The Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost
October 16, 2016
Luke 18:1-8
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’ ” And the LORD said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (NIV1984)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
As I was studying our sermon text for today I couldn’t help but automatically think of Isaac. On more than one occasion, perhaps even quite often, Isaac will “convince” us to change the channel on the television so that he can watch Disney or so that he can watch Wildkrats. On more than one occasion, perhaps even quite often, Isaac “convinces” me to watch Mickey Mouse videos on You Tube— even though I would rather be reading the news on the Internet. On more than one occasion, perhaps even quite often, Isaac “convinces” us that he “needs” this or he “needs” that and then he tops it off with a very sincere “Please?” How does he do it? Simple. He doesn’t give up! He is persistent— so persistent that on more than one occasion, perhaps even quite often, Isaac “convinces” us to do what he wants to do or give him what he “needs.” If you have any experience dealing with young children, and especially young grandchildren, then you probably know what I’m talking about.
In much the same way, my friends, if you have any experience dealing with a persistent child or a persistent grandchild, then you will not have any difficulty understanding what our Savior is saying to us here in our text for today. As we continue our sermon series this morning let’s see how this portion of Scripture reminds us of this truth: As Disciples of Jesus— We Pray Persistently! There are two things we need to do today. First of all we need to look at the example that a widow gives to us. Then we need to listen to the encouragement that our Lord gives to us.
As we read through the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry we see that our Lord very often used parables to teach His disciples some very profound truths. Many times we have to study a certain parable in order to understand the central truth which that parable is designed to teach us. Sometimes the Lord has to interpret the parable for us so that we understand it correctly. Not so with the parable that Jesus speaks to us this morning. The opening verse of our text reveals to us exactly what Jesus wants us to learn and exactly what Jesus wants us to remember in the Parable of the Persistent Widow. Luke writes, “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” A more literal translation of the Greek here would go like this, “And he spoke a parable to them for this reason: that it is necessary for them to pray always and not to become discouraged.”
Why? Why is it “necessary” for us as disciples of Jesus to “pray always”? Why is it “necessary” for us as disciples of Jesus to “not become discouraged”? If you have your Bibles open to our text for today look at the verses immediately preceding our text— verses twenty to thirty-seven. Here Jesus not only talks about how quickly and how unexpectedly Judgment Day will arrive, but He also reminds His disciples of the very same truth He pictured for us in the account of the sheep and the goats. (See Matthew 25:31ff) On Judgment Day two people can be living or working side by side. One will be “accepted” and the other will be “left behind, forsaken, dismissed.” This reminds us that not everyone will be saved. Not everyone is going to heaven. Only those who believe and trust in Jesus as their Savior will be “accepted” by Him and allowed to spend eternity in His heavenly Home. Now look at the very last verse of our text. As the end of the world draws near things will become so difficult for Jesus’ disciples that the Lord asks the question, “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
In that context, my friends, is it difficult to understand why Jesus tells us, His disciples, that “it is necessary to pray always”? In that context is it difficult to understand why Jesus tells us, His disciples, that “it is necessary to not become discouraged”? Not at all. But what does this mean? What does it mean to “pray always”? What does it mean to “not become discouraged”? Jesus uses a parable to give us an example of exactly what He means. He says, “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’”
The basic tenets of this example are very simple and very clear. Most towns had someone who served as the town “judge.” He would sit at the town gate and decide disputes between the people living in that area. A judge was supposed to be someone who rendered judgments that were guided by God’s holy revealed Word. A judge was usually someone who was highly respected by the people of that town. Not so with this judge. This judge had no fear, no respect for God or for what God said in His Word. This judge couldn’t have cared less what other people thought of him or said about him.
Then there was the widow. This widow was the subject of a legal dispute. In fact, the Greek word which is translated here as “adversary” very literally refers to an “opponent at law.” Sadly, there have always been people who are willing to take advantage of those who are vulnerable or those who can’t defend themselves. We see it all the time right down to this very day with all the scams that people are trying to pull— especially on the elderly. Just recently I heard that the people who are behind the IRS scam (they call you up and say that if you don’t pay them a certain amount of money right now they will have the sheriff come and arrest you), have already scammed over ten million dollars by scaring people into thinking they are in trouble with the IRS. Another common scam is for people to convince an elderly person that their child or their grandchild is in trouble and needs money right away.
