The story
This weeks "food story" is not about a banquet. It's about ordinary food: bread. It’s a story of working class people. The house that’s described has only one room: the opposite of the luxurious villa where Levi lived. Parables are often a story within a story. When his disciples asked Jesus “Teach us how to pray”, part of his answer was this story. And it goes like this...
So a few hours after dark,somebody knocks your door. It’s your old buddy from the coast, on a journey on foot. No mule, no chariot. So he’s travelling at night to stay cool. Halfway through the night, he’s tired and hungry; and courtesy demands you give him hospitality. Water to wash his feet isn’t a problem; and there’s a skin of wine hanging up – but no bread. So you go next door and start banging the door – until eventually a window opens, and a bleary eyed and rather angry head appears.
“Oh, it’s you. What do you want?”
“I want some food. I know your missus made extra bread yesterday: can I borrow some? You see, a friend has just arrived on a journey, and I have no food in the house.”
“You got to be joking mate. You know what time it is? If I start blundering about in the kitchen cupboard looking for food, I’ll end up waking the kids.”
“Yes, I know. But look, this is so embarrassing. He’s got another few hours walking to do so he can’t stop the night. And I really have no food. Can you please lend me these three flat breads: My missus will make some fresh first thing in the morning and pay you back!”
“Come in and shut up, and I’ll get you the bread. You really have a blooming cheek.”
The point
We are looking for one main point. (Remember the alligator?) Jesus says ”You want to know how to pray? Well, learn that God delights to hear and answer our prayers.” Go on praying because God graciously responds to the needs of his children. We are not talking about the old “traffic lights” illustration, you know, how we sometimes tell kids 'sometimes God says “No!”, sometimes he says “Wait”! And sometimes he says “Yes!” “He will give you whatever you need”'. That's not what Jesus is saying.
The problem
Some of us have stories of answered prayer. All of us have stories of un-answered prayer. And we have – or we should have – an ethical question about whether it is OK to order God around. Whether it is OK to ask God for an easy life just because I am a Christian? Whether it is OK to become myopic in our praying for local needs when there is a world of suffering out there? Whether it is OK to “pray in” thousands of pounds for a Church refurbishment – when there are thousands forced to make use of Foodbanks in the UK, and millions starving worldwide.
The difference
Prayer is about relationship. In the first parable, the first thing the guy said when he knocked his neighbour's door was “Friend.” Their relationship was one of friendship. (That wasn't why the request was granted, but it was why the man felt at liberty to go knocking on his neighbour’s door!) In the Lord's Prayer the first word Jesus gives us is "Father" “Abba!”
In Aramaic, that was the word a child would use. Pete Greig tells the wonderful moving story of a wee boy in Palestine who fell off a swing in the park. There was a that few seconds of silence as he realised what had happened, then he started to wail “Abba!” Sometimes our prayers are like that. “Daddy, it hurts!”
It’s also the word of respectful familiarity a grown man would use. So it’s the word Jesus used in the garden of Gethsemane.
In the second parable, a son asks a Father. Our relationship with our heavenly Father is the guarantee that he sill not play tricks on us. Which of you fathers would give his child a scorpion? There is trust and generosity and compassion in the parent-child relationship that won't play tricks on us. There was once a Dad who was an astute and hard-headed businessman. One day he set his small son on the mantlepiece, and told him “jump off and I will catch you!” the boy jumped. The dad did nothing, and the wee boy was crying on the floor. When he stopped crying, Dad said to him “There is a lesson for you my son. Trust nobody – not even your own Father!” The point is that a good father doesn’t do that – no dirty tricks – not even to teach us a lesson. Jesus use the “how much more” argument, to show that God doesn’t give us bad things when we ask for good. In the first parable, we are asked to put ourselves in the place of the person banging the door. In the second we are asked to take the viewpoint of the Person being asked! In all of Jesus’ teaching on prayer, it is the relationship between us and our Father that is all-important.
Prayer is about the kingdom. Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer is cut right back. No Frills. "Hallowed be your Name. Your kingdom come". We ask the Lord to bring about a situation where people honour God’s name and character. We ask for the blessings that come when God is acknowledged as King and allowed to rule. Then and only then do we say “give us, forgive us, lead us”. We pray for the generous, gracious impact of God’s name and character and rule, in our lives, in our community, and in our world. In the parable of the friend, the man was not asking for something for himself. He was asking for bread to give away. That's kingdom prayer. It's about mission. What does God want to do in our world?
Prayer is about Need. I wonder if the story of the friend at midnight illustrates where we are at in our churches? Someone comes to us, on a journey; tired, hungry, needing food – maybe physical food; maybe companionship, belonging, healing; certainly spiritual food – answers to serious questions; forgiveness; a direct encounter with God. Have we anything to give them? Or do we sometimes not even want to be hospitable to people on their journey? Maybe even, people have got so used to our having nothing to give them, or not wanting to let them in, that they have giving up knocking our door. We’re on our knees. We’re crying for help. Lend me three loaves, for I have nothing to set before him! We need to be giving people the good things of the Kingdom. And God has the resources. Ask the Father. And Jesus says, “how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask!” The resource we need – so that we have food for those who come to us hungry – is the Holy Spirit.
So God wants to give us what we ask. We need to recover the Kingdom impact of the Church. We need to recover the desire to reach the lost. We need to see a recovery of spiritual hunger. We need to have something to give people. We need the holy Spirit to come and fill us again. That is stuff we need to pray about. That is what “Thy Kingdom Come is all about.” Praying for men and women to find Jesus. Bashing God’s door with a sense of urgency. I want to encourage all of us to get involved. If you do internet, log in, find some resources, and use them. And if you don’t do the internet we will provide some printed resources you can use. If you have family members who know Jesus, pray with them. If you don’t, find someone else to pray with. We will be having times to pray together.
Our world needs Jesus, and we need the Holy Spirit. Having the cheek to ask. It was “because of his shameless audacity (NIVUK)” that the man got what he asked for. I’m not like that. I’m polite. Last Sunday, we were walking out at Limekilns, and I really needed a pee. As we walked past the Scout hut, out came Andrew Mitchell, who had just come back from a camp. We talked for a minute or two about his weekend and then – we walked on. I thought it was just too cheeky to ask if I could nip in and use their facilities, so I kept it in! Too embarrassed. And probably too proud. And I suspect that pride so often lies at the core of our inability to come to God with outrageous requests. God wants to give us what we ask. How desperate are you?
© Gilmour Lilly May 2017
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