Asking with Audacity

Asking for tables

Before my trip to Papua New Guinea, some of you might remember Summerfest that was held at the school for part of the week between Christmas and New Years.

The number of people attending from the public was down on previous years, but in part, this was because of the two Covid years where the event was cancelled - I think we all got used to things being cancelled during that time. It was still successful though.

Anyway, in addition to the numbers being a bit lower, the two years off presented another problem. You see, some of you might be aware that two of the shipping containers that we have our in our yard actually belong to Scripture Union. Two years off means that for the most part, the containers were left untouched for three years.

And there was another problem. Despite their attempts to weather proof the containers, it turns out one of the containers developed a leak. That leak just happened to be over some of the wooden table tops that were neatly stacked in the container.

Now, when you have three years of water being dripped on wood - which mind you, was some sort of particle board, you probably don’t need me to tell you that the results were not pretty.

I happened to be the one who was tasked to get them out of the container - this was before we new about the water damage.

I knew straight away it didn’t look right, but when I bent down to try and pick it up, it was like the table top just started crumbling in my hand.

There was no question - these tables were unusable.

But these tables were meant to be a key part of the cafe area that we wanted to set up at the school. We wanted a cafe feel in the school, so we didn’t want to just use the long tressle tables. And we knew we didn’t have time to go and buy new tables.

So what do you do?

Well, this is where it’s good to have a friend like Jacqui Wood.

You see, at this point, I’m ready to concede that the cafe area is just going to have to look a bit odd. We’ll just get some other kind of table and we’ll just have to put up with however it looks.

But when Jacqui found out about it - she said: why don’t you just go and ask the RSL. They’ve got heaps of tables they don’t use.

And I can honestly tell you that the first thought that came to my mind is - that’s crazy, you can’t just ask a completely separate group for something like that. It would never have occurred to me to ask such a question.

Now, I can’t exactly remember whether I expressed my hesitation or not, but I think Jacqui must have realised, because she just said - look, I’ll go ask them… how many do you want?

And what to do you know? Later that afternoon, we had six cafe tables on loan from the RSL which made our cafe area actually look like a cafe.

I learnt quite a lesson in that… sometimes you need to ask bold questions!

And that is exactly what we find in this parable that I’ve decided to start with in this series.

The context is in praying - and Jesus is essentially going to tell us: if you don’t ask for bold things, then you want see bold things happen.

The Parable

So let’s first look at the actual parable itself, before I explore the wider context that we find the parable in - because I think in understanding this broader context, we’re going to find greater clarity in what Jesus is trying to teach us.

But before I do, let me just really quickly make some remarks about parables.

It was through parables that Jesus most commonly taught.

Parables are imaginative stories that are used to make a spiritual lesson. They enabled Jesus to be quite bold in what he taught but in a slightly guarded way. The creativity of them forces the hearer to think outside the square in trying to understand them. Sometimes Jesus offers an explanation, but often we get no such explanation recorded for us. But for almost all of them, with a little careful discernment, it generally becomes quite clear what Jesus is trying to teach.

We do however have to be careful not to squeeze a parable for meaning that is not intended. We’ll find that understanding the context in which the parable is given will usually help in this regard.

A friend at midnight

So let’s look at this specific parable found in Luke 11.

I’ll start by introducing the characters.

The first character I’ll introduce is the man who is sleeping at home. For the purposes of my story, I’m going to call him Mr Sleepy. Mr Sleepy lives with his wife - Mrs Sleepy. They also have some children - Baby Sleepy, Toddler Sleepy, and of course, Moody Teenager Sleepy. This family of five live in a relatively small house, but despite the small house, they’re known for being well stocked with various food supplies.

The next character I’ll introduce I’m going to call Mr Friendly. Mr Friendly lives near by to Mr Sleepy. Mr Friendly loves to help people out, but lets just say, because he’s more focussed on relationships, sometimes having the right supplies gets somewhat forgotten.

The third person I’m going to refer to as Mr Traveller - which as you might guess, he travels a lot.

Well, Mr Traveller has obviously misjudged his timing, and finds himself in the village where Mr Friendly and Mr Sleepy lives. He’s of course friends with Mr Friendly, because after all, who isn’t, and as he has no where else to go, he knocks on his door.

Mr Friendly is of course delighted to see Mr Traveller. He can straight away see that he is hungry, and so Mr Friendly goes straight to his kitchen - but there’s no bread.

This of course makes for a very awkward situation. How can he show kindness to Mr Traveller when he doesn’t have what he needs.

