“Inviting God’s Influence”   2013

Psalm 13       Luke 18:1-8

 

Psalm 13

1How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? 3Consider and answer me, O Lord my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,  4and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”; my foes will rejoice because I am shaken. 5But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 6I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

 

Luke 18:1-8

Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. 2He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. 3In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ 4For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, 5yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’” 6And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? 8I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

 

   What is Christian prayer,  and why do we pray?

            Is the purpose of prayer, to persuade God to give us what we want?

 

            Is the point of prayer to storm the gates of heaven

                until God does what we want and fulfills our desires …

                                       … like the widow’s relentless demands for justice

                                                from the corrupt and selfish judge of Luke 18?

 

     In my 20’s, my mentor and business partner

            was diagnosed with an aggressive and inoperable cancer.

Buck was more than a friend.  During my high school years,

            he had been our much admired Sunday School teacher,

                        and chaperone on several of our youth group retreats.

 

His doctors battled the cancer with chemotherapy and radiation,

    and he called the television ministry PTL Club for prayer.

                           He was very encouraged when they said on the air,

                                    that they had “heard a word from the Lord”, a prophecy,

                                                that by faith and prayer his cancer would be cured…

                                                     … and that the Lord was just testing his faith.

 

He felt hopeful and confident after that about the outcome,

       but even after treatment, he didn’t seem to be getting any better.

 

I visited him at home,  and later on at the hospital almost every day.

            We prayed and talked about  trusting and waiting on the Lord,

                        and I believed with him  that surely a miracle would occur.

 

But he died just a few months later, a very difficult & painful death,

            a mere shadow of the vital and vigorous man he had once been.

 

And beyond the terrible ravages of the cancer and treatments,

            he was so very disappointed,  and I think genuinely surprised

                        that for all his faith   and the prayers of so many people,

                             à it had not been enough to turn things around.

 

That he died, and our prayers seemingly ignored and unanswered

     did not fit with what I believed about God concerning prayer,

                        and the whole experience left my faith badly shaken.

 

I was a pallbearer at his funeral, and I had this niggling guilt,

               that if I had had more faith, prayed more often and fervently

                        it might have changed the outcome, and saved my friend.

 

Taking the Luke parable into consideration, it didn’t make sense,

               for,  like the widow browbeating the disinterested judge,

                    my friend had strong faith and had been persistent in prayer.

 

Buck was tenacious and he did everything he possibly could,

    huge amounts of faith and prayer,   so why hadn’t God responded?

                        Why hadn't all that prayer and faith made any difference?,

                                    Why hadn’t God cared enough to save my dying friend?

 

   At the time, I was a bit confused, angry and disappointed with God,

            and I certainly didn't like  the way  His system had worked out.

 

I realize now, that I misunderstood the parable’s point about prayer,

                for Jesus was not saying that God responds favorably

                        if we pester him enough and are sufficiently annoying.

 

I realize now, that I really didn’t know much about God back then,

                nor had I thought through my belief and theology of prayer,

                        and I seriously misunderstood the point of Luke 18.

 

            The literary context was that Jesus and his disciples

                        were on their way to Jerusalem,

                                    where four chapters later, he would be crucified.

 

In this part of Luke’s gospel,

            Jesus was preparing his disciples for that coming crisis,

                        so, vs. 1,  Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.

           

Also, when the Luke's gospel was written,

        the church was under attack and suffering difficult persecution.

                            Christians had been waiting anxiously for Jesus

                                    for many years, and still he had not yet returned.

  We can well imagine their discouragement and feeling helpless…

          … like the poor widow  seeking justice from the corrupt judge.

 

The author was reminding them of this teaching parable from Jesus

            that was about the character, faithfulness and promises of God,

                        and it was really a warning and challenge to those readers,à

                                                    don’t let trouble and disappointment

                                                            cause you to abandon your faith…  vs. 8                   

                               And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

 

The message is that if   even a dishonest and dishonorable judge

            can be persuaded

                        to make an ethical decision and grant justice to the widow,

                            how much more likely it is that our loving father in heaven

                                will listen to our pleadings and decide for our benefit.

 

In that culture, a widow was totally and absolutely powerless…

            … it was unlawful for a woman to own or inherit property,

                        … and unlawful to testify or speak for herself in court,

                 but had to rely on a male relative to handle all her affairs.

 

            The fact that she is coming to the judge on her own

                        suggests that her complaint may well have been against

                                    that male relative who was supposed to look out for her,

                       perhaps trying to deprive her of her late husband’s estate.

 

The widow has no power or authority, resources or assets of her own,

                        there’s no one to speak on her behalf with power to coerce,

                              and no wealth to bribe the judge in order to buy justice…

     … she has no other weapon than her desperate pleas and persistence.

                      All she can do is to keep annoying him,

                             keep bothering that judge   until he finally relents.

 

            And though that judge had no shame or compassion, or honor,

                        to keep her from persisting and bothering him further 

                                    he grants her petition, just to quiet the annoyance…

                                                                                                … guys will do that sometimes.

 

I think Jesus told this parable with a slight twinkle in his eye.

            You've got the  big  bad  bold  belligerent  corrupt judge

               who gives in to the demands of this insignificant little woman.

This arrogant judge, intimidated by a persistent widow,

     and as it turns out   he wasn't nearly as tough as he had boasted.

 

*  So how should we understand and apply this parable?

            It’s  not that God is anything like that reluctant corrupt judge,

                 but rather the judge is opposite everything we know about God.

