“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

Specifically, is it wrong to ask God to provide us with our daily bread, with the basic necessities of life and not share them? Is it wrong to ask God to wash away our sins, to clothe us with His mercy and grace and not offer the same to those who have offended or wronged us?

Is it wrong of the friend in today’s gospel story to go to his neighbor and ask for three loaves of bread?

This is a yes or no question, but we are more apt to answer it the same way we tend to answer my previous questions saying, “It depends.”

It depends on what, on whether we like the person or not, on what the person did or did not do, on what time of day the person comes knocking, or on our mood or whatever else we can come up with?

If a friend came to your home at midnight and you had nothing to set before him, that is give him or her something to eat you could run out to three or four super markets that are open twenty-four hours a day seven days a week and buy all the provisions that you needed. If you didn’t have any cash, you could use your bank debit card or charge it to your Visa card. There would be no reason for you to bother any of your neighbors. But that was not the case in Jesus day.

“And he goes to him at midnight
and says,
‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,”

Today I could buy a loaf of bread and stick it in the freezer and I will have it for several months. In Jesus days they had no such luxury. Bread did not have a long shelf life, so it was baked almost on a daily basis. It may seem hard to imagine that there would be absolutely no bread in the house and chances are there were some broken loaves. However to serve anything but a full loaf to a guest would be an insult to the guest.

“Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me.”

So what does that have to do with the neighbor, you ask? A guest was a guest of the community, not just the individual. The community was responsible to ensure the needs of the guest were met. The entire community took responsibility to ensure that the guest left with a good feeling of hospitality. What this sleeping man is being asked for is more than bread. He is being asked to fulfill his duty to the guest in his village.

The host was not the Bible’s version of Old Mother Hubbard whose cupboards where bare. And if they were bare what kind of host serves his guest just bread. When Jesus sat down with His disciples and broke bread and gave it to them saying, ‘Take eat this is my body which is broken for you.’ There was an entire Passover meal set before them.

The host’s pantry was not void of provisions. He had food but no bread. Why was it so important to have bread? Bread in the Middle East was the knife, fork and spoon.

“The one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’

No doubt you can relate to this. Someone making a request on your time, your talent, your treasure at a time when you just want to be left alone, when you had other plans. It is obvious the sleeping man was not very happy because of the hour the request was made. He did as most people do, gave all sorts of excuses WHY he couldn’t grant the request. And if the story ended right there some would justify the man’s response and others would criticize him. But it doesn’t end there.

Jesus continues,

The sleeper didn’t refuse his friends request because of the persistence of the friend. He also did not refuse for the sake of the community and the sake of his responsibility as part of that community. The sleeper brought honor to his friend and to his community.  Bottom line, He responded as a father responds to his children’s request for the basic necessities of life.  He responded as God responds to our request.

This story coupled with the Lord’s Prayer boldly proclaims two things.  One, we should be bold in our request to God. Two, we can absolutely TRUST God to supply our basic physical, emotional and spiritual provisions, to provide as much as we need.  If you need insight God will provide.  If you need strength God will provide.  God’s love for you and me is a very intimate love evident in that He taught us to pray saying,

‘Father.’

To not share ones daily provisions shows that we have not understood that everything we have comes from God, to remain unforgiving shows that we have not understood that we ourselves deeply need to be forgiven.  To withhold what God has given us, whatever that might be time, talent, treasure, truth, is to dishonor Christ.