Day 8- The Friend at Midnight
Read it: Luke 11:5-8
Live it:
What a weird parable! If some neighbor comes knocking on my door in the middle of the night, I am going to tell him to buzz off and go to the grocery store! Why in the world would anyone disturb one’s neighbor for some bread? I don’t get it!
So, let’s just skip this parable and call it done! I like that idea. But maybe there are a couple of truths we can glean if we understand the background of the time.
First, this parable does not occur in a modern city where grocery stores are open at all times of the night. This parable takes place when the baker is open, probably in the morning only. One has to buy all the bread he needs for the day and wait till the next day to get that bread again. But could the man not make his own bread? Sure, but that would require at least a three-hour process: heat the oven (hour to get to a steady temperature), mix the ingredients, and then bake (probably another hour). The man needs it now!
Second, hospitality is a huge issue in honor cultures. It is considered disgraceful not to feed your guests. The time of their arrival does not matter. One is expected to have bread and hummus, or some other good treat, available.
Now, you can see the problem: no bread means a bad host. A bad host means a lowering of respect from those around, and that is all-important when one needs help from one’s neighbors to survive. In this case, of course, I am going to go to my neighbor and ask for some bread no matter what the time. I cannot afford not to!
Jesus says the neighbor will not give because of friendship, but he will give because you asked in an urgent and crazy way. The New International Version uses the words “audacious way.” What is Jesus speaking about? He is talking about prayer. We think that God will answer our prayers because we ask all the time (weird hours of the night and day). But God is looking for those who ask for what they need and ask out of desperation. Are you audacious with God? Are you asking the impossible? Are you asking big things from God? Not big for him, big for you? We are not talking foolishly like “God, give me a pain-free life.” Some asks are so self-centered that even Satan laughs at them. Instead, I am talking about asking God for people, transformation, growth, and life.
Examples: God, please save my parents, mate, and children. Are you asking audaciously for them? God, please make me a light at my work. Are you ready for persecution? Loss of job? Loss of friends?
God, make me like you! Are you ready to suffer? To love without being loved back? But also to know God in the depths and ways that no one around you knows God. Are you ready to see miracles because you are becoming like Christ?
The midnight friend: nuisance, pain, bothersome, but also rewarded and honored, and deeper in the relationship because of the ask.
Carl