author : Keith Sharp
Friend at Midnight
Luke 11:5-13
Late in the earthly ministry of Christ, when He had finished a prayer, His disciples asked Him to teach them to pray as John had taught His disciples (Luke 11:1). The Master had taught them how to pray before in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:9-13). But that was a very brief prayer, and Jesus sometimes continued a long time in prayer (cf. Luke 6:12). It was evident prayer was very important to Jesus (cf. Mark 1:35; Luke 3:21; 5:16; 9:18,29), even as it must be for us (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Obviously the disciples felt they needed to learn more about prayer.
But the Master may have disappointed His disciples, for, rather than giving them something new to pray, He virtually repeated what He had taught them in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:9-13). Except this version (Luke 11:2-4) was even shorter than the brief prayer He had already given them.
Christ was not teaching them to memorize a prayer and repeat it by rote, as audiences do with Matthew 6:9-13, for He condemned “vain repetitions,” the mindless quoting of the same formula over and over again (Matthew 6:7). Rather, He taught the basic composition of acceptable prayer. Our prayers are addressed to God as our Father, a blessed closeness unknown before Christ Jesus brought about our adoption as children of God because of our relationship to Him, the unique Son of God (Romans 8:14-17; Galatians 4:4-6). We praise Him and set His name apart as holy (Matthew 6:9; Luke 11:2). We pray for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10; Luke 11:2). Where human hearts submit to the will of God, there the kingdom of heaven is within their hearts (Luke 17:20-21). His will is to reign in the hearts of all people everywhere as they are saved by coming to the knowledge of the truth of the gospel (1 Timothy 2:3-4). As trusting children we ask him to supply our material necessities (Matthew 6:11; Luke 11:3). We acknowledge our sins and ask Him to forgive us, as we forgive those who wrong us (Matthew 6:12-13; Luke 11:4), while at the same time we petition Him to deliver us from temptation and from Satan the tempter (Ibid), which He has promised to do (1 Corinthians 10:13).
The Master did add some further teaching about prayer. He spoke a parable about a man who had unexpected visitors who arrived late at night. In this humorous story the Master places us in the position of a man who, out of necessity, is very rude to his neighbor.
The houses of poor people in Palestine were one room earthen dwellings with dirt floors, covered in the front part with straw on which the animals lay, and having a raised platform in back where the whole family slept. Waking the owner of the house late at night meant awakening everyone and everything in the house! But because hospitality was (and is) such a serious responsibility (Genesis 18:1-8; 19:1-3; Romans 12:13; Hebrews 13:2; 1 Peter 4:9), a Jewish man, if no food were in his own house for his unexpected guest, would risk seriously offending his neighbor by loudly, insistently asking for three loaves of bread – one for his guest, one for himself, and one spare – even though the entire household of his neighbor was asleep! The angry neighbor would give the needed bread, not out of friendship, but to get rid of the pest at his door!
Christ used an interesting word to describe what would cause the home owner to give the bread. The word rendered “importunity” in the King James Version and American Standard Version, “persistence” in the New King James Version and New American Standard Bible, and “impudence” in the English Standard Version in Luke 11:8 literally means “shamelessness” (Arndt & Gingrich. 54; Mounce. 1081). The Master pictures us as, because of our need, completely forgetting propriety and shamelessly, persistently standing at our neighbor’s door begging for bread in the middle of the night though his entire house is asleep!
The Master’s own application of His parable follows in verses 9-13. The passage is virtually a repetition of what He had already taught in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:7-11). He promises the Father will grant our requests if we keep on asking, seeking, and knocking (Matthew 7:7-8; Luke 11:9-10). What parent would so cruel as to give something harmful or useless to his child who was simply asking for something to eat? (Matthew 7:9-10; Luke 11:11-12). God is good in the absolute, while none of us are (Luke 18:18-19). If we then give our children good things when they request it, will not our loving Father answer our prayers by granting us what we need and request? (Matthew 7:11)
All spiritual good comes to us by the Holy Spirit, who revealed the Lord’s will to us through His apostles and prophets (Romans 8:9; John 16:13-15; Ephesians 3:1-7). All the spiritual blessings from the Holy Spirit come to the children of God in answer to prayer (Luke 11:13; cf. Matthew 7:11).
