Coffee and Eggs

Luke 11:1-13

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."  He said to them, "When you pray, say:

  Father, hallowed be your name.

    Your kingdom come.

       Give us each day our daily bread.

       And forgive us our sins,

    for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.

    And do not bring us to the time of trial."

  And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.' And he answers from within, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.' I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

  "So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

Persistence!  That’s what this lesson’s about! If we pray a LOT, we mere mortals have the power to wear God down and God will just give us whatever we want, just to shut us up! Sounds good. I’m sure you’ve tried it. I know I’ve tried it! I prayed every day in the SEMINARY CHAPEL, which should, after all, get better reception than almost any other place. I prayed VERY persistently. But my Uncle Bob did not get better.  He died in spite of all my persistene. You can’t tell me I didn’t “ask” or “seek” or “knock” enough, because I sure as hell did! I “asked” until I lost my voice,  “seeked” until my eyes burned and “knocked” until my knuckles were bleeding. So what’s all this really about? Let’s look at that parable again.

A man drove into his best friend’s driveway at midnight. They had been college roommates. He had been this guy’s best man. He knew THIS friend would do anything for him. So he sought out his friend… even though it was past midnight.  He knocked even though he knew   his friend now had little kids. He asked, “Hey, I just drove home an hour ago from the airport and my great aunt was sitting in her car in my driveway! Can you believe it!  I didn’t know she was coming! I’ve been out of town for two weeks! Can you let me borrow some coffee and eggs for the morning?”

What are best friend’s for, right? THIS… THIS is what best friends are for! They have your back when aunt Gertrude shows up without notice. If you can’t ask your best friend for help in the middle of the night, who can you ask? So, the LAST thing you expect is your “best friend” from the upstairs window to shout down, “Get outta here! I already put the alarm on, the kids are finally asleep, I’m in bed for crying out loud, I’m not getting up to get you   (expletive) coffee and eggs! Forget it!” The one person you thought you could count on! It’s not like you were asking him for a kidney! Just some (expletive) coffee and eggs!

But he wouldn’t budge and there you are, standing on the lawn in shorts and a bathrobe, looking up at the second story window. No stores open, no where else to turn and finally you just drop down on your knees in the middle of the lawn even as all the neighbors watch through their curtains and you admit your complete and absolute vulnerability. “You’re my only hope. I have no one left to turn to. Without you I am lost.” Only THEN does your best friend get up, turn off the alarm, puts some eggs and coffee in a bag and give you what you need. So if it wasn’t persistence, what was it? Now, I’m no Greek scholar, but as they say, I’ve got an app for that, and it turns out it’s less like “persistence” and more like SHAMELESSNESS.

You and I, we’re the ones outside staring up at the second story window of God’s Kingdom. We do the best we can, but even with that, we always seem to fall short, and some stuff, like the unexpected aunt Gertrudes of this life… how do you EVER prepare for that? We realize we should have done this and that, only with perfect hindsight. If we’re honest, we can’t give one good reason to MAKE God get up and open the door based on our own merits. Oh, we all try, of course. We’ll yell up to God, “I’ve been a good Christian!” “I go to church on Sunday!” “I’ve signed up to bake two, no THREE pies for the fair!” But this parable reminds us that NONE of that MAKES God get out of bed to open the door. So what does? It’s our shamelessness. It’s realizing, accepting and confessing, “God, I am completely lost without you.” “God, there is nothing I can do.” “God, I’m dying here.” 

You see, it is only when we finally are willing to DIE to the idea that we can “make God give it to us” or “we’ve earned it” or “we deserve it” or “we can win it” ... when we finally give up that delusion and confess that without God… WE… ARE… DEAD. It’s only then, in that DEATH of me, myself and I, that God raises us up to new and eternal life. Death, I’ll grant you, seems a bit extreme. But God knows, it’s the ONE thing NONE of us will fail to do! We’ll fail in following the rules. We’ll fail in following Jesus. We’ll fail in loving God and our neighbor. BUT the one thing that God can count on each and every one of us NOT failing at… is dying. So God has made it, so that the ONE thing we all WILL most certainly do, is the ONE thing God needs from us in order to raise us to eternal life. Clever, ain’t it?

But wait, there’s more! Because while that (hopefully) long range bit of Good News covers all of creation in a beautifully tricksy sort of way, there is more to this whole death and resurrection thing than just twiddling our thumbs and waiting to pull the ultimate pin. Jesus told this parable so the disciples would understand God’s end-game, but ALSO so they would know they didn’t have to wait for ONLY our our one physical death to be raised to new life. Jesus was trying to tell the disciples… and us, that we can also take advantage of God’s death and resurrection scheme RIGHT NOW! We can die right now to things like hatred, greed, and fear and be raised RIGHT NOW to a new and abundant life filled with love, generosity and courage which will allow us experience more of the life we were created to live in the first place! That’s why Jesus taught the disciples to pray:

Father, You are amazing! I want to see the world the way you see the world and live in the world your way. Give me what I need each day so I don’t get distracted from your way by something like an empty belly. Help me to die to the idea that I am alone… that I need to look out for myself and me help instead to live for my neighbors, showing them, with the way I live, how caring for our neighbors fills us with life! And help me not get sucked back in by the world’s ideas of scarcity, fear, and power so that I might live each day, full of an abundant, meaning, and purpose-filled life, eternally surrounded by your never ending, unconditional, grace and love. Amen… and Amen.