Sermon on Luke 18:1-8

Luke 18:1-8
Immanuel Lutheran
Tower, MN
Oct. 20th, 2013

Grace and peace to you from God our Father, Christ our Savior and the Spirit that sustains us. Grace and peace to you. Amen


Our Gospel text this morning brings us quite the cast of characters. Before we look at what the text might be saying to us today, let’s just take a minute to put some context into the parable. In the verses before Jesus had just told his disciples that they will long to see the day of the Son of Man and that in this waiting, life will be difficult and there will be suffering and while awaiting vindication the only way to remain faithful is to remain in prayer consistently and persistently on the promise of the coming order. (Justo L. Gonzalez, Luke – Belief A Theological Commentary on the Bible, (Westminster John Knox Press, 2010) pg. 210)

Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. If we stopped right there and had a conversation about what any of us might think the parable will be about without reading ahead, I am not sure that I would actually cast a widow, an unjust judge and God to teach this lesson. It seems to me like there would be much better stories to tell to bring home the point that the disciples and us for that matter, need to pray always and not lose heart as we too wait for the coming of the Lord. You see the kingdom of God in here and now while at the same time not yet and so we like the disciples are living in a time in which we long for the Lord to be revealed. We forget that our Triune God is here among us, moving, leading, guiding and shaking things up. We get lost in a traditional interpretation of this parable.

A childish version of this parable of the persistent widow plays out in my head like this... and maybe this conversation will be familiar with you as well…

Mom, I really want the new Furby. Please can I have it.
No Hannah I am not paying $60 for a robot Furby that never shuts off and makes all kinds of noise.
MOM, Please please please. You never let me get anything that I want.
Hannah I am not paying $60 for another toy that you don’t need.
Why do you always say no? You always say no to me. Please mom please. How about this small Furby it is only $15.
No Hannah – not this time.
Please Please Please – I love you mom…
OK Fine, but don’t think this is going to work for you everytime you want something. I am in a hurry we need to get going, so just pick out a $15 furby and let’s get going.

Have your children every finally just wore you down until your finally gave in and said yes? I usually don’t give in this easily, but I certainly have. My sneaky answer is usually well, your birthday, or Christmas, is coming soon so put it on your list and we will see. This usually holds my 8 year old off pretty well.

So when I picture this persistent widow going to the unjust judge who really could care less of people and God, I can see how the judge may have gotten worn down and finally not because he wanted justice to be served but only for selfish reasons he finally gives the widow what she wants.

Most people compare the unjust judge to God by saying things like, well if even the unbelieving, unjust judge will give in and do justice, imagine what our God would do and provide those that remain persistent in asking and praying to God. Imagine what more God would do.

This interpretation just doesn’t work for me. There is something about comparing God to and unjust judge that makes me shutter a little. In a blog I was reading this week in preparing for today, I ran across a comment that someone had left on the blog post that said, “What if God was the persistent widow and we were the unjust judge”

For me that small 13 word question set a light bulb off in my head and I found myself saying, “Yes, that’s it, that’s exactly the world we live in today.”

So this is the way I want to think about this parable with you today. What happens when we turn the parable inside out and see it in a new way, with a lens that mirrors where we are at in today’s world. Two things from this text remain the same though:
First: this is a parable about our need to pray always and not lose heart and Second the last sentence remains important here as well: And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

We are living in a time when the world feels so broken the world is broken and sometimes literally broken. We wonder about our government and the decisions they are making on behalf of you and I but more important on behalf of the people in our country our world that have no voice – the ones that continue to silently suffer and we all stand by with our eyes closed to it all. Worried only about what it means for ourselves, what it means to have our beliefs and values turned upside down by people we don’t agree with.

You might be thinking, well I respect God, I care about people I do my part to help those that need help. I know you do and quite frankly I am not talking about you or anyone in particular here, I just think if we step back for a moment and look from the outside into the world we live, we would fall on our knees and start praying and probably never stop.

Maybe it isnt us, the people of the world that plays the unjust judge here, maybe it is actually the world in which we live. The messages on the TV, billboards, radio, magazines, internet, Facebook and Twitter all tell us that this life is ours and we should do what feels good for us.

We are bombared with I messages and messages that tell us we are not enough, that we aren’t skinny enough or pretty enough that if only we bought this product or that one, we could have a life of luxury, we would be prettier or skinner we would even have more friends.

There are pieces of our world that are exactly the unjust judge not caring about who we are, not caring about whose we are and doing everything in its power to tear us away from our God. From our identity as Children of God, from whom we belong.

Bet the hope in all of this is that we have a persistent God who never leaves us or forsakes us. We have a persistent God who reminds us over and over that in our baptisms we were claimed and named a beloved Child of God and when we were marked by the cross of Christ and sealed with the Holy Spirit that was forever and ever!

So in a world that constantly tries to strip us of our identity. In a world that promotes selfishness, self-centeredness. In a world that wants to separate us and divide us that wants to drive a wedge between this group that believes this and the other group that believes that, we begin to act in very unjust ways.

When it is my way or the highway, when we have blinders on and aren’t wiling to take them off just for a moment to hear the other side. When we think that God is only on our side of the fence because we are right. Our beliefs are right and yours are wrong, we need the persistent widow, we need desperately our persistent God to remind us that he sent his only Son so that whoever believes may not perish but have eternal life.

We need our persistent God to remind us that we all belong to him, that we have all been created in God’s image – God doesn’t make mistakes.

We need our persistent God to remind us that we have all been given the Holy Spirit in our baptism and therefore we become the body of Christ. And at the Table we come together each one of us regardless of what side of the fence we are on, and we break bread together as one body in Christ called to pray always and to never lose heart.

What will the Son of Man see when he comes to earth? Will he find faith here? Or will people continue to be divided, families, churches, government. We have a lot work to do brothers and sisters and I believe that we are all up to this challenge. We have it in us to come together, to end divisions to see together hope for a future that is united in Christ and not what I think or you think, but in Christ alone.

Each time we come together to have those difficult conversations, to discuss the future, when we find ourselves frustrated with the process or when things just don’t seem to be going right we must pause and remember whose we are and remember that Christ is our persistent widow and he won’t give up on us until we get it. God has faith in us and we have all been called to work together united for Christ. So pray always and don’t lose heart and believe in the promises that God has given each of and know that when you pray God hears you. May you pray not that your will be done, but only God’s will.

Amen