PARABLE 25 - Friend in Need or Persistent Friend

PARABLE 25 — LUKE 11:5-8 — FRIEND IN NEED OR PERSISTENT FRIEND

5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?

7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.

8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

He said to them, “Which of you, if you go to a friend at midnight, and tell him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him,’ and he from within will answer and say, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give it to you’? I tell you, although he will not rise and give it to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will get up and give him as many as he needs.” (paraphrased by me) 

Discussion Questions – Parable 25

PARABLE 25 — LUKE 11:5-8 — FRIEND IN NEED OR PERSISTENT FRIEND

1. What lesson is this parable pertaining to? Is it about prayer? What lesson is Jesus teaching?

Immediately after teaching the disciples to pray the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus told the story of the neighbor who was in need of bread for a visitor (Luke 11:5-10). The disciples had just asked Him to teach them to pray (Luke 11:1), and the lesson He is teaching through this parable is to be persistent in prayer. This is the first of two parables Jesus uses to drive this concept home—the second is the parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge in Luke 18:1-8. Paul reiterates this same concept in 1 Thessalonians 5:17.

2. Have you ever turned down a request from a friend to do something and then changed your mind because he kept asking? 

The characters in the story are a villager who is in bed with his family at midnight and a neighbor with a need. Hospitality was a strictly observed custom in the Middle East, and a man caught without bread for a visitor would be in a shameful and desperately needy position. Only such a need would drive a man to his neighbor’s house at midnight. And only such a need would drive the man to this level of persistence. 

As strong as his friendship with the man is, it isn’t strong enough for him to wake up his whole family. But the man’s “boldness” tips the scale in Jesus’ parable. This is what Jesus is saying should be our attitude as we approach the throne of grace—a confident boldness that persists in pursuing God until He grants us mercy and grace (Hebrews 4:16). 

3. Although Jesus encourages us to boldly ask for our needs. Should we demand him to fulfill our needs?

A word of caution is appropriate here. Never are we to approach God with a demanding or disrespectful attitude. James tells us that we don’t have because we don’t ask, or we ask with the wrong motives (James 4:3). That God allows us to approach Him at all is an indication of His mercy and graciousness toward sinners. But He is our Abba Father (Romans 8:15), and we are His children. We come before Him as a child comes before his earthly father, in confidence that his father loves him and wants the best for him. And if this man would give his neighbor what he wanted not out of friendship, but just because of his shameless boldness, how much more will God, who loves us perfectly, give us when we come into His presence? 

4. What is the point of the parable? 

The point of the parable, of course, is the importance of persistence, of never giving up. But Jesus’ expression, “because of the man’s shamelessness” is remarkable. The friend has no sense of decency of waiting until morning, of not disturbing his sleeping neighbor. He goes at midnight and knocks—for some bread! And he shamelessly keeps on knocking until his neighbor gets up and shoves bread at him just to shut him up.

Jesus tells us to ask and keep on asking (Matthew 7:7), and whatever we ask in God’s will is assured to us. He had just taught the disciples to pray the Lord’s Prayer, which includes the phrase “Your will be done” (Luke 11:2). So, putting it all together, we see that we are to be persistent in asking for God to work in our lives and answer our prayers according to His perfect will and timing, having confidence that He will do so. 

When we pray without ceasing and have confidence in God, the benefits are many. We experience the goodness of God as we commune with Him. We become eager participants in the purposes of God, yielding our lives and wills to Him. And we enter His presence with boldness and security, knowing that He will bless us with His fellowship and love.

5. How then are we to pray to our Heavenly Father?

We aren’t to pray with a whimper or a whine or a whisper. No. We are to come with confident asking, seeking, and knocking. God our Father desires to hear our petitions and we are entirely open with him. Prayer is not a time to hide what is going on inside us, but to share it openly—warts and all—with our Father whom we know loves us and understands us and seeks good for us. We can trust him, even though we might misunderstand an issue, ask for the wrong thing, or ask at an inconvenient time. 

We are encouraged to ask boldly, knowing that we can trust God. The writer of Hebrews encourages us, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” Hebrews 4:16.

See on blog – Asking in Prayer

See on blog – Does God Hear All Prayers?