 

But if a corrupt judge with no conscience and impervious to shame

                can ultimately be brought around by the persistence

                        of a powerless pestering widow who seeks justice,

            how much more so   will the God who loves us and cares for us,

                 surely provide whatever is best and beneficial for us.

vs.7-8

            Will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them?  I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them.

 

The word translated as, 'quickly', also means 'decisively'.

               Jesus isn't saying that our prayers are answered immediately,

                        but that God acts decisively, providing whatever is best…

… assuring the readers of Luke, Jesus will be returning as promised.

                           It will be sudden,

                                    and he will decisively bring about the justice of God.

 

*  So in the meantime, what about seemingly unanswered prayer?

 

Why did my friend still die?   Why didn't God do justice and heal him?

          He was a good guy, why wasn't he cured and made well?

I've been thinking about this now, for more than thirty years,

            and the best answer I've come up with is  …… “I don't know.”

 

I do know that my friend is better off   than he was in the hospital,

            for now there is no more suffering from his cancer,

                        and having successfully finished his race, he’s with God.

 

    I've also thought about,

            had he lived, how my life probably would have been different.

                    Maybe I'd still be in that business -- it was a good business.

 

If so, I probably wouldn’t have met Kathy or have her in my life.

            I doubt I would have become a pastor or ever moved to New Mexico.

                              My life would most certainly have been very different.

 

When I think of what might have been, me in business in the DC area,

            I'll take the way my life has unfolded, including the struggles

                        over any other option or path I might have lived instead.

 

Those many years ago, I prayed for what I thought would be best,

          and I was angry and disappointed that it didn’t work out.

    And yet today, I am more than grateful that it did not …

         … because as it turns out,  God had something far better for me.

 

So when I pray these days,   my focus is less on insisting

    that God should enact and bring about what I desire,

                             but more importantly, that I can know God,

                                    and that I will grow toward the Lord  and God’s purpose…

          … and by listening and trusting Christ,

                maybe be useful in the work of God’s Kingdom,

                   à knowing that in prayer, God reshapes the one who prays.

 

When we pray it really isn't to nudge God or to remind God ,

               but it’s to enjoy and thank God,

                        to linger with our wise Lord who loves us beyond all measure,

     and it is recognition that the work and life we are called to live

            cannot be accomplished well  apart from one who calls us to do it.

 

God's purpose for prayer is not to provide a quick fix for our life,

            but it’s a beckoning us   into the Lord's Holy Presence,

                to go down deeper into the more significant layers of living.

His message to his disciples was a reminder to pray, vs. 1,

   Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.

Despite troubles and trials in the world around us, keep on praying.

            When fear grips our hearts,    we are called to enter prayer anyway,

                        in confidence that God will never let us down.

 

The call is to a life empowered by prayer, the lifeblood of faith,

            not to get all the things I want, but so I can know the Lord God.

    At the same time, God cares about our life’s concerns and requests,

            so let us speak of our desires, longings and needs with the Lord.

 

A college chaplain met with a coed who called her mom every day.

            Supposing there might be over-dependency, or over-involvement,

                        the chaplain asked, “Why do you call your mother so much?”

 

She replied, “My Mom is the only person I know who cares,

    really cares about what kind of day I’ve had or what I’m thinking.

            It’s so much fun to talk to somebody who cares.”

                     That’s why we keep praying and why we do not lose heart,

                        for it helps to talk with someone who really cares.

 

As we get more comfortable with God, we can talk about almost anything

            about our fears, and concerns with life and the world around us,

                 authentic about our needs, weaknesses, confusion and our joy…

                   … for nothing is inappropriate  when we are praying to God.

 

Prayer is open wondering and asking God about our inner longings,

      especially when our courage is stretched, or we are discouraged.

            Sometimes prayer help us refocus, see the problem differently.

 

A pastor was struggling with some opposition and church conflict,

            and a wise elder invited him to her apartment for a visit,

                        where she showed him a picture of Daniel in the lion’s den.

            She asked him, “What do you see?”, and he described the picture.

                        Then she asked, “Anything else?”

 

He knew there must be something more, but he didn’t see it,

            until she added, “What I want to you to notice and see,

                        is that Daniel’s eyes aren’t on the lions,

                             but he has kept his focus,  his eyes are on the Lord.”

 

            Prayer helps us see past the problem and keep our eyes on Jesus.

                        Prayer help us re-align ourselves with God in the quiet,

                                    and reshapes us and how we perceive the world around us…

… so that we emerge more Christ-like,

        more faithful, patient, gentle and wise  from our fervent prayer. 

 

Jesus call us to persist in prayer,   so to align ourselves

            to better hear God's voice, and help us to live out our lives

                        more in tandem with God's will, purpose and desire for us,

                                    as we are empowered to serve and glorify the Lord well.

 

When I pray for others,

            they may not change, and the situation may not change,

                        but listening to God,     my attitude almost always does…

                                    … as I see with more compassion and forbearance

                                         as my fellow travelers also loved & cherished by God.

 

Prayer more than anything else reassures us of who and whose we are,

            as Paul writes in  Romans 8:35, 38-39

Who will separate us from the love of Christ?  

            Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?    

                        I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

           

In the parable that Jesus tells and in his teaching about prayer,

            and the issue at stake is not   the faithfulness of God,

                        and it’s not about           the fulfillment of God's promises…

…   but rather the issue is about me,   the question is really about us -  -  vs. 8

                        And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith in me, in us?