What is the lesson? “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). If you believe that
what you request is in accordance with the will of God, and He doesn’t at first grant your prayer, keep on praying. Be shamelessly persistent in making your requests to Him. He is your absolutely good, loving, faithful Father. He will give you what is best.
The Persistent Widow
Luke 18:1-8
Jesus later taught another parable about a persistent widow and an unjust judge (Luke 18:1-8). There is absolutely no doubt about the application of this parable, for the writer introduces it by explaining, “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (verse 1, King James Version). The International Standard Version, a modern, essentially literal translation, renders the verse, “Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray all the time and never give up.” The word translated “faint” in the King James Version is rendered “lose heart” by the New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, and English Standard Version. The same word is otherwise translated “grow weary” (2 Thessalonians 3:13). Arndt and Gingrich state it can mean “despair” (214). Thus, the lesson of the parable is the same as that of the friend at midnight – persistence in prayer.
The Master told about a widow coming to an unjust judge demanding justice against her adversary. To fully comprehend the situation Jesus described, we must understand the plight of widows at that time and the teaching of the Old Testament about them. Widows were obviously relatively helpless in that they had lost the husband upon whom they depended for support. In ancient times there usually was no honorable occupation a woman could pursue other than home making. According to the Law people were to see that those unable to procure justice for themselves, including widows, received just treatment (Deuteronomy 24:17-18). Those who perverted justice due the widow were cursed (27:19). It would be easy to oppress them, as they had none to plead their cause and could not bribe a corrupt judge into rendering justice for them, so Israel was specifically commanded not to oppress them (Exodus 22:21-22). Isaiah thus condemned the apostate Northern Kingdom:
Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, Who write misfortune, Which they have prescribed To rob the needy of justice, And to take what is right from the poor of My people, That widows may be their prey, And that they may rob the fatherless (Isaiah 10:1-2; cf. 1:21-23).
He admonished them to “Plead for the widow” (1:16-17). Jeremiah warned backsliding Judah to stop oppressing “the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow” (Jeremiah 7:5-7). Zechariah informed the Jews of the Restoration that God had sent their fathers into captivity because they refused to heed the warning to “not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor” (Zechariah 7:8-14). The Lord scathingly denounced the Jewish rulers of His day:
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation (Matthew 23:14).
But the judge of the parable “did not fear God nor regard man” (verse 2). No reverence for the Lord led him to do right, and he didn’t care what people thought about him. He saw no reason to give a just judgment for some poor widow who had no influence and couldn’t bribe him.
But she was more than his match. She found the one thing he was concerned about, his own ease, and attacked it. She kept coming back, and coming back, and coming back until at last, in exasperation, “he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out’” (verses 4-5, NASB). She was about to drive him crazy, and he finally did what was right just to get her to leave him alone!
What’s the point? “And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?” (Verse 7, ESV). No our heavenly Father is not unjust. He is preeminently just. If a rascal of a judge will finally do right if the injured party keeps on pleading, don’t you think the righteous Judge of all will do right if we ask?
By the way, the specific application of this passage had real meaning to the Lord’s disciples. They would go through terrible suffering (Luke 21:12), and they would cry out to God for justice (Revelation 6:9-11). If we are His disciples, we too will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12), and He will speedily hear our pleas for justice.
But the last verse of the passage contains a question that is particularly significant. “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Verse 8). Why faith? I thought the subject was persistence in prayer? Because prayer is the ultimate expression of our faith in God. How do we know the Father hears and answers our prayers? A rank infidel might scoffingly counter any “testimonials” about answered prayers by truthfully claiming, “I have better health and more money than you. Why should I believe God answers prayer?” The only proof I have that God hears and answers the prayers of His people is His promise.
Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him (1 John 5:14-15).
If we firmly believe His promise, we will pray persistently. Prayer is the ultimate expression of our faith in God. “Unyielding prayer rises from an unyielding faith” (Earnhart. 103). Pray always and never give up.
Works Cited
Arndt, W.F., and F.W. Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament.
Earnhart, Paul, Glimpses of Eternity.
Mounce, William D., Complete Expository Dictionary of the New Testament.
