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A parable of persistence
Reprinted from the June 23, 1962, Sentinel
Christ Jesus taught the need of persistence in prayer. One means he used for this teaching was the parable, the homely tale from which a moral or a spiritual lesson may be taken. The parable of the friend at midnight directly follows the momentous statement of the Lord’s Prayer, which Jesus gave his disciples in response to their appeal (Luke 11:1), “Lord, teach us to pray.” Evidently, prayer is to be persisted in until it is answered.
In this particular parable the leading character, representing one who prays, goes to a friend at midnight and asks that he lend him three loaves. A guest has arrived, and the host has nothing to give him to eat. The one “within” refuses at first, saying, “Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.”
Jesus brought home the point of persistence by saying that although the friend would not rise and give the suppliant the loaves because of friendship, yet because of the other’s importunity he rose and gave him as many loaves as he needed—perhaps implying also the great generosity of God, who gives more than we ask for.
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May 4, 2015 issue
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Letters
Marie in Florida, Nela, Alex Basil Mayaka, Nancy
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Loved, not forgotten
Jennifer Moeller
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Redemption for those in jail
George Nutwell III
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Our true family name
Jeannie Ferber
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Free from fear and terror
Virginia Hawks
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A great cause, God's new Messiah
Photograph by Patti Hickey
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How Christian Science found me
Alethea Williams-King
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Resolving to pray about college essays
Liam Poling
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Healed after a fall
Victoria Fredrickson
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Skin eruption cleared
Tad Blake-Weber
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Free from illness
Jen McLaughlin
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Tooth trouble gone
Christopher Swift
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A parable of persistence
Helen Wood Bauman
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Divine Love, an unfailing help
Timothy MacDonald