Saved Through Persistence Series

This evening’s message is taken from what is commonly called “A Friend Comes at Midnight.” In this particular passage, Jesus used a parable to relate a certain message about our need to continue knocking on the door. In Revelation 3:20, Jesus declared, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” Jesus said that He stands knocking on the door to our heart, and if we will just open our heart’s door, then He will come in. Jesus loves us so much that He pursues us, and pleads with us to enter the kingdom and seek salvation.

In this parable, Jesus reveals that the door to our heart is not the only door that needs knocking on; and it’s not the only door that needs to be opened. Jesus may knock on our heart’s door, but we need to be knocking on heaven’s gates! We need to desire the forgiveness of our sin, salvation and eternal life so desperately that we’re willing to beat down heaven’s door to get inside! I mean, is Jesus the only one who should pursue our salvation? Should He always be coming after us? Shouldn’t we have a desire to pursue Him? These are some thought-provoking questions that we should seriously consider when reading the following parable.

Asking for Bread (vv. 5-8)

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.”

Many commentaries interpret this parable as an illustration on persistence in prayer, since Jesus had been teaching His disciples how to pray, and had just shared with them “The Lord’s Prayer” (Luke 11:1-4). However, there is actually a sub-message here concerning the bestowal of salvation first to the Jews, and then to the Gentiles. This sub-message is what we will be looking at tonight.

In verse 5, Jesus addressed His audience by asking, “Which of you shall have a friend?” The audience, which just happened to be Jesus’ disciples (which can also be applied to His followers today), were being told they have a “friend” whom they could approach to ask for some spare bread with which to feed a guest. An old familiar gospel hymn says, “What a friend we have in Jesus!”(1) In this parable, when Jesus initially referred to a “friend,” He was referring to Himself.

In John 15:13-15, Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” In this passage from John, Jesus was saying that when He was crucified on the cross that He died for those whom He considered to be His friends. His friends are those who believe in Him as Savior and Lord; and in our parable tonight, we will discover that His friends were His disciples.

Jesus is the “friend” described in this parable from whom someone was asking for bread. Keeping this interpretation in mind, verses 5-6 reveal a hypothetical scenario where someone might be compelled to approach Jesus and ask for some bread to feed one of his own friends. Before we can apply this passage, we must understand the context of this parable and what it meant at the time in which it was spoken. In order to better understand the context, we must begin by looking at the one who asked Jesus for some bread.

The one who asked Jesus for bread was close to Jesus, for he declared, “Friend, lend me three loaves” (v. 5) – he called Jesus his friend. When this individual asked Jesus for bread, he wasn’t asking on behalf of himself, but for one of his other friends. He needed the bread in order to provide his friend and household guest with sustenance. If, in speculation, we suppose that the one who asked Jesus for bread was indeed one of His own disciples, then there is some helpful information here in making sense of the next few verses.