“Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him’” (Lk 11:5-6). For Jesus’ listeners, asking a neighbor for help, even late at night, wasn’t the surprising part of the parable. It is a glimpse into the everyday collective-group-depends-on-one-another way of life in Jesus’ collective world. What do you do when you need bread? Of course, you ask neighbors whether they have some. What is surprising about Jesus’ parable is the friend’s response. It shocks (as
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