Comments on Luke 11:5-13
The Good Samaritan. The Prodigal Son. The Parable of the Talents. The Wedding Feast. These are some of the well-known parables that Jesus taught. They make good Sunday School stories, and we hear them all the time. But not the parble from our passage this morning. It's called the "Friend at Midnight," and it's not too well known. Part of the reason for that is that this parable gives us some problems. It gives us some images that don't sit very well. But instead of forgetting it and ignoring it, let's struggle with it.
The first problem we have is that it seems to be saying that God is like a lazy friend. We get uncomfortable with this parable because it casts God in the role of a neighbor who is more concerned about waking the kids or unlocking the door than about a friend in need. That doesn't sound like the God I know. But of course, that's the whole point of the story. God is not like a lazy neighbor. He's much more loving than that. And if a selfish person like this neighbor will eventually do the right thing, how much more will God do it! That's the point that Jesus is making. But there's still a problem. If God is not a lazy slob, why do we have to keep asking? If the neighbor would have been concerned about the friend at midnight, he would have opened his door right away. So if God really is loving and concerned, why should we persist in our prayers? Why can't we just pray once and forget about it?
Christ tells us to persist in our prayers. Keep knocking at the door. "Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you." Now, these words do not mean, "Ask once, and forget about it." They mean, "Ask, and keep on asking. Seek, and continue to seek. Knock, and don't stop knocking." Keep it up, and God will hear you. That's what this parable tells us.
And then we remember another passage in the New Testament, from the Sermon on the Mount. "When you pray, don't keep on babbling like the pagans, for they think that they will be heard for their many words." [Matt. 6:7] Don't keep on babbling like the pagans. But that's what we feel like when we pray for something over and over. You may have heard of the monks in Tibet, who use prayer wheels. A prayer is written inside the wheel, and every time the wheel goes around, the prayer has been said. So the monks spin wheels, attach wheels to windmills, and hook them to waterwheels. All so their prayers will be repeated. Surely God doesn't want us to do things like that, does He? So why does He tell us to persevere in our prayers?
Whether we need to or not, we have to admit that we do lift up prayers repeatedly. I suppose that many of us can recall a certain petition that we have persisted in. What is it for you? What is that one prayer you say every evening? Is it a prayer for the healing of a friend, or for some struggles they have? Is it for the welfare of a particular part of the world, or maybe for a struggle that you're going through? Just so we have an example to use, let me tell you about one of my persistent prayers. My prayer was for a friend of mine from college. I don't know how we got to be friends: while I was going to Bible studies and leading a youth group, she was working as a cocktail waitress and living with her boyfriend. She'd go to church with me every now and then, but it didn't seem to mean much to her. I started to pray for her, that she would be able to commit her life to Christ. For some reason, that was a prayer that I made almost every day, for four years. I went to New Jersey, she went to California, and we lost touch with each other. Then, four years later, I heard from her. She was attending an exciting church, and her faith seemed to be making a difference in her life. Since then God has continued to do wonderful things in her life and her faith has been growing by leaps and bounds. She’s now working as a Christian family therapist. My four years of praying had been answered. But why did it take so long? Why does God want us to keep at prayers like that? There are many possible answers to that question. Let's look at a few.
First is an image that we have lurking in the backs of our minds that we never really think about. We have a notion that by praying we're building up some sort of cosmic juice. Each prayer is a chalk mark on some celestial blackboard, and when you get enough marks, God will answer your prayer. After four years I got enough marks, so God led my friend to accept him. And of course, some prayers need more marks than others. I've been praying for someone else for seven years; maybe it'll take eight years of chalk marks for him. Now in all honesty, I don't think we can accept that, for at least two reasons. First, it seems as though we're trying to put God over a barrel. "Now look, Lord: see how many times I've asked you to do this? You've got to answer my prayer!" The problem, of course, is that we can't force God to do anything. Remember, this is God we're talking about! And it also seems that we're trying to earn an answer to a prayer. If we put enough effort into it, eventually it'll pay off. But we can't earn anything. No matter what we do, we can't deserve an answer to our prayers. Everything we have is a free gift from God. So we have to give up the idea of a heavenly scorecard.
Well then, maybe we need to repeat prayers because God is so far removed from us. It's so hard to get in touch with him. Praying to God is like making a phone call to a busy executive. If you make enough phone calls, maybe one of them will get through the pool of secretaries. Maybe eventually he won't be in a meeting when you call. Maybe that's why we should persist in our prayers. But the God that I know is not a business executive surrounded by a crowd of attendants who screen his communication. No, God is very near to us. Even before a word is on our lips, He knows it altogether. Or as the Sermon on the Mount says, "Your Father knows what you need before you ask him." [Matt 6:8] Businessmen may be too busy, but God can always hear us. We only have to pray once, and God answers us. So why do we need to keep on praying?
