Pray Confidently or Persistently?

A Contextual Reflection on Luke 11:5-8
by Doug Greenwold

Then He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him,

‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.' I tell you, even though he will not get up and give anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.” Luke 11: 5-8 NASB (emphasis added)

On the surface, to Westerners it seems like a preposterous story that Jesus tells His Disciples about a friend who shows up at midnight and needs to be fed an elaborate meal. After all, who of us has ever heard of such a thing? But according to Kenneth Bailey (the world's foremost expert in the cultural context of Lukan parables), Jesus intends this to be an outrageous story, but not for the reasons we in the West have typically assumed.

This parable illustrates again the difficulty that 21st -century Westerners can have in understanding first-century Middle Eastern village reality where the interests of the community always transcend that of the individual. Sadly, not so in the West where what's best for the individual always seems to transcend what's best for the community.

Thus in this story, Westerners, with their individualistic paradigms, tend to identify with the person at the door because they see this person as the one with a need. However because of their community perspective, Middle Easterners more readily identify with the person inside the house because that person has the capacity to meet this sudden community need and thus preserve the honor of the village. Before addressing the passage itself, let's take a closer look at the cultural context embedded in Jesus' story about how He expects His disciples to pray the Disciple's prayer He has just given them.

To a first-century Middle Easterner, having a visitor arrive at midnight, while certainly unusual, would not be unheard of. Since it is very hot during the summer in many parts of the Middle East, travelers often walked (the usual mode of transportation) at night to avoid the hottest times of the day. That climatic reality can easily cause a visitor to arrive at a village late into the evening.

Because hospitality is mandatory in this culture, the extremes to which villages have gone to extend such hospitality is legendary. Why? Because it is an issue of village honor. Thus, anyone who refuses to participate in extending the village's hospitality to a guest would immediately be shamed in the eyes of the village. Such news would spread like wild fire throughout the village.

As was noted in last month's “Reflection,” bread is served at every meal in a first-century Jewish household because it is used as the knife, fork and spoon of every meal. To eat, a piece of bread is torn from a loaf and dipped into the common food bowls set on the table. This dipped piece of bread is called a sop , and cannot be reused since it would defile the remaining food in that bowl. Thus, every sop (mouthful) of food requires a new piece of bread torn from the loaf.

Another part of this meal tradition is that a guest can never be offered a partial loaf of bread because that would be insulting. The host must, therefore, offer a complete loaf. Since Middle Eastern hospitality traditions require putting much more in front of the guest than he could possibly eat, multiple loaves of bread (in this story three seems to be appropriate) are needed to properly “set the table.”

Not always fully appreciating and understanding the Jewish village customs of hospitality and meals, and furthermore not understanding the literary form Jesus is using to tell this story, Westerners easily miss Jesus' intended tongue-in-check factiousness. Thus when Jesus says, “Suppose one of you…,” or “Which one of you (ESV)…,” He is asking, in using this literary style, “Can you imagine this ever happening?” He fully expects His Disciples to resoundingly respond, “No, of course not. We could never imagine such a thing. Friends just don't say those kinds of things to each other, particularly when there is an urgent need.”

With this contextual backdrop and Bailey's help, let's examine this parable more closely to see if we can discern what Jesus was conveying to His Disciples in His first teaching (in Luke) about prayer. Note that

• Presumably no one knew this guest was coming. Thus, this parable is about a sudden, unexpected, immediate community need – bread to feed this guest now – so that village honor can be preserved.
  
• The friend at the door can be assumed to know who has fresh bread in the village. Baking is a communal activity whereby different families bake a several-day supply of bread on different days. Thus it would be reasonable to assume that the petitioner at the door knows who baked today, and therefore who has sufficient bread to meet this community need.
  
• The request is a most humble one – only for the minimum amount of bread – not for tableware or any of the other attendant items that will be needed to properly set the table. Thus, the person at the door could not possibly make a lesser request of his friend. It is a true need at the most basic level.
  
