Shameless Persistence

A friend from Asia wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. She wanted me to help her friend get a study visa for Australia.  I don’t know how many times I told her that I was powerless to help and that I had no influence at the Australian embassy. Finally, mostly to stop my friend’s relentless nagging, I agreed to do what I could … which wasn’t much … but turned out to be much more than I had anticipated. 

First, it was regular English practice. The woman concerned turned out to be highly motivated, which helped my attitude. Then it was a plea I couldn’t ignore … to use my connections (关系 guanxi) with the God of the Universe to ask for divine favour over her visa application. (I was adamant that one can’t play games with God, but said that I’d pass on the request …and urged her to get to know him herself.)  Then I sent a query to the Australian embassy on her behalf after her application was denied. To my surprise, I received a phone call within minutes explaining it all and she was able to apply again. Her second application was successful.

An accidental reading of Luke 11:1-13

Helping a friend’s friend come to my country happened years ago. The incident has come to mind again now because of a Bible passage about ‘shameless persistence’ which the Lord brought to my attention this past week. I say ‘The Lord brought this story to my attention,’ because I was actually looking for something else. But this passage was exactly what I needed to read. 

I skimmed through parts of Luke the other day, looking for the story of Martha and Mary, which I blogged about last week. I was intending to spend more time in that story.  It is at the very end of Luke 10.

But even as I did so, my heart was heavy for friends going through a hard time. As best I could, I was ‘praying without ceasing’ … but how does one pray? Then I stumbled upon the story of the shamelessly persistent friend. It is in Luke 11, immediately after the passage I was looking for.

As I flicked to the page with the Martha and Mary story, my eyes lit upon the phrase ‘shameless persistence’. A sixth sense kicked in. This is how I am to pray for my friends … with shameless persistence. Regardless of how God chooses to answer our prayers, we can’t go wrong by praying plenty.

Another shamelessly persistent friend

So what is in Luke 11:1-13, apart from the phrase ‘shameless persistence’? In part, it’s the story of the person who insisted that his friend get out of bed at midnight to loan him three loaves of bread so that he, in turn, could host a friend who had just arrived after a long journey (Luke 11:5-10). Jesus told this story in response to his disciples’ request to be taught how to pray. After giving them a model, which we call ‘The Lord’s Prayer’, including the request for our daily bread, Jesus then told the story of the persistent person who wanted to borrow bread in the middle of the night. 

The poor friend who didn’t want to get up in the middle of the night finally succumbed. Jesus explained, “But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence” (Luke 11:8 New Living Translation).

Shame

I am intrigued by the many levels of shame in this story. The shamelessly persistent man wasn’t hungry himself. I imagine that he had eaten earlier in the day. He may even have been planning to get more bread in the morning. Back in the day, guests couldn’t call ahead with an expected arrival time. He wasn’t expecting a friend from far away to arrive in the middle of the night. But arrive he did … and the friend was hungry. 

Not being able to provide food for this friend surely brought shame on this host. And so he incurred another sort of shame by asking a friend for help, and quite possibly waking up half the neighbourhood in the process. He stood outside his friend’s door and called and called and called some more. He refused to take ‘no’ for an answer.

Insights from translation

The Greek word translated ‘shamelessly persistent’ in the New Living Translation is ἀναίδειαν (anaideian). (You can see this for yourself on  biblehub.com .) This is a compound word, made up of the prefix ‘an’, meaning ‘without’, and ‘aidos’, meaning ‘shame’. Although this word only appears once in the New Testament, it seems that ‘aidos’ was a common concept in the Greek-speaking world. I assume this because ‘Aidos’ was the name of the Greek god of shame, modesty, respect and humility. (I learnt that from Wikipedia.)

Other Bible translations use words such as shameless audacity (NIV), impudence (ESV), importunity (KJV), and 情 词 迫 切  (CUV).  That Chinese phrase literally means ‘loving words with urgency’. If you look at the Chinese characters, you can see pictographs for a ‘heart’ 忄, words 讠, movement 辶 and a knife 刀. The other parts of the Chinese characters give clues about the pronunciation. 情词迫切 (qing ci poqie)- heart, words, action and a knife – what a vibrant description of the way the shamelessly persistent friend put everything – heart, words, action and urgency – into his midnight plea to borrow bread.

Pray with shameless persistence

And that is the way we are to pray, Jesus explained. With shameless persistence. Putting heart, words, action and urgency into our pleas. Immediately after Jesus told this story, he then added, “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Luke 11:9-10 NLT). 

Martha and Mary prayers

Some of us are all action … women like Martha, who bustled about doing, doing, doing. Some of us pray like that too. We try and tell God what we think he should do (ha!). I think of those prayers as ‘Martha prayers’.  

Others of us are more contemplative. I am working towards that, and sometimes enjoy just sitting in God’s presence and lifting loved ones by name to him. I think of these sort of prayers as ‘Mary prayers’. 

In Luke 10:42, literally just a few verses before this teaching about shameless persistence in prayer, Jesus said that Mary (sister of Martha) had ‘chosen what is better’. What was better? Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet rather than bustling around serving everyone like Martha. I take that as affirmation of Mary’s attitude, and strive to be more like her. 

But then we get this parable about shameless persistence. It seems that there is a place for action. Jesus taught his disciples how to pray – and that included requests for daily bread. Oh yes, there was a lot more as well – worship of God, focus on his kingdom and asking forgiveness for yourself as well as forgiving others. There is a good mix of action mixed in with contemplation.

Shamelessly persistent

Just as my Asian friend of years past was relentless in using her relationship with me, an ordinary Australia woman, to do all I could to get her friend to Australia, so we are to pray relentlessly. Our prayers are not offered to a friend – an equal – however. They are offered to One infinitely greater. 

Shamelessly persistent … that’s an attitude I want to foster. Not in friendships with my peers … you can relax … but in prayer. Heart, words, action and urgency – asking, seeking and knocking – Mary-like and Martha-like both, praying just as Jesus taught us.