God, Our Good Neighbor

God, Our Good Neighbor


It’s funny what a difference a word, or a new piece of information can make. A fellow counselor friend tells this story. She was trying to get to work in a blinding blizzard and was relieved to finally see the entrance to her parking lot ahead of her. Unfortunately, as she approached the entrance, a man suddenly appeared out of the blowing snow. He was walking in the middle of the street, and my friend could not get around him. She knew she was late and wanted to get her car parked and out of the blizzard. She lost her temper and started honking her horn vehemently at this stupid man plodding down the middle of the street where he didn’t belong. At the sound of the horn behind him, the man turned around, and it was then my friend saw he was carrying a white cane in his hand! The man was blind. You can imagine how quickly her attitude changed.



Social scientists call this kind of event a “paradigm shift”. I experience this when some word or thought makes me see a situation in a whole new light. It’s rather like the hymn writer John Newton’s immortal words in his hymn “Amazing Grace” -“I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see.”



There is a word in our passage today that has made a dramatic change in my understanding of this text. But you did not hear it in the scripture reading. It comes instead from the insight of a seminary professor I once heard preach on this text. His name was John Wyck Bowman, and he taught New Testament studies at San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo. Bowman had been a missionary in the Middle East, and he brought a new perspective to this story out of his missionary experiences.



The word was shamelessness. This is the only place it appears in the gospels, and that makes it a problem. How do we translate a word we have not seen anywhere else in the Bible? Bowman suggests that the closest word the translators could find for the original Greek term was “shameless”, but they were unwilling to use it because of its negative connotation. “Shameless” in English suggest “brazen”, “insolent”, “audacious”, “unblushing”. Surely Jesus was not suggesting this was an appropriate attitude for us to assume in prayer. How dare we approach God with our nose in the air and a defiant announcement, “Here’s what I want God, now do it!”



Therefore, translators turned to another story in Luke 18:1-8. An unjust judge becomes so irritated by a widow’s persistent nagging, he finally gives in and lets her have what she wants. Jesus draws from this parable the virtue of persistent faith. Keep believing, even when the heavens seem to have been shut against you. From this story, the translators applied the same notion to the word “shameless” as being more suitable.



But to Bowman, the new word brings its own problems. Persistence in one’s faith, is one thing, being a nagger is something else. And whatever it is, it has little to do with being “shameless”.



He suggests we step back and look at the story again. What is it really about? It is about being caught short and needing help - not just for yourself, but for your guest. In the Middle East, hospitality is not simply a kind gesture, it can be a matter of life and death. If you are hungry and left out in the night alone, you can turn to a total stranger and know that your need will be recognized and honored. If you, as the one receiving the knock on your door, refuse such a request, you will bring shame on yourself, and by extension, on the whole village where you live. The beggar can go to another village and tell how he was treated by you. That is truly shameful and unthinkable.



With that insight in mind, consider the parable again. Would you give a snake to your child rather than the fish that was requested? Or a scorpion instead of an egg? These contrasts are vivid and the answer easy: of course not. So if we know better than that ourselves - and we, after all, are not perfect like God is! - how much more can we depend upon God giving us what we most desperately need? The implication is inescapable. God would be ashamed not to answer our request.



Put this way, then, the admonition, “Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened unto you,” is seen in an entirely new light. Instead of concentrating on asking endlessly, as if this were a condition we had to fulfill to show our faith - which actually shows the opposite when you stop and think about it! - we are being urged to rely on the honor and trustworthiness of God. Jesus’ recommendation that we consider the lilies of the field how they grow, how they neither toil nor spin, is in the same spirit of faith and trust. We don’t have to frantically beg, we can rely on God who must hear and answer.



Now there are difficulties with this interpretation too. Bowman has managed to relieve us of the anxiety of nervously worrying about how we ask and whether we have asked enough times. (It reminds me of the question one woman asked about prayers for the soul of her recently deceased mother. “How many prayers does it take to get her into heaven?”) But we are still left with a promise that does seem reckless. “Is that all we have to do? Just ask? And God has to answer?” It sounds almost as if God is our servant, waiting on our beck and call.



Right or not, that pretty well describes how many of us use prayer. “God helps those who help themselves” Ben Franklin suggested, and we concur. That means, only when I’m in a tight spot, only when I’m at my wits end, only when I can’t see any other way out of my dilemma - then I will refer the matter to God. And when I didn’t get what I wanted, the fault was obviously mine because I didn’t ask the right way, or more likely, I didn’t have enough faith. Now, if Bowman is right, we are saying, “No, it isn’t my fault: it’s God’s fault. He ought to be ashamed of himself!” I’m not satisfied with that conclusion either.



What can I say? Well, for one thing, I believe we are not required to nag God endlessly as if we thought he had no ears. This isn’t about persistently asking and not getting. But it is about adjusting our faith to concentrate on a good God who really does care. This is not an unjust judge who finally gives us what we want in order to get rid of us. This is a neighbor that we can rely on and trust.



But I think Jesus’ teaching also shows us something about the kind of things we pray for. The Lord’s Prayer, for instance, is a model of praying for the basics - food and health, forgiveness and mercy. His parable also emphasizes the seriousness of the crisis. The request for bread so we can feed a friend at midnight is a legitimate need and clearly one any good neighbor would honor. I have known people who customarily pray for a good parking place and they tell me that God provides it every time they ask. I don’t want to doubt their stories, but I cringe at the thought of using God as one’s personal divine parking attendant!



On the other hand, I do not have access to the mind of God and do not want to presume to know what God thinks is an appropriate prayer request and what is not. That’s God’s business, not my own. Maybe God does help them find their parking spaces. I do still think these parables teach us one lesson: to always pray seriously. Sure, winning the lottery might be great. I’ve been wondering lately if I need to start putting my name in the barrel for the Publishers’ Clearing House again! But the thought that God is waiting to draw my name or my number out of the millions ahead of me, leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But perhaps God is shrugging his shoulders and saying, “Hey dude, I’m ready to do my part, but you got to work with me on this one. Start buying your lottery tickets!”



Well - I am content to declare the God I worship has been faithful and met my needs and when Jesus urges me to trust that God, I strive to do just that. But forgo the nagging please. Let us pray for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry it out. And strive to find the faith and courage to trust our good neighbor, a gracious, attentive and loving God! Amen.