Chapter 7
Good Monday Morning to this week 7 of 2022
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; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 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 parabel is condensed so that everything fits into the one question, one whose answer is obvious:
No one would act that way!
Everyone would get up and help. Here, then, the argument is presented as indisputably obvious. And behind that argument—exactly as in the parable of the widow and the judge—lies a conclusion:
from the lesser to the greater:
If, because of the law of hospitality, people can count on the help of others, how much more may Israel and every individual in it count on God.
A guest is entitled to more than just a place to sleep. It was then, and is now, a matter of course that any guest must be served, given the best that one has, and afforded whatever aid is necessary. The same is true not only for the host but for all the host’s connections.
God will help those who belong to God when they are in need. Obviously trust in God’s help was a matter of course on the basis of the Old Testament; Jesus does not need to emphasize it.
How often the psalms beg for divine help—and how often they speak of reliance on being heard! How often they speak of trusting in being heard immediately ! Psalm 66:17 says: “I cried aloud to him, and he was extolled with my tongue [for having heard my plea].” To repeat: trust in God’s help was a thing taken for granted in light of the Old Testament.
Jesus did not need to tell a parable about that.
Therefore we need to read this parable
in light of the reign of God, which Jesus proclaimed.
The inbreaking reign of God radically
intensifies what was already true in Israel:
the intimacy of trust between human beings and God.
All are now empowered to rely on God’s action
with unlimited trust,
even with an urgent immediacy.
Wishing you a great start to this new week as build your trust and rely on the promises
and action of God in your life!
Philemon
Quotes and passage from Lohfink, Gerhard. The Forty Parables of Jesus