The story could end by Mr Friendly saying - well, what can I do, I don’t have anything… look, I know you’re starving, but just try to ignore those hunger pains, get some sleep, and we’ll see what we can do in the morning.

If I’m honest, if I was Mr Friendly, I think that’s what I would probably have done.

But not this Mr Friendly. It’s nearing midnight, and he recognises that he actually does have an option. Mr Sleepy lives nearby, and he’s always got supplies.

But of course, knocking on Mr Sleepy’s door close to midnight when the door is locked is something that you just should not do.

Mr Sleepy likes his sleep. And more than this if you wake up Baby Sleepy or Toddler Sleepy, well, that’s going make the whole night one big nightmare. And if Moody Teenager Sleepy misses her beauty sleep, the next day is not going to fun for anyone.

But Mr Friendly recognises that this is his only option to help poor Mr Traveller, and so he thinks it’s worth it.

He knocks on the door. Just as expected, Mr Sleepy is not happy. He doesn’t want to be bothered. But you know what, he does have supplies that will help Mr Traveller, and so he gives them to Mr Friendly.

Context

Okay, we have the parable, and you don’t need to be a theologian to start to get the meaning of this parable.

In fact, the four verses that precede this section make it plainly obvious that we’re talking about prayer.

Chapter 11 starts with Jesus praying and evidently, the disciples are inspired by the example of Jesus praying that they ask Jesus to teach them how to pray.

Now this isn’t a particularly unusual request. Rabbi’s would often teach their followers about prayer. That’s even evident in the question from the disciple give that it acknowledges that John had taught his disciples how to pray.

Jesus is happy to oblige, and in Luke’s gospel, we get a slightly shortened version from what we find in Matthew gospel, which if you’re interested you can find in Matthew 6 which is a part of the Sermon on the Mount.

We could explore whether these were two separate occasions, or whether they’re both just putting them in a different order - if you’re interested in that question, I can explore it with you later, but as it’s not going to change what I’m talking about today, I’m going to skip that question for now.

The Lord’s prayer

Now I’m not going to give a detailed exposition of the Lord’s prayer this morning, but let me just highlight a few key ideas because I want to draw on these as it relates to the parable.

The prayer asks for God’s kingdom to come.

It then has two basic requests. Firstly a request for daily bread, which perhaps we can think about as our physical provisions. And secondly a request for forgiveness, which perhaps we can think about as our spiritual provisions.

Shalom

But perhaps more than just provisions, can I suggest that Jesus is actually asking for shalom on earth.

Now for those who aren’t familiar with this word, shalom is the Hebrew word that is usually translated as peace, but I prefer to use the word shalom because it is a much richer word than what we refer to as peace.

You see, as in Jesus prayer, when our physical needs are met, and when sin is gone, where actually going to be getting a lot closer to shalom. Shalom is one of the characteristics of God’s kingdom.

Luke 10

Actually, as I continue to explore the context, let me widen the lens on Luke’s gospel even further to take into consideration the previous chapter.

You see, Luke 10 starts with Jesus appointing 72 people to go ahead through every town and place that Jesus is about to go.

I’m going to characterize their mission as bringing shalom to those places. In fact, just look at Luke 10:5 “‘When you enter a house, first say, “Peace to this house.””

We see part of what that shalom looks like when in verse 9 they are to heal the ill - that is, looking after their physical needs.

It’s interesting that as the 72 return in verse 17, they report how even the demon submitted to them.

Shalom was starting to descend on these places.

Connection with parable

So why do I bring all of this up when my focus this morning is on the parable?

Perhaps I’ve just gone on one big tangent, but I actually think it’s related.

Mr Traveller, as I called him, was in need of shalom. Mr Friendly wanted to restore shalom, but wasn’t able to without the help of Mr Sleepy.

If we think about it is these terms, perhaps this parable is actually a call to take seriously the task of restoring shalom.

Application

So, what do we take away from this parable?

It certainly is a call for us to be bold in our prayers.

I love what we read in verse 8 when Jesus explains why Mr Sleepy got up and answered Mr Friendly’s request. He says it is because of his shameless audacity. Interestingly, this parable isn’t about persistence, although persistence is certainly in picture in a very similar parable found in Luke 18, but in this parable, the shameless audacity implies the complete unreasonableness of the request.

And so Jesus is teaching us in this parable, look, it doesn’t matter if you think you’re request seems unreasonable. Ask anyway.

