Oct. 16/16, text: Luke 18:1-8, theme: “Persistent Prayer”
Is there someone in your life right now who is continually pestering you for something? It may be something that they desperately want, like for you to do more of the dishes, or to pick up your clothes. For some younger ones it may be for an increase in their allowance or maybe for their very own cell phone. For some it may be to get you to take time out from your hectic schedule and take them off on a nice vacation. Hey, it may even be for a date? It might have started out with hints – moving from the subtle to the more obvious. After a while it likely grew into outright asking and may have even included bartering. You may have been given reasons such as, if they didn’t get what they were asking for they’d be the only kid in the neighbourhood without one. I was once told that, “Dad, if you don’t take that call to Edmonton I’ll be the only kid in my school who’s never moved.” Maybe in an effort to shame you into action you were informed that other parents let their son or daughter have this, or do that, but then they’re not so old fashioned. They’re with the times. Too bad you’re not!
Depending on the frequency of the begging, the tone of voice, the whining, your resolve might have grown more resolute to where you declared that there was no way it was ever going to happen. Unless of course you’re the soft mark in the family, because then you may have finally been worn down to where you gave in, and consented just so all the nagging would stop. In that case you could find yourself sitting on the bench with the unrighteous judge in today’s Gospel.
The parable is introduced with a reminder that we should pray continually and not lose heart but that’s not the only message here. Jesus tells of a widow who kept pestering an unrighteous judge for justice against her adversary. She was the model of persistence in the face of an unrelenting judge. We might speculate that she had a genuine concern because, though a vulnerable widow, she was pleading her case all alone. She had no lawyer with her, no male relative to argue on her behalf, but whether her case had any merit or not didn’t matter to the judge. What got to him was her persistence. She was driving him crazy to the point of distraction - an experience you may have shared through an encounter with a young child, a teen, or even a spouse.
For the judge, the widow was a total nuisance. Perhaps it was only her continual presence, her calling out to him again and again that finally got to him. Though he didn’t respect others, perhaps his relenting was also in part because he was worried that all of this widow’s fussing was drawing too much negative attention to himself, making him look bad. No matter what, he broke down and gave her the justice she had begged to hear. By his own admission he didn’t do so because he was such a good guy. He didn’t do it because he cared for her as a person or believed her claim was valid. He did it for himself, for his own relief, at least for his peace and quiet.
What follows then is the Lord’s application – not His exoneration of the unrighteous judge, nor His suggestion that by our repeated nagging prayers we can so get on God’s nerves to the point where we break down His resistance and finally get our own way. No, what He emphasizes is similar to what He has said elsewhere about how much more the righteous Lord stands ready to provide us with all that we need. To pray continually is to acknowledge that it is the Lord alone who truly cares for His people. It is to trust in the One who is the source of our help in every situation.
Now that is faith. “Will He find such faith when He comes?” Jesus asks. Yes though it may not always be in the places we might assume He’d find it. It may not always be in the pew of churches big or small, in committees and boards, or faithful givers and attendees. In the Gospels it was in a centurion who believed Jesus could heal his slave from a distance. It was in a sinful woman who anointed His feet and loved much. It was in the friends of a paralytic who ripped apart a roof in order to get him to Jesus. It was in a woman with an issue of blood, who though unclean by law still reached out to touch Jesus’ garment and was healed. It was in the Samaritan leper we read about last week, who was healed and returned to Jesus to say thank you. It was in a blind beggar who recognized Jesus for who He was, and called out to Him for mercy.
The Son of Man did and still finds such faith in what may seem to be unexpected places. He will find it in the heart of a homeless person who struggles with addiction yet prays and prays. He will find it in a rebellious teen or young adult who can’t get life to make sense, or a senior struggling to find purpose, yet calls on the Lord in their despair. He will find it in a single mom who works long hours at part-time jobs in order to support her family yet prays and thanks the Lord for the love she has experienced firsthand through her children. And He will find it in the hearts of those who consider themselves just ordinary folk – people who’ve never travelled the world on a mission trip or been instrumental in the conversion of hundreds, rather just everyday people who struggle with bills and health, with frustration and hurt feelings, but people who continue to worship the only true God who can make a difference, people who continue to work hard at forgiving, loving, and praying.
I’m sure most, if not all of us here, have repeatedly prayed about some issue in our lives. In the parable today, the widow is persistent in prayer. She doesn’t give up. I wonder how persistent are we? How persistent am I? Do we pray and pray but only to a point - only until we get frustrated, tired, and then ultimately give up saying, “What’s the use?” And if we do that, why do we? Do we think the Lord doesn’t care or that He doesn’t listen? Sometimes we’re so ready to speak but not so ready to listen. Have you ever looked back and realized that the Lord did respond to your prayers and in a way better than you had asked? Have you ever stopped to listen? Have you ever asked Him to help you hear, to see His hand at work, to understand, and to accept? Too often we’ve ignored His word and His promise to give justice to His chosen, to deliver His people. Too often we’ve left the reading and study of His words to others while attempting to tackle life’s challenges all on our own. Do we stop praying because we don’t get what we want even after telling God exactly what we need, how He should get it to us, and precisely when?
Jesus assures His hearers that God does listen and not because we repeatedly nag him, rather because He is just and merciful. God truly cares for His people and their welfare. Far better than they, He knows best what they need. Sometimes it takes a while for us to understand what God has in mind and why, and sometimes it may remain a mystery of His wisdom. In recent years I’ve spent a lot of time in persistent prayer, and I assure you I haven’t always got what I told the Lord I thought I, or others needed, what I was convinced He should do about it, how and when. I’m beginning to see some wisdom in His choices – choices that were better for those closest to me - though I still dream at times about how it might have all been different. But then as we so often do, in my dreams I only imagine how things could have gone so much better if He had done it my way while seldom, if ever, considering how much worse things might have been if He’d taken my advice.
Jesus’ encouragement to pray always and to not lose heart is a reminder of God’s readiness and willingness to heed our prayers, as well as reminding us of the source of our help. Jesus practiced what He preached. His ministry was punctuated by His own frequent stopping to pray and pray repeatedly. He taught His disciples to pray and prayed over His people, who like us were so prone to wander off. He prayed in all earnestness in the Garden of Gethsemane and repeatedly, and even as He died in our place on the cross, His lips uttered words of heartfelt prayer for me and for you, “Father forgive them.” And God answered them at Jesus’ resurrection.
Persistence doesn’t tell the Lord of our need - so much as it reminds us that our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. He cares for each us so much that He sent His Son to pay the debt we never could and to offer us life now and forever no matter how many times we have failed. Knowing that He loves you today as you are - loves you more than anyone on earth ever has or could - be persistent in prayer. Do not give up on asking for His help, but be ready to accept His wisdom and guidance, confident of this, He cares for you and knows what is best. Amen.