Not Persistence, But Shamelessness
Topsy-Turvy: Living In The Biblical World
Gospel Sermons For Sundays After Pentecost (Middle Third) Cycle C
Midnight is not the best time to go knocking on your neighbor's door for a cup of sugar, is it? You would really have to swallow your pride, wouldn't you, to wake up your neighbor at midnight and ask for his help? It would require a fair amount of shamelessness.
Jesus tells the story of a man who has an unexpected midnight guest, and he has no bread to serve him, no way for the host to be hospitable to his guest. He is helpless. He must swallow his pride and make his way through the dark to his neighbor next door and bang on his door asking to borrow three loaves of bread.