Friends at Midnight – Luke 11:1-13

Jesus is praying. The disciples, watching, catch a glimpse of what they don’t have. “Lord,
teach us to pray.” Jesus gives them the Lord’s prayer.

Then he tells a short story, a parable that is as fresh and new as this new day.
Read Luke 11:5-8. The setting is stated in one word – Midnight.
The characters are three friends—a weary belated traveler, a friend who wants
to help, a neighbor who has bread.

In imagination let’s enact this parable in our own world.
It’s Midnight. The darkness is deep and oppressive. Cynicism, criticism, hate,
pierce the atmosphere like a cruel winter wind. Many of us feel that our personal
world is falling apart. We are in a time of trouble. The earth groans with pain.
Fear is everywhere. When we take the time to look, it is indeed
Midnight in our world.

The knock on the door is feeble. A faint sound but you are drawn to answer.
You hardly recognize her. A friend from better days. One glance shows she’s
been wounded by life and is inexpressibly weary. You pull her in out of the
wind and give her a place to sit. She smiles. But her eyes hold no spirit or
hope and you sense that loneliness and despair cover her. Your mind is racing.
You can offer her a safe warm place to sleep till morning. Then you will run
to the store to pick up some food. But this story isn’t about buying or earning,
it is about receiving. What we can never buy or earn we are given.

The traveler asks, simply, for Bread. You go to the kitchen, hoping you
remembered wrong. Maybe there’s something you could give her.
Frantically you check the cupboards. They are empty.

I don’t know about you, but I can imagine myself tapping in to all the latent
(and not so latent) inadequacy inside of me. My friend’s needs are so big. I
see them. With all my heart and soul I long to help her. But what I have to
give is not enough to match her needs. Like the friend in the parable I feel,
“I have nothing to offer her.”

I see, maybe for the first time, how needy I am myself. My cupboards didn’t
suddenly get empty because someone needs help. I’ve been living hand to
mouth all along. Now seeing her need, I see my own. Helplessness floods
over me. I close my eyes to shut out my emptiness and see the face of my
Neighbor. Ah, my neighbor has bread.

But it’s Midnight. How can I knock on my Neighbor’s door now? Oh, I knock
and I knock again because it is midnight. There’s not much time left. My
friend may not live till morning. I can’t fill her need. Besides, I know my
Neighbor. My Neighbor is my Friend. He has, in the poetic words of the
Old Testament, pitched His tent next to mine. He’s close to me. I know my
Neighbor has bread. In fact, my Neighbor/Friend is the Bread.

Piicture yourself standing at the Neighbor’s door. Knocking. Knocking. Full
of hope, fear, trust. Finally a voice calls, “Don’t bother me. The door is shut. It’s
not a good time.” , , , The door is shut.
WHY DID JESUS PICTURE GOD LIKE THIS?

1. Maybe because that’s the way we perceive God when our prayers are not
immediately answered. Jesus is, after all, teaching us about prayer here. He wants us to learn to persevere. Something happens to us inside when we wait.
We become more ready to receive. Our earnestness and intensity can increase.
We know what we want.

2. Jesus is also teaching here by contrast instead of comparison (Christ’s Object Lessons). Context supports this. The Neighbor gives ALL THAT SHE NEEDS. Vs 8. In verse 9, Jesus says Ask, Seek, Knock. Look at verse 10. It’s as if Jesus sees the look of doubt on our faces. He says Everyone who. . .When we knock the door will be opened.
Why? Because God is very different from the neighbor in the parable.

You give good things to your children, vs.13 assures us, HOW MUCH MORE
will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. The Bread the
traveler needs and we need is the HOLY SPIRIT!

We ask for such little things. Often inconsequential things, but things that are
important to us at the time. That’s okay. Jesus tells us to ask. But this verse tells us
what God longs to give. The Holy Spirit. The gift that brings all other gifts with Him.
The Gift that truly is “all that we need”. As big as our need, and bigger.

It’s Midnight in this world. But you know what? It’s also getting close to Dawn. As
the darkness deepens, the Light becomes more clear.

Never in my life have I seen God at work in power like I do now. I believe the Holy
Spirit is being given.

Midnight is a “time of trouble”–our own personal deep trouble or global trouble.
“Time of trouble”. As a child those words struck terror to my heart. I didn’t know
what I am experiencing now: that the time of trouble is the day of God’s power.
Right now, at Midnight, when we see the depth of our need,
we experience the depth of God’s grace. At Midnight our
Neighbor/Friend gives us ALL THAT WE NEED.