New Testament : The Parable of the Friend at Night

The Parable of the Friend at Night? Immediately after teaching the disciples to pray the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus told the story of the neighbor who was in need of bread for a visitor (Luke 11:5-10). The disciples had just asked Him to teach them to pray (Luke 11:1), and the lesson He is teaching through this parable is to be persistent in prayer. This is the first of two parables Jesus uses to drive this concept home—the second is the parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge in Luke 18:1-8. Paul reiterates this same concept in 1 Thessalonians 5:17.

So, although the Greek word really does literally mean shamelessness or impunity or a lack of sensitivity to what is proper, the idea of persistence is also clearly indicated in the context, as the following explanation by Jesus makes clear. But before we move on to His application of this parable, it is good to consider for a moment what type of parable this is. It is what many would call an implied “how much more parable,” in which an argument is made from the lesser to the greater. For example, one prominent parable scholar observes: As most interpreters agree, it is an argument from the weaker to the stronger. It is a “how much more” argument, a procedure common in Jewish hermeneutics, but the reader must supply the “stronger” element that makes explicit the intent of the parable. A second “how much more” argument is explicit in 11:13 and shows how the parable in 11:5-8 is to be interpreted … The parable says in effect: “If a human will obviously get up in the middle of the night to grant the request even of a rude friend, will not God much more answer your requests? (Klyne Snodgrass, Stories With Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus, p. 447)

The question itself is quite long and extends from verse 5 through verse 7: NKJ Luke 11:5-7 [Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)] And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves [ἄρτος, bread or loaf of bread]; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you ‘?” Discover extra info on the The Parable of the Friend at Night video on YouTube.

Jesus is not comparing the reluctant friend with the heavenly Father; He is contrasting the two. Jesus is not saying that the heavenly Father is like the reluctant friend who needs to be persuaded many times before he would help. He is saying that if even a reluctant friend will give out of a person’s persistence, how much more will the heavenly Father give out of our persistence. In verse 13, Jesus says that if we, who are evil, know how to give good things, how much more the heavenly Father. Again, He is contrasting the two.