• There is no knocking at the door. That has unfortunately been back-projected onto this text because of what lies ahead in verse 9… knock and the door will be opened to you. In a typical one-room home where everyone sleeps closely together, knocking at night would be unnecessarily disruptive. In a densely packed Middle Eastern village, knocking would also be disruptive to sleeping neighbors. Furthermore, knocking is not necessary in the village because you are recognized by your voice.
  
• The excuses put forth by the “friend” inside for not responding to this urgent community need for bread are not only flimsy, but also laughable. This is the outrageous part of Jesus' story. The noise of unlocking the door and possibly waking up the children and animals in the home is an utterly trivial matter in comparison to the village's honor – and that is how Jesus assumed we would understand it.
  
• The person at the door never repeats his request. He has no need to since his request is immediately acknowledged and accepted. There does not seem to be more than 60 seconds between the spoken request at the door and the acknowledged response from inside. An immediate need is responded to immediately. This is a clue that the Greek word being translated as persistent in this parable doesn't seem to appropriately characterize what Jesus is describing in this parable.
  
• While the person at the door only asks for bread, this petitioner will get much more from his friend inside. To appropriately honor this guest, the village will need more than bread to properly set the table. For example, the village will want to put forth its best drinking goblets and tableware. Hence the expected appropriate community-oriented response: He will “give him as much as he needs.”

What is Jesus teaching in this response-would-never-happen story? For starters, it certainly doesn't seem to be about being persistent when asking for a legitimate, immediate need from a friend! There is no evidence in this story of persistence being demonstrated or even needed by the person at the door. Rather the emphasis is much more on confidently making the community's needful request known to a friend in the village that everyone knows can quickly meet that need. Thus the question remains: How did this word persistent ever find its way into this parable about two friends?

Jesus is teaching that when the community unexpectedly finds itself truly needing something to preserve its honor, they can be confident that the need will not only be responded to immediately, but will often be met in a more expansive way. The friend you are bringing your need to knows full well all the other needs that comes with this situation. Furthermore, your friend has the resources required to respond to these greater needs.

Jesus is underscoring the fact that of course your friend inside will respond to your need for bread. He is a person of honor and will do whatever is required to preserve his honor in the eyes of the community. Jesus is also saying that praying in this confident posture is precisely the understanding and sense of expectancy the Disciples should have when praying for daily bread (Luke 11:3) in the Disciples' Prayer He just gave them (See last month's “Reflection,” Is Anyone Praying for “Our Daily Bread” Anymore?).

In moving by implication from the lesser (the friend inside who has just received an urgent request at a very inconvenient hour while his family is sleeping) to the greater (Our Divine Father who is your Perfect Friend, who is never inconvenienced, and who never sleeps), Jesus is saying that when you have a true, sudden need, make that need known immediately to our Father (Luke 11:2a) . Of course our Father will respond; it is an issue of His honor and He will maintain His honor at all costs.

Furthermore, our Father loves you. His affection for you goes way beyond whatever affection the person inside the house might have for his friend at the midnight door. So pray confidently when you have a sudden unexpected need. Our Father indeed hears those who come to Him. And don't be surprised if you get more than you asked for (even the Holy Spirit – see verse 13) because our Father understands all that you need. Is that a great teaching by Jesus or what!

Now let's deal with this perplexing question: What caused us in the West to put the emphasis in this passage on the persistence of the person at the door when the story is not about his persistence at all? How have we come to miss the thrust of Jesus' teaching emphasis in this parable?

Much of our apparent misunderstanding of this parable is due to an unfortunate translational choice for the Greek word anaideia found in verse eight of this parable. In early Christian tradition, two very different meanings had evolved for a naideia : “persistent” and “shamelessness.” Western translators have historically preferred “persistent” as the most appropriate use for a naideia in verse eight assuming it was referring to the person at the door . Missing much of the village cultural context embedded in this story, it was understandable from their Western perspective why they chose “persistent” as the preferred usage of anaideia in this text. But when this parable is put back into its Middle Eastern context of mandatory hospitality and village honor/shame, the “shamelessness” meaning of anaideia makes much more sense, especially as it refers to the friend inside the house.

