The Friday after Exaudi Sunday
Posted on June 6, 2025 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 11:5-13 (NKJV)
11:5 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; 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’? 8 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
11 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
Devotion
What a dilemma. The poor and unprepared host has a late-arriving guest: a man who is hungry after a long and exhausting journey. Since it’s his duty as host to provide a meal, he goes to great lengths to do so. But the daily bread supply has been exhausted, so the only option is to go for aid. He goes to his neighbor’s house, regardless of the hour, and asks for help.
The request is not only bold in asking for another’s bread, it is also audacious because of the late hour—doubly so because of how people slept in that culture’s context. Most homes consisted of only one room, with the family sleeping close together for warmth. You can imagine that if just one person would rise, it would inevitably disturb the whole family. So is it any wonder that the man who was in bed did not want to get up? But the determined borrower knocked on the door with a “shameless persistence” (that’s what the Greek word anaideian in our text means). After a while the friend finally gets up, for by now the whole household is disturbed, and he gets the man what he asks for.
In this parable, Jesus isn’t comparing God the Father to a sleepy, selfish, or angry neighbor. Rather, He’s contrasting the two. He’s telling His disciples that if a neighbor can be persuaded by sheer persistence to give aid, how much more will your Father in heaven meet the daily needs of His beloved children!
Collect: Almighty, everlasting God, make us to have always a devout will toward Thee, and to serve Thy Majesty with a pure heart; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