Another idea is that a persevering prayer shows how much the request means to us. And that makes sense. You commit yourself to an persistent prayer only if it is important to you. So we can endure to show how much it means to us. But who are we showing? God already knows. He knew before the first prayer was said. No, we are showing ourselves how important it is. I had no idea how concerned I was for my friend until I realized how long I had been praying for her. So we continue to pray to show ourselves how much it means. But God already knows. Some people say that by persisting in prayer we are thanking God in advance for the answer. At first, that sounds pretty odd. How can you thank someone for what you haven't received yet? Should I thank someone for a Christmas present when it's still July? But the idea is that we should pray in faith. We should pray, believing that we have been heard and that we will be answered. And if we have that kind of faith, we can thank God for something we have not yet received. Now, that makes sense. But, why does Jesus tell us to continue to ask and to keep knocking? If this is the reason for persisting in prayer, why didn't he tell us to pray once, and then thank him, instead of continuing to ask Him? Why didn't he say, "Ask once, and then thank God until it comes?"
Alright, let's try again. Perhaps we should persevere in prayer because we need to adjust ourselves to God's plans. He knows when it's best for something to happen. So we must wait for that greater, larger purpose. The best time for my prayer for my friend to be answered was four years after I began to pray. And the time for my seven-year old request has not yet come. God can answer our prayers immediately; He has that power. But he frequently chooses to operate through channels that are weaker than himself. God was working slowly and gradually to change my friend's heart, so that she would come to him. And that takes time. But, why did I have to be praying the whole time that the process was going on? Why couldn't I make my request and then go on with my life? If I order something from Sears, I wait four to six weeks for order to come in. While I'm waiting, I don't keep writing to the company to ask over and over for what I want. So why do I have to pray and keep on praying?
Another idea is that prayer is helpful because it holds us up while we're waiting for the final answer. David Willis, one of my professors from Princeton, wrote that "Prayer is part of the equipment by which the disciples sustain their hope 'in the meantime.'" Prayer is an expression of our hope, of our active waiting for God to reach down to us. But how much hope do we get from continuing to seek and from constantly knocking? Every time we ask again, we remember that we have asked the same thing for months, and nothing has come of it. That sort of prayer gives more frustration than hope. Prayer does give hope, but not when our prayers are filled with petitions that have been asked over and over and over.
We must continue to ask, because it takes us so long to hear. This whole time, I've been talking about prayer as though it is something you do. I've made prayer sound like letter-writing and phone-calling. Prayer is not something we do; prayer does something to us as well. We must continue to pray, not because God is hard of hearing, but because we are so deaf. When we pray, we aren't the only ones who are talking. As we speak to God, God speaks to us. Our prayers go in two directions. God can hear us perfectly well. We're the ones who need the hearing aids. We need to reverse the way we've been looking at the parable of the Friend at Midnight. We've said that it makes us feel uncomfortable because it makes God look lazy. But we are the ones who take so long to hear God. God stands at our doors and knocks. He calls out to us, "I have a friend who needs to be fed. Can you give me a loaf?" It is us who must rouse ourselves from our beds, who must risk waking our children, who must unlock the door. It is us who must give in to God's cries for justice. Our prayers are not passive things. Our prayers also instruct us for what we should do to have them answered.
But once again, this answer is not enough. We can't answer all of our prayers. I had nothing to do my friend coming to accept Christ. I was at the other end of the continent. She never even knew that I was praying for her. If God was waiting for me to hear Him tell me to do something for her, He didn't wait long enough. Oh, he was certainly talking to my friend and guiding her. But why did God want me to keep asking all the time? Why did I need to pray while he was softening her heart? And even more important, what about the prayers that no person on earth can have any part in answering? Why do we continue to pray for healing in a situation that no doctor is able to do anything about? We are hard of hearing, but that doesn't answer all the questions.
So what are we left with? Why do we persist in prayer? Not to chalk up marks on the board, because we cannot earn an answer to prayer. Not to reach God, because he is near to us. Not to show God how much it means to us, because he already knows. Not to thank Him in advance, because that's not what Jesus was talking about, and that's not what we're talking about. Not to wait for God's timing, because we can do that without continuing to ask. Not to give us hope, because because unanswered prayer is more of a frustration. And not always because we're hard of hearing, because some prayers do not need a response from us.
Why should we continue to pray? I don't know. But no matter what we do, we can't help but to cry out. It is natural for us to keep on praying. We are like children who ask our Father for a fish. And you parents know what that's like. The child asks, "Give me a fish!" And the mother says, "Alright. Wait while I fry it for you." And the child keeps on crying and asking for the fish. The child cries while the fish fries. And so do we. But the loving mother reassures the crying child, "Don't worry. I'm making it. Just be patient." And that soothing voice is the on ewe hear from God when we pray. That soothing voice is the one we hear in this parable. "Don't worry. The answer iscoming. Just be patient. If a lazy neighbor eventually does the right thing, you can count on me. I'll answer you:I've already started."
