The sermon text was wrong in the newsletter (my bad), so if you were wondering what parable was in the first chapter of Luke, you do not have to wonder any longer -- it is the11th Chapter of Luke!
This lesson has a very important textual issue. The NRSV translates "persistence" in the vs. 8 and connects it with the person who is knocking on the door. The literal Greek is "shamelessness," and it is ambiguous as to whether it refers to the man knocking on the door or the man in the house. The "persistence" translation grows out of the context of vs. 9 in which Jesus refers to asking for things. If "shamelessness": is correct, it could refer to the man in the house, which would suggest that the point of the parable is about how much more God will answer our requests if the neighbor will answer out of "shamelessness." Bernard Scott (Hear Then the Parable, 91) makes a pretty good textual argument for "shamelessness." I will probably go with both translations to some degree and blur the textual issue while making two points about God's graciousness and our asking. I think that I can do that with integrity, in part because the editors who put Luke together obviously saw the connection between asking and God's gracious hospitality, so why shouldn't we?
When I read this parable, my immediate response was "who you gonna call?" from the movie "Ghostbusters." Of course, the older crowd and younger crowd will probably not even recognize the movie title, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet.
What thoughts do you have about this parable?
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