Teach us to Pray, Part 3

Whether the disciples and we open our eyes enough to see ourselves in Jesus’ prayer, Jesus isn’t going to stop until all of us have a glimpse of who God is. 

In the passage we read today, after Jesus shares a prayer with the disciples, he tells them a parable. It is the story of two neighbors.  I’m going to retell it, and it make it easy to follow (I hope), I’m going to add names.  Completely made up names.  Sam – the seeker – comes to visit his friend, Fred, in the middle of the night.  Sam has been caught unprepared for visitors, and this is a serious matter in a society that values hospitality above everything.  Sam has no bread for his visitors, so he knocks on Fred’s door.  “Fred!  Fred!  I need bread!”  Fred is asleep in his house.  In Jesus’ time, asleep in the house meant that everyone was sleep on pallets around a fire – everyone all together, probably not only with the children, but also with their animals.  For Fred to get up meant that he would disturb his whole household.  So, Fred, understandably, tells Sam to go away.  That wasn’t good enough for Sam, though.  He keeps knocking, and asking, until finally Fred gets up and gives him bread – probably just to make him go away.

Please don’t hear that as a picture Jesus is painting of God, because that isn’t what he meant.  This is a parable. A parable is a form of teaching that means to lay beside.  It’s a story that is placed next to reality so that we can understand reality better.  It can be a story that says, “God is like this…” or “The kingdom of God is like…” but that’s not what this is.  This is a parable of contrast.  We see it better in what Jesus says next when he tells the disciples that parents know how to be parents – you wouldn’t give your children a snake or a scorpion if they asked for a fish or an egg.  In other words – if you, who are not God, know how to be a parent, then how much more does God know how to be the Father?  If Fred, the friend, knows how to respond to Sam, then how much more will God respond to you?

That is who God is. God is loving, compassionate, kind, and responsive. 

Lord, teach us to pray, because you are waiting for us.