Sermon 10/25/15
Luke 18:1-8
Prayerful: Persistence
What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “Christian
values” or “Biblical values”? Maybe faith, hope, love, joy, peace? Some of
those fruit-of-the-spirit words Paul talks about? Of course, those things are
in there, in the scriptures. Lots of good lessons about all that good fruit we
might cultivate in our lives, just like we talked about over the last several
weeks. But there’s also several stories that seem to highlight values, personal
characteristics, that we don’t really know what to do with. Jesus commends to
us in one parable a household manager who deceives the master of the house for
his own benefit, and he’s labeled as shrewd, something, apparently, we’re meant
to admire. In our Bible Study last spring we read several stories about women
who were tricksters, finding sneaky ways to exercise some control in a society
where they had little power. And these trickster women become, in fact, part of
the family tree of Jesus himself. And today we’re looking at a parable that
lifts up what is nicely called persistence, but is more commonly known as
nagging.
Jesus tells a parable, and Luke tells us that it is meant
to show us that we’re to pray always and not to lose heart. Jesus tells us a
story about a judge who neither fears God nor respects people. There’s a widow
who keeps coming to him day after day saying, “Grant me justice against my
opponent.” A widow would be among the most vulnerable in society – a woman, no
husband, no standing in society. Typically women were not even allowed to be in
court, part of the proceedings. But here she is, demanding justice. The judge
refuses. But eventually, even though, as he himself knows, he doesn’t fear God
or respect anyone, he decides to grant the woman justice so that she will JUST
QUIT BOTHERING HIM. And Jesus says, won’t God grant justice to you who cry to
him day and night? Won’t he help you? I tell you, he will grant them justice
quickly. And yet, when the Son of Man comes – will he find faith on earth?
This isn’t the only story like this. We read another text
from Luke, not long ago, that is fairly similar. In this story, Jesus says,
“Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him,
“Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I
have nothing to set before him.” And he answers from within, “Do not bother me;
the door has already been locked … I tell you, even though he will not get up
and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him
whatever he needs.” And Jesus concludes saying, “So I say to you, Ask, and it
will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be
opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches
finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Persistence. The word means “shamelessness” or
“unembarrassed boldness.” Nagging. Asking again and again and again. There’s
two categories of people that have this quality down to a T, I think: children,
and parents. My mother often tells my brother about the saying: nags are not
born, they’re made. When she’s reminding him, again, to do something that he
has forgotten, again, to do, he might get frustrated, but she knows what brings
about results. Children have their own special techniques when it comes to
nagging. How many pets are part of households because of children nagging for a
kitty or a puppy? How many second helpings of dessert are granted because of
nagging?
Persistence. Of course, maybe it isn’t that unusual of a
value to admire. Rather than calling it nagging, though, we might talk about
endurance. Determination. Perseverance. Relentless pursuit of a goal. If at
first you don’t succeed, try, try again. The little engine that could. There’s
a runner determined to build up to a marathon, or to beat their fastest time. A
musician practicing the same measure over and over until they get it right.
Scientists testing theory after theory until they get it right, searching for a
cure for a disease that seems untouchable until a breakthrough comes. We value
that kind of perseverance through obstacles, through adversity, right?
Still, why exactly would we need to show persistence in
our prayers offered to God? Why would God answer our prayers because of
persistence? After all, perseverance against challenging obstacles implies we
have to get beyond something that has been put in our way. Are we trying to
wear God down? Change God’s mind? Do we have to convince God, persuade God, to
answer our prayers? I struggle with such a concept. And yet, why else would
persistence be so valuable?
I think persistence in prayer is more about us and the
changes persistent prayer works in us than it is about God. It impacts us,
speaks to our needs more than what God might need from us. Persistent prayer
reveals our truest heart to God, our heart’s desire to God. Imagine if a parent
said yes to every single thing a child ever requested, if a parent granted
every single request that passed the lips of a child. Yet, when we long for
something, when we ask again and again, when we are relentless in our need for
something, things are different. When a child has asked for the same thing
again and again and again – not just in five minutes, but over five months – a
parent knows the child is expressing sincere, heartfelt desire.
