The passage begins with Jesus praying. It is interesting the only thing the disciples ever asked Jesus to teach them was to pray. They never asked Jesus how do we raise the dead or heal the sick or how to preach. They asked Jesus, "Teach us to pray?" Jesus teaches them the Lord's Prayer. Then Jesus added a parable to help them understand how to pray.
Israel had a covenant relationship with God that taught them it was an honor to help their neighbors. This obligation to serve one another applied to strangers, even if they knocked on your door at midnight. Jesus says that what a neighbor may not do, even for a friend, he would do when his neighbor came without shame seeking assistance in fulfilling his covenant responsibility. Within this covenant relationship there is no shame in asking for help. Because the man in Jesus’ parable is without shame he has no difficulty persistently asking his neighbor for help.
Jesus says this is what God is like. Jesus says you and can have this same relationship with God. We have no shame as we go in prayer to God. We are not imposing upon God. The foundation of our relationship with God is not our tithe or perfect attendance or praying every day or reading the Bible every day. None of this improves our standing with God. Our standing before God is not helped by saying, “God if you'll just do this, I'll be good. I'll give more, I'll pray more, and I’ll do more if you'll just hear my request.” The man in the parable did not condition his request by saying, "If you will just give me this bread this one time, I will never ask you again."
The basis of our relationship with God is rooted in grace. God longs for us and desires a relationship with us, more than we could ever dream of longing and desiring a relationship with Him. Jesus says God delights in fulfilling our needs: “For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
What word or phrase in these verses
attracts your attention?
Reflect on that word or phrase.
What insights come to you?
How does this passage touch your life today?
17-Jan-12 Luke 11:14-36
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