Those Inside Need Not Knock

31 May

In the story of the persistent friend, the friend is outside, but the children are in bed with their father. “The picture is of the warmth, closeness, and intimacy that is ours within the father’s house. If the man reluctantly answers the request of his friend on the outside, how much more eagerly will he answer the request of his children on the inside? The friend standing at the door has to knock; the children lying next to him in bed have only to whisper. The one has to persist; the other has only to tug on his nightshirt. Here is the point: we are not the friend on the outside; we are the children on the inside. Lying next to him. Snuggled warmly by his side. He is that near to us. And we are that dear to him.

John Sheasby