Luke 11:5

And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine is come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him; and he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will arise and give him as many as he needeth.

<LINES><MONO>

The friend (in contrast) = the Father in heaven.

The borrower = all who would be a blessing to others.

His importunity = the perseverance and urgency of true prayer.

The friend's reluctance = (the apparent) reluctance of God to answer Christians' prayers.

The final procurement of the loaves = God's eventual response to his children's prayers.

The number of loaves received (not three, merely, but "as many as he needed") = God's blessing his prayerful children, not merely by supplying what they ask, but what they need.

The midnight = the ultimate of all human need.

The success of the mission at such an inappropriate time = the fact God is ready to bless his children in any situation, regardless of the direst extremities.MONO>LINES>

All of these analogies, it will be noted, are related to the great lesson Jesus pointed out in the next two verses.

A friend ... at midnight ... Alas, how utterly hopeless would be the state of mortal man, if in the darkness of human wretchedness and sin there was no friend to whom he might go for help and relief. It is precisely the thesis of infidelity that mankind has no friend beyond the veil, no one to whom he might go to solicit aid, no higher power to supplement his weakness, and no Person to understand his woes. How glorious is the Christian teaching that in the blackness of whatever midnight may engulf him, there is a Friend who will rise up and bless him.

Let it be particularly noted that the supplicant did not set out to seek a friend; (he already had one!) "The answer to prayer is, therefore, only certain in cases where one who prays stands in a relation of friendship to God, and loves and serves him."[13]

Children are with me in bed ... As Boles observed, "The Greek word for bed applied to any room or place used for sleeping, as well as to a bed or couch."[14] The mention of such details as the shut door, the midnight hour, the sleeping children, etc. was to emphasize the reluctance of the friend to respond to the borrower.

Because of his importunity he will arise ... This is the center of the message of the parable. Trench has this:

It is not his IMPORTUNITY only; it is his SHAMELESSNESS; for we are to suppose many askings, each more urgent than the last; although only that one is recorded which at last extorts the gift.[15]

Such shamelessness in prayer (for that is what the Greek word means) is exemplified by Abraham who pleaded for Sodom and the cities of the plain (Genesis 18:23ff), by Jacob who wrestled with the angel of the covenant (Genesis 32:28), and by pleading of the Syro-Phoenician woman (Matthew 15:21). But WHY did God honor such persistence, and by this parable command us to emulate it? The answer appears in a comment by Matthew Henry: "We prevail with men by importunity because they are DISPLEASED with it, but with God because he is PLEASED with it!"[16] The teaching here relieves every man of any thought that God can be troubled by the number and urgency of his petitions. Let men pray ALWAYS. It is wrong, therefore, to think of prayer as overcoming the reluctance of God. "It is never an overcoming of God's reluctance, but a laying hold of his highest willingness."[17]

[13] Norval Geldenhuys, op. cit., p. 324.

[14] H. Leo Boles, Commentary on Luke (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1940), p. 231.

[15] Richard C. Trench, Notes on the Parables of Our Lord (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1953), p. 333.

[16] Matthew Henry, op. cit., p. 694.

[17] Richard C. Trench, op. cit., p. 330.