First Mennonite Church
The Parable of the Midnight Neighbor in Need
January 18, 2026
Text: Luke 11:1-13
Although the first four verses are not part of the actual story Jesus told, they provide the setting for the story. Luke says that Jesus was praying. This statement reinforces what Luke tells us in chapter five, verse 16, that Jesus often withdrew to lonely places to pray. In chapter six, verse 12, Luke again says that Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. Jesus being God Incarnate prayed to the Father. He remained in communion with his Father. Jesus prayed before major events in his ministry. Before he started his public ministry, Jesus went out to the desert to pray and fast. Before he selected his 12 disciples, he prayed the whole night. And the night of his arrest, Jesus prayed intensely yielding to do his Father’s will. Prayer was central in Jesus’ life and ministry. He sought the Father’s guidance, strength, and power to carry out his mission. If prayer was central in Jesus’ life, it makes us wonder how much more do we need it!
Thus again, Luke says that on this particular occasion and place where Jesus was praying, one of his disciples asked him, “Lord, teach us to pray.”
Let us make this request to the Lord today and let us hear how he responded to that disciple to learn from it also.
And . . ..
2 He said to them, “When you pray, say:
“‘Father,[a]
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.[b]
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.[c]
And lead us not into temptation.[d]’”
And if this model prayer was not enough, Jesus then told them the story.
5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’
The way Jesus began this story, suggests Thomas G Long, has the feeling that Jesus was actually challenging his disciples to envision themselves in a situation where their character is tested. A better rendering of those first words would be, “Can you imagine this situation . . .” Can you imagine having a friend and you go to him at midnight and say to him, “Hey friend, please lend me three loaves of bread because a friend of mine on his way from San Diego to San Francisco has come to me and both my pantry and fridge are empty. I have no food to offer him.” Imagine being caught not having the resources to host one of your closest friends at midnight and your only option is to go to your neighbor across the street and ask for food.
Or imagine your child getting terribly sick in the middle of the night and upon getting to your car you see that you have a flat tire. So, you go to your neighbor and knock at the door, “Can I borrow car. I need to take my daughter to the ER.” Imagine your friend telling you “No. I cannot lend you the car. Don’t bother me at this hour.” That would be the situation Jesus wanted his audience to consider.
The story is not only an inopportune situation, but a desperate one too. But the problem with hosting the arriving friend was just starting. Because, as Jesus would continue, “Imagine” your neighbor, who has greeted you always and has always been there for you when you needed something, now at that very hour of your need, says to you, “Don’t bother me. It’s too late and don’t bang at my door because my family is sleeping and the other neighbors might call the police. Go away; I can’t help you!”
Through this story, Jesus was asking his disciples to imagine being in that situation, which in their cultural setting would be unimaginable. In ancient Middle Eastern cultures refusing to help a friend in need would be unthinkable, not because of financial pressure in that you have to share what you have, nor because helping others is an imposition. No. It is because of the sense of shared humanity, honor, and shame. In these cultures, honor and shame ground morality and the right behavior. A person of honor and respect does what is right and stands tall among his people. But to be shamed is to walk among one’s people with the head bowed down. We hear this language often in the Old Testament.
What Jesus says next has troubled translators. The NIV reads: I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.” This version captures attitude of the man asking for help as having a “shameless audacity,” even though is not quite clear who’s it is. The KJV shows that ambiguity. This is how the KJV puts it. Jesus says, “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.” Who’s importunity? The KJV says “his” but we don’t know if it’s referring to the one who is begging for help or the one who is resisting to leave his bed in order to help his friend in need.
But what Jesus says next seems to clarify that shamelessness when asking is necessary.
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for[f] a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
There is something we need to see here. In this parable none of its characters is a representation of God; obviously it cannot be the one who is in need. But neither is the one who has to be pushed to his limit in order to do what is right. God does not answer prayers in order to avoid being shamed.
In this story Jesus wanted to present a situation of comparison from the what is less to what is more. If a man helps his neighbor because his shamelessness to break the silence of the night with his pleas and banging at the door of his neighbor in order to provide for his visiting friend. (And please take notice, his actions, as shameless as they are, are not for himself, but to help another person) Jesus says, “how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
God is ready to hear our prayers. But first of all, we need to recognize that prayer is not like putting coins in a vending machine. We should not believe that prayer is like putting coins in the right slot and pushing the right buttons, and that we should only wait for the vending machine—God to spit out exactly what we have asked for. God is not a vending machine. Jesus says that God is our “Father in heaven.” God is our “Daddy.” And prayer is the way we keep a relationship — an intimate, loving, caring parent/child relationship with God. There is nothing more important to God than being in relationship with us, and so when we speak to God in prayer we can count on God’s attention.
Secondly, even when we try hard to give our children the things they need, there are times when we don’t even if they ask. God will at times not grant us everything we ask. There might be times when God wants to tell us, “Not now” to our prayers or at times give us “No” for an answer. And we need to remember that prayer is not only for asking God for things. There is prayer of praise, of thanksgiving. Prayer is the means we have communion with God-just to have a conversation. Prayer allows us to question ourselves before God, for introspection. Prayer allows the heart to lament before God for the pain we have or of others. Prayer is all these things and more. But prayer is also — and perhaps fundamentally the affirmation of our dependence on God. God provides us with many, many gifts, yet we are always dependent on God’s mercy, goodness, and presence. When we ask God for something in prayer, we acknowledge both our need and God’s goodness.
Prayer allows us into the presence of God and even when God will not always change our situation, yet prayer gives us the assurance that God is with us. He is the Father who gives us the Holy Spirit to provide us with his every presence. Amen!
Pastor Romero