More than that, persistence in prayer is more about us
than about God because it shows our commitment, our faithfulness. I think we
have some pretty short attention spans sometimes. I think of our constant,
instant news cycle. Something is headline breaking news today, and the next day
we’ve forgotten it ever happened. I think of the story of Martin Shkreli, a
pharmaceutical CEO who increased the price of an important drug in the
treatment of AIDs and cancer from $13 a pill to over $700 a pill overnight. His
name and his story were everywhere for a few days, and he announced that he
would lower the price of the pill. But he hasn’t – not yet anyway. And I wonder
if part of his strategy is to just wait until we forget about it. Wait until
the spotlight is off of him. Wait until we’ve moved on to some other story. We
speak often about “15 minutes of fame.” Sometimes I wonder if that’s how much
time we spend bringing what we claim are important concerns before God. 15
minutes. Maybe less. One mention, and we’ve moved on. What does it mean if we
can’t even be bothered to hold something before God in prayer consistently?
Persistently? Our persistent prayers are acts of faithfulness, to God, and to
one another as we lift each other up in prayer, as we seek for justice through
prayer, as we hold up the marginalized, the suffering in prayer. Can we keep
the needs of our friends and family and community and world on our hearts for
more than just a few minutes? Or have we forgotten our prayers just after
they’ve passed our lips? I know God has not forgotten. But do we? Our
persistent prayers are prayers of faithful commitment.
And ultimately, I think persistence in prayers aligns our
hearts with God’s heart. It is God who is ultimately persistent, persevering,
in seeking after us. It is God who is relentless, who never ceases to seek
after us, who never stops searching for the lost sheep, who never stops hoping
for the prodigal child to return, who never ceases in calling our name. If
persistence is unembarrassed boldness, then certainly God is ever the most
persistent of all. And when we persist with our prayers that we offer to God,
we find ourselves in fact on the same page. We find God already laboring to
bring about peace and healing and justice in the world, seeking to change
hearts, and open minds, and transform souls. I think sometimes when we pray
with persistence, God isn’t suddenly hearing us. Instead, we are suddenly
hearing God. I think of the long and relentless work of the Civil Rights
movement, and all the prayers offered to God to change hearts and break down
the walls of racism and hate in our nation. I don’t believe for a moment that
God needed to be convinced to created change. Rather, we needed to realize what
God had been saying all along, when we realized our voices crying out to God
for justice were in fact in harmony with God’s cry for justice through the
ages. With persistent prayer, our hearts sync up with the very heart of God.
And still sometimes, our persistent prayers just make a
space for God to enter into our pain, our struggles. Writes Peter Woods, “The
[suffering and struggling] of life somehow directs that the longed and worked
for perfection does not always follow according to my schedule Yet despite all
my experiences of suffering, stress and unsatisfactoriness I still cry out to
my ABBA and long with God that it could all be different. Somehow the calling
helps. It helps even if nothing changes. I have discovered that it is far more
consoling to have a God who feels the pain with me and who longs for a better
world than to have a MacGyver God who fixes everything at my beck and call. A
Mr Fixit God leaves me fickle and superficial. It would seem that, for Jesus,
faith doesn’t fix things as much as it gives the capacity and courage to bear
the unbearable.”
To pray
with persistence is to make ourselves so very vulnerable. To pray with
persistence is to come before God with unembarrassed boldness. That’s not a
phrase I’d very often use to describe myself. Unembarrassedly bold. Not quite
me. But for God? To be faithful? To be vulnerable to God? To have God share in
my suffering and my struggle? To find myself working alongside God for justice?
To show God my heart? Maybe for all that, I can, with boldness, bring my
prayers to God. Again. And again. And again.
Amen.
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