Maintaining honor and avoiding shame is the reason why the friend inside will respond to this village need. Restated, the person inside will respond to his friend at the door because he is a person of honor and integrity, and therefore will not allow himself to be shamed in the eyes of the village by not responding.

Bailey's rediscovery of the cultural context of “The Friend at Midnight” parable may challenge some of our paradigms about “persistent” prayer. As such, it gives us some implications with which to wrestle. For example,

• Because the more appropriate contextual use of a naideia is “shamelessness,” we are not being taught by Jesus in this passage to “persist” in continuing to pray for the same immediate community need once the request has been brought to God? Instead, Jesus teaches us that one needful request is sufficient. Therefore, you can confidently pray for what you truly need right now, and furthermore, don't be surprised if you get more in response to your request than you asked for!
  
• If we keep the traditional misunderstanding of a naideia as “persistence” in this passage, what might that be erroneously implying about God? How might this misuse of “persistence” be wrongfully shaping our understanding of God's responsiveness to prayer? For example, might this misuse
  
  • Suggest that even having brought our immediate need to God, we still need to persist in reminding Him about our need again and again?
    
  • Mean that with God, asking once is not sufficient?
    
  • Raise the questions: Does asking God repeatedly for the same thing somehow increase the chance that God will grant it? Is God somehow more persuaded by the repetition of our prayers? If so, how many prayers constitute enough?
    
  • Suggest we need to “pester” Our Father until He gives us what we have been praying for?

Upon closer examination, the problems with keeping the traditional “persistent” understanding of anaideia in this parable are much more faith perplexing than they are faith producing!

Why does all this matter? Because misunderstanding God's Word can easily result in misunderstanding God. Furthermore, any view of God or characterization of Him other than as He has accurately revealed Himself in His Word is an idolatrous view of God – a view of God other than who He truly is. It always matters how we interpret the Word of God and how we then portray and represent Him to others.

In closing, this “Reflection” is certainly not a treatise on prayer. That would require a multi-volume work. This “Reflection” only addresses how we should be praying when it comes to sudden, immediate community of faith needs. Nevertheless, a few closing observations related to prayer might be helpful:

• We should always pray for what the Holy Spirit is prompting us to pray for, not for which our own flesh or our religious culture suggests we should be praying for.
  
• This parable is about true needs, not desires, wish-to-haves, or our own self-serving, moving-target definitions of what we think constitute our real needs for today.
  
• We are called to pray without ceasing. But being in a constant attitude of prayer is a very different posture from that of bringing the same unanswered prayer before God again and again.
  
• Also, praying consistently is not the same thing as praying persistently. If a different guest showed up in the village at midnight every night for a week, the village would have to consistently ask for bread each night. But having asked for bread each night from one who has bread, there is no need to persist with that request. The one inside will respond to the need.
  
• Prayer is multifaceted. It is much more about adoration, confession, thanksgiving and gratitude than it is about running through our list of “need” or “I want” petitions that God is well aware of. Prayer is much more about communing with the Lover of your soul, who is also our true Friend (John 15:15b), than merely an opportunity to do a core dump of what we think and feel we “need” today.

The Desert Fathers reflected upon this reality as they often got so caught up in adoration and praise to God in their prayers that they ended up forgetting to bring their petitions to Him. They also realized that when they spent time communing with Our Father , the whole nature of what they thought was an urgent need (from their perspective) began to change and suddenly didn't seem to be quite so important anymore. Truly effective prayer always changes our perspective on what's really important and what is truly needed.

In conclusion, when the time comes each day to pray to Our Father for our daily bread, we are to make that need known, and then go forward confidently resting in the adequacy of His expansive daily provision.

Doing what we do because biblical context always matters. Shalom

Doug Greenwold, Teaching Fellow, Preserving Bible Times, Reflection #607 © Doug Greenwold 2007

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Resources For much more on this remarkable parable, as well as other Lukan parables, see Kenneth Bailey's two-volume work, Poet and Peasant, Through Peasant Eyes (Eerdmans) and enter a whole new word of exciting discovery regarding Jesus' teaching. Bailey is without a doubt the world's expert when it comes to the contextual implications of Lukan parables having studied them for a lifetime in the Middle East .