The first problem we have is that it seems to be saying that God is like a lazy friend. We get uncomfortable with this parable because it casts God in the role of a neighbor who is more concerned about waking the kids or unlocking the door than about a friend in need. That doesn't sound like the God I know. But of course, that's the whole point of the story. God is not like a lazy neighbor. He's much more loving than that. And if a selfish person like this neighbor will eventually do the right thing, how much more will God do it! That's the point that Jesus is making. But there's still a problem. If God is not a lazy slob, why do we have to keep asking? If the neighbor would have been concerned about the friend at midnight, he would have opened his door right away. So if God really is loving and concerned, why should we persist in our prayers? Why can't we just pray once and forget about it?
Christ tells us to persist in our prayers. Keep knocking at the door. "Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you." Now, these words do not mean, "Ask once, and forget about it." They mean, "Ask, and keep on asking. Seek, and continue to seek. Knock, and don't stop knocking." Keep it up, and God will hear you. That's what this parable tells us.
And then we remember another passage in the New Testament, from the Sermon on the Mount. "When you pray, don't keep on babbling like the pagans, for they think that they will be heard for their many words." [Matt. 6:7] Don't keep on babbling like the pagans. But that's what we feel like when we pray for something over and over. You may have heard of the monks in Tibet, who use prayer wheels. A prayer is written inside the wheel, and every time the wheel goes around, the prayer has been said. So the monks spin wheels, attach wheels to windmills, and hook them to waterwheels. All so their prayers will be repeated. Surely God doesn't want us to do things like that, does He? So why does He tell us to persevere in our prayers?
Whether we need to or not, we have to admit that we do lift up prayers repeatedly. I suppose that many of us can recall a certain petition that we have persisted in. What is it for you? What is that one prayer you say every evening? Is it a prayer for the healing of a friend, or for some struggles they have? Is it for the welfare of a particular part of the world, or maybe for a struggle that you're going through? Just so we have an example to use, let me tell you about one of my persistent prayers. My prayer was for a friend of mine from college. I don't know how we got to be friends: while I was going to Bible studies and leading a youth group, she was working as a cocktail waitress and living with her boyfriend. She'd go to church with me every now and then, but it didn't seem to mean much to her. I started to pray for her, that she would be able to commit her life to Christ. For some reason, that was a prayer that I made almost every day, for four years. I went to New Jersey, she went to California, and we lost touch with each other. Then, four years later, I heard from her. She was attending an exciting church, and her faith seemed to be making a difference in her life. Since then God has continued to do wonderful things in her life and her faith has been growing by leaps and bounds. She’s now working as a Christian family therapist. My four years of praying had been answered. But why did it take so long? Why does God want us to keep at prayers like that? There are many possible answers to that question. Let's look at a few.
First is an image that we have lurking in the backs of our minds that we never really think about. We have a notion that by praying we're building up some sort of cosmic juice. Each prayer is a chalk mark on some celestial blackboard, and when you get enough marks, God will answer your prayer. After four years I got enough marks, so God led my friend to accept him. And of course, some prayers need more marks than others. I've been praying for someone else for seven years; maybe it'll take eight years of chalk marks for him. Now in all honesty, I don't think we can accept that, for at least two reasons. First, it seems as though we're trying to put God over a barrel. "Now look, Lord: see how many times I've asked you to do this? You've got to answer my prayer!" The problem, of course, is that we can't force God to do anything. Remember, this is God we're talking about! And it also seems that we're trying to earn an answer to a prayer. If we put enough effort into it, eventually it'll pay off. But we can't earn anything. No matter what we do, we can't deserve an answer to our prayers. Everything we have is a free gift from God. So we have to give up the idea of a heavenly scorecard.
Well then, maybe we need to repeat prayers because God is so far removed from us. It's so hard to get in touch with him. Praying to God is like making a phone call to a busy executive. If you make enough phone calls, maybe one of them will get through the pool of secretaries. Maybe eventually he won't be in a meeting when you call. Maybe that's why we should persist in our prayers. But the God that I know is not a business executive surrounded by a crowd of attendants who screen his communication. No, God is very near to us. Even before a word is on our lips, He knows it altogether. Or as the Sermon on the Mount says, "Your Father knows what you need before you ask him." [Matt 6:8] Businessmen may be too busy, but God can always hear us. We only have to pray once, and God answers us. So why do we need to keep on praying?
