“Knock, Knock…Who’s there?”

The Friend at Midnight & Further Teachings on Prayer

May 4, 2007

The Friend at Midnight is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 11:5-13. It is part of Jesus’ teachings on prayer. In the parable, a man goes to a friend at midnight and asks him for three loaves of bread. He needs this bread because a friend came to his house after a long journey and he has no food to provide for his guest.  The friend wouldn’t answer the door because his family was sleeping and he didn’t want to be bothered. Jesus tells the disciples that while the friend might not get up to give him the loaves of bread because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.

Jesus was trying to teach the disciples that they should be persistent in prayer not out of necessity but because of their faith and belief in God. Jesus continues with the answer to prayer: ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened. This parable illustrates that in prayer we will find what is needed and that the door will be opened, thus there will be a response to our prayer. Jesus compares the gifts people give to others to the generosity of God. He concludes that if people are wicked, in comparison with the almighty, and still they know how to give good gifts then God will give much more.

            Initially, I thought that this parable illustrated the selfishness of others and the compassion of God. In the story the friend denies his friend the three loaves of bread because he was too lazy to get up and answer the door. Everyone can relate to this scenario! Too often I have made excuses to get out of something simply because I don’t want to do it. In many cases, a friend’s persistence is what leads me to respond to their need, not solely because of our friendship. This reality is similar to Matthew 26: 41, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”[1] Often we are willing, but prove weak. Thus, this parable captivates a human situation that was not only present in the biblical world, but one that is still alive in the 21^st century.

            My assumptions were close to what I found in the research. The parable was meant to illustrate the circumstances of real life and social relationships.[2] The content of the parable is based on the ancient assumption that friends have certain responsibilities to each other and are therefore held accountable to one another.[3] The friend in this story who fails to open the door out of his friendship for the other is “acting in a way the culture perceives to be irresponsible or immoral in the relationship.”[4] Thus, the parable presented the disciples and the reader with a human situation and poses the belief that God will not be like the friend. However, the meaning does not lie solely in the comparison of God and the friend.[5] Its main objective is to demonstrate that God’s response will be greater than anything else.

            Jesus’ explanation points out that prayer must be continual and that God responds to prayer. In the parable, Jesus is trying to communicate that prayer is constant and consists of continuous asking, seeking, and knocking.[6] The concluding verses of the parable look at the relationship between father and son. In a parent-child relationship is the assurance of certain things such as love or “good gifts.” Thus, God’s relationship is similar to the parent-child relationship and ensures such gifts, but an even higher gift, the Holy Spirit.[7]

            Luke’s original intent of this parable was to reflect Jesus’ own prayer life. Matthew and John have various sections of this parable in different places in their gospels, but Luke is unique because he combines all of the sayings into one section.[8] The preface to the Friend at Midnight is the Lord’s Prayer, which illustrates Jesus’ prayer life and initiates the disciples interest in prayer. The disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray as he does, thus the teachings on prayer that follow are Jesus’ perception of how to pray and why we pray. On one level, this parable is unique because we get a glimpse on Jesus’ mindset in relation to prayer. His deep connection to God through prayer is evident and it enables the reader to connect to the importance of prayer in their own life.

            The Friend at Midnight and teachings on prayer fits Dodd’s four elements of a parable. The metaphor is the comparison of the friend who will not open the door, to the door that will be opened in prayer. “Knock and the door will be opened to you,” isn’t referring literally to a door as it is in the first part of the parable. In this case, the door could be a reference to the kingdom of God or the presence of God within prayer. Initially, Jesus put this idea in very literal and concrete terms. He established a human situation that everyone could relate to and then applied that familiarity to something with a deeper meaning. Thus, Jesus relates prayer to common life through examples such as ask, seek, and knock. These are elements that people in the biblical world understood and the concept is still relevant today.

Jesus’ words in this parable trigger my imagination, instantly I envision a door with a bright light seeping in through every crack and crevice. I can see myself walking towards the door, moving closer and closer, wondering if I should knock. I am awestruck and simultaneously very hesitant, pulling my hand up to knock and then quickly pulling it back. At the same time, I remember different points in my life when I felt as though I was locked out, that a door hadn’t been opened, or that a door was shut in my face. In addition, I recall the times when I too did not respond to the needs of others, despite the consistency of their knock.

As this mass of confusion is going on in my mind, I feel unworthy to ask, seek, or knock. Thus, this parable arrests the reader by its vividness and causes the reader to stop. Despite its vividness it does leave the reader in severe doubt about its precise application. It enables the reader to brainstorm its relationship to their own prayer life. It triggers one to move deeper into the content and decipher a meaning behind Jesus’ words. Jesus calls the reader to act on their relationships with others and to be persistent in prayer, but the readers own faith and belief will transform this message in many different ways.

This parable transcends time, its message is as clear today as it was in the biblical world. However, everyone will find a different lesson in this parable and take away a different meaning. Personally, it causes me to reflect on my own life. First, I am struck by the generosity of God and Jesus’ words cause me to reflect on the many gifts which I am given. Too often I am unaware of the presence of God through such gifts. I have never held the belief that if you knock God will answer because it seems that too often many prayers go unanswered. However, I think I am beginning to see that just because there isn’t a clear cut answer doesn’t necessarily mean that God didn’t come to the door while I was desperately and frantically knocking.

Bibliography

Brown, Raymond E., Joseph Fitzmyer. S.J., and Roland Murphy. The New Jerome Biblical

Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1990.

Collins, John & Senior, Donald. The Catholic Study Bible: The New American Bible. New York :

Oxford University Press, 2006.

Dunn, James & Rogerson, John. Commentary on the Bible. Grand Rapids Michigan :

Eerdmans Publishing, 2003.

Harper’s Bible Commentary. San Francisco : Harper & Row, Publishers, 1988.

Johnson, Luke Timothy. Sacra Pagina: The Gospel of Luke. Collegeville , Minnesota : The

Liturgical Press, 1991.