead of Iran exporting food, as it had done previously, it now had to import as much as a third of its agricultural products. What was thought to be an egg proved to be a scorpion for many people in the land.
4. Answered Prayer.
A. A young man was assigned a certain job by a church agency. At one point he applied for transfer to another assignment under the church agency. He was not transferred but was left where he was for over a year. He felt doors were closed to him. In fact, over the year he rose to new responsibilities where he was. Later he was transferred to a better opportunity which he had not requested but which the year prepared him to do. The new position was a significant preparation for his later career. In retrospect he saw God's leading through closed and opened doors. His prayers were answered in unexpected and unforeseen ways.
B. Paul was looking for new fields for his work on the second missionary journey. He tried to go into northern Asia Minor. Illness apparently closed the door. He then had the vision of the Macedonian call. A closed door of opportunity and human judgment led to an open door that opened all of Europe to Paul's missionary activity.
5. Effective Prayer. Frank Laubach was an admittedly ineffective missionary in his early years. Then he committed himself to a life of prayer. People who knew him reported how he got up early in the morning, about 4:00 a.m., to pray. The busier he was, the more time he spent in prayer.
Laubach sought to be conscious of God's presence and to interact with him in every minute of his waking hours. Through this disciplined approach to prayer that was constant and persistent, Laubach became a renewed and effective missionary. One well-known and significant aspect of his ministry was the literacy program he launched. His motto of "Each one teach one" led to a worldwide program to eradicate illiteracy. The creativity and extent of his influence in that program is only one demonstration of the power of prayer in his life.