Another idea is that a persevering prayer shows how much the request means to us. And that makes sense. You commit yourself to an persistent prayer only if it is important to you. So we can endure to show how much it means to us. But who are we showing? God already knows. He knew before the first prayer was said. No, we are showing ourselves how important it is. I had no idea how concerned I was for my friend until I realized how long I had been praying for her. So we continue to pray to show ourselves how much it means. But God already knows. Some people say that by persisting in prayer we are thanking God in advance for the answer. At first, that sounds pretty odd. How can you thank someone for what you haven't received yet? Should I thank someone for a Christmas present when it's still July? But the idea is that we should pray in faith. We should pray, believing that we have been heard and that we will be answered. And if we have that kind of faith, we can thank God for something we have not yet received. Now, that makes sense. But, why does Jesus tell us to continue to ask and to keep knocking? If this is the reason for persisting in prayer, why didn't he tell us to pray once, and then thank him, instead of continuing to ask Him? Why didn't he say, "Ask once, and then thank God until it comes?"
Alright, let's try again. Perhaps we should persevere in prayer because we need to adjust ourselves to God's plans. He knows when it's best for something to happen. So we must wait for that greater, larger purpose. The best time for my prayer for my friend to be answered was four years after I began to pray. And the time for my seven-year old request has not yet come. God can answer our prayers immediately; He has that power. But he frequently chooses to operate through channels that are weaker than himself. God was working slowly and gradually to change my friend's heart, so that she would come to him. And that takes time. But, why did I have to be praying the whole time that the process was going on? Why couldn't I make my request and then go on with my life? If I order something from Sears, I wait four to six weeks for order to come in. While I'm waiting, I don't keep writing to the company to ask over and over for what I want. So why do I have to pray and keep on praying?
Another idea is that prayer is helpful because it holds us up while we're waiting for the final answer. David Willis, one of my professors from Princeton, wrote that "Prayer is part of the equipment by which the disciples sustain their hope 'in the meantime.'" Prayer is an expression of our hope, of our active waiting for God to reach down to us. But how much hope do we get from continuing to seek and from constantly knocking? Every time we ask again, we remember that we have asked the same thing for months, and nothing has come of it. That sort of prayer gives more frustration than hope. Prayer does give hope, but not when our prayers are filled with petitions that have been asked over and over and over.
We must continue to ask, because it takes us so long to hear. This whole time, I've been talking about prayer as though it is something you do. I've made prayer sound like letter-writing and phone-calling. Prayer is not something we do; prayer does something to us as well. We must continue to pray, not because God is hard of hearing, but because we are so deaf. When we pray, we aren't the only ones who are talking. As we speak to God, God speaks to us. Our prayers go in two directions. God can hear us perfectly well. We're the ones who need the hearing aids. We need to reverse the way we've been looking at the parable of the Friend at Midnight. We've said that it makes us feel uncomfortable because it makes God look lazy. But we are the ones who take so long to hear God. God stands at our doors and knocks. He calls out to us, "I have a friend who needs to be fed. Can you give me a loaf?" It is us who must rouse ourselves from our beds, who must risk waking our children, who must unlock the door. It is us who must give in to God's cries for justice. Our prayers are not passive things. Our prayers also instruct us for what we should do to have them answered.
But once again, this answer is not enough. We can't answer all of our prayers. I had nothing to do my friend coming to accept Christ. I was at the other end of the continent. She never even knew that I was praying for her. If God was waiting for me to hear Him tell me to do something for her, He didn't wait long enough. Oh, he was certainly talking to my friend and guiding her. But why did God want me to keep asking all the time? Why did I need to pray while he was softening her heart? And even more important, what about the prayers that no person on earth can have any part in answering? Why do we continue to pray for healing in a situation that no doctor is able to do anything about? We are hard of hearing, but that doesn't answer all the questions.
So what are we left with? Why do we persist in prayer? Not to chalk up marks on the board, because we cannot earn an answer to prayer. Not to reach God, because he is near to us. Not to show God how much it means to us, because he already knows. Not to thank Him in advance, because that's not what Jesus was talking about, and that's not what we're talking about. Not to wait for God's timing, because we can do that without continuing to ask. Not to give us hope, because because unanswered prayer is more of a frustration. And not always because we're hard of hearing, because some prayers do not need a response from us.
Why should we continue to pray? I don't know. But no matter what we do, we can't help but to cry out. It is natural for us to keep on praying. We are like children who ask our Father for a fish. And you parents know what that's like. The child asks, "Give me a fish!" And the mother says, "Alright. Wait while I fry it for you." And the child keeps on crying and asking for the fish. The child cries while the fish fries. And so do we. But the loving mother reassures the crying child, "Don't worry. I'm making it. Just be patient." And that soothing voice is the on ewe hear from God when we pray. That soothing voice is the one we hear in this parable. "Don't worry. The answer iscoming. Just be patient. If a lazy neighbor eventually does the right thing, you can count on me. I'll answer you:I've already started."
posted by Rev. Peter de Vries, Old Union Presbyterian Church @ 5:20 PM
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