But I want to suggest that with my brief exploration of the context, particularly given the content of the prayer Jesus just taught them to pray, that Jesus isn’t just saying for us to make whatever unreasonable prayer we want, but rather, in our desire to see shalom being restored we can make really bold requests.

Where shalom is broken

So in our context, if we look around to see where shalom is broken we will see many examples.

Look closely in our community, and you will find drug use, domestic violence, racism, neighborly disputes, family breakdowns… the list could go on… each of these things are destroying shalom.

It’s throughout churches as well. Conflicts within churches are sadly all too common, and while it’s true that some level of conflict is going to be inevitably, too often church conflicts quickly grow to the point that churches are split apart.

Whether it’s in the church, or in the community, we sadly can think it’s all too much. I know that unfortunately, I can sometimes stop praying about certain things because I think it is so unlikely that something can change that it would be unreasonable for me to make the prayer.

This parable needs to be a wake up to say that we can’t make that conclusion.

We can’t just be content to look at our world and think - well, there’s nothing to be done. Because there is - and it’s powerful. We can take it to the Lord in prayer!

If we look at where Jesus teaching goes after this parable, its like he’s almost desperate for us to do this.

Ask and it will be given. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened.

The change is waiting to happen, God just wants us to ask.

This does of course beg a question, if God is so willing to help, why doesn’t he just make these changes even before we ask?

Before I offer some thoughts on that, however, its perhaps worth noting that in my experience, God does often act even before we pray.

But here’s the thing - God wants us to ask. Perhaps we can leave this as one of those mysteries of life, but God wants to partner with us as we bring shalom into this world. It’s not so much that God needs us, rather it is that he wants us.

And when we ask, he will give us good things.

What this doesn’t mean

Now, before I start to wrap things up, I think it’s worth saying what we don’t learn from this parable - because sometimes knowing what something is not saying is almost as important as knowing what it does say.

Not a lesson on God

The first thing, is that the character that I referred to as Mr Sleepy should not be used as a character study on who God is. Perhaps that’s an obvious statement that doesn’t need to be made, but whenever we look at a parable we can’t push the story too far.

The focus on this parable is Mr Friendly’s bold request, not on Mr Sleepy’s sleeping habits.

Not our selfish desires

The next one however might not be quite as obvious. You see, sometimes when we don’t have an answer to prayer we think it must be because we’re not praying hard enough.

We look at this parable and think - maybe I just need to be more bold. I’ll start demanding that God do something for me.

Now I want to make a suggestion about why this is sometimes wrong.

It can be wrong because sometimes we’re praying out of our own selfish desires.

This might sound harsh, but sometimes even when we pray for someone who is dying to be healed, sometimes this can be more about our desires rather than what is best in that situation - and I do recognise that I’m getting into very complicated territory with this statement.

The point I’m trying to make however is that just because a prayer isn’t being answered the way we want it to, doesn’t necessarily mean we just need to be more demanding of God. That’s not what Jesus is trying to teach here.

We can be bold, but let our boldness be about seeing God’s kingdom come… let it be about shalom being seen on earth.

We will continue to see disunity on earth - this will continue because until Jesus returns when all will be made right, the clutches of evil go too deep.

But when we pray, we will see little outbreaks of shalom on earth.

Gono

When I was up in Gono, I reflected quite a bit on the story of Ben and Tilila Wertz going into that country 70 years ago.

I won’t repeat that whole story now, but one of the most remarkable things that happen shortly after he arrival in the previously unpatrolled region, was that there was a break out of peace - or using my preferred word: shalom.

People went from killing those from neighboring villages to eventually worshipping together.

Now it wasn’t perfect. The hold of sin is strong, but yet we continue to see the peace that came with the gospel.

But it came with a completely bold, and dare-I-say, unreasonable request.

You see, for Ben Wertz to take the gospel there, he needed to convince the authorities at the edge of the patrolled region to let him - and they didn’t want to, largely because they knew of the danger.

But he asked, and he was given. He knocked - and the door was open.

Conclusion

Are we prepared to ask God to see new pockets of shalom break out in our world? Are we prepared to seek areas where we can see God’s kingdom break in?

At this it can seem so unlikely. We can think - why bother with such a ridiculous request.

But God has a habit of answering ridiculous requests, so why not try him.

If it turns out it’s actually a selfish request, that will become clear, but when you start seeking after God’s kingdom, you’ll start to see that you’re requests will line up with God’s will.

God is a generous God and loves to give good gifts, so start asking, and let’s see God do some bold things in our area.

Let me pray...