In Jesus’ parable, it was a widow who had no one to help her, no one to defend her. So what did she do? She did what she was supposed to do! She went to the only person who could possibly bring her justice. She went to the town judge. Unfortunately this particular judge “neither feared God nor cared about men.” He refused to grant her the justice she deserved. Did this widow become discouraged and simply give up? Absolutely not! She kept going back to the town gate over and over again. She kept asking the judge to grant her justice over and over again. Finally, for his own selfish reasons, finally “because this widow keeps bothering me,” the judge says, “I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!”
The example that this powerless but persistent widow gives to us is an important example to remember. What makes it important, however, is the encouragement that our Lord gives to us on the basis of this example. Look at verses six to eight of our text, “And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.”
“Listen to what the unjust judge says.” Those words are critical to a correct understanding of Jesus’ encouragement to you and to me. So what do they mean? They mean this: If an “unjust judge,” a judge who “neither fears God nor cares about men” will ultimately grant the request of a powerless but persistent widow, how much more will our God, a God who loves us so very much that He willingly sent His own Son to suffer and die for powerless wretched sinners like us (Pointing to the cross), how much more will our God graciously hear and answer the prayers of His “chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night”! Yes, our God wants us to be persistent in our prayers to Him. Our God wants us to understand that we can come back to Him over and over and over again in prayer without ever being concerned that perhaps we are “bothering” Him.
When we are persistent in our prayers, my friends, that persistence will then reveal at least three things. First, when we are persistent in our prayers this reveals our conviction that there is only one Person, only one God who can help us— our Triune God. There is no one else to whom we can turn to for help. Allah is an idol. The god of the Mormons and the god of the Jehovah’s Witnesses are merely figments of men’s imagination. Horoscopes and mediums, fortune cookies and tarot cards are worthless. Even human resources fail us. It’s the Lord our God— or nothing. When we believe that truth in our heart then we will knock on God’s door in prayer over and over again. When we believe that truth in our heart then we will pray with persistence, then we will pray with the confidence of the apostle Paul himself when he says, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all— how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)
Second, our God wants us to pray persistently because our God wants us to use the gift of faith that He has created in our hearts! Our faith, like our muscles, grows weak from lack of use. Ask anyone who has been bedridden for any length of time and they will tell you that it doesn’t take long for our physical muscles to grow weak. So also our faith. Prayer is an act of faith. Prayer exercises our faith. Persistent prayer reveals and acknowledges our dependence on our God. Persistent prayer doesn’t change God, but it sure does help us grow stronger in our faith. And if God doesn’t give us the help that we seek the moment we ask for it, we don’t become discouraged. We don’t give up. No rather, instead of giving up we rev up our faith and pray— again and again and again!
Finally, persistent prayer helps us see our own personal value system. At almost six years old Isaac’s value system doesn’t put watching the football game or reading the news very high on his list of personal priorities. That’s why he is so persistent when it comes to watching the Disney channel or watching Mickey Mouse videos on You Tube! That is what is important to him! In much the same way, when we follow Jesus’ encouragement and pray persistently, that reveals how much importance we put on the content of our prayers. If we don’t pray persistently, if we quickly become discouraged in our prayers, then perhaps that reveals that what we were praying for really wasn’t all that important to us. An easy way to see how this applies to you on a very personal level is to take a moment to examine what you do— and do not— include in your daily prayers to your God. Take a moment to also examine what you used to include in your prayers but now no longer include in your prayers. Is your God waiting to hear from you? Does your God want you to show Him how serious you are about the things that you include in your daily prayers to Him?
I’d like to close today with an anecdote I ran across as I was studying this text. I don’t know if it is true, but even if it is purely apocryphal it does indeed give us a very good visualization of persistent prayer. It goes like this: “I was walking along one hot, sunny day. I was wearing my shorts, my sandals, and my sunglasses. Whew— it was hot! I sat down in the shade of a tree and noticed that the grass was turning brown. It had not rained for weeks. Then I saw the strangest thing! A woman was walking down the sidewalk on this hot day, but she wasn’t wearing shorts or sunglasses. Instead, she was wearing a raincoat and boots and she was holding an umbrella over her head! I thought I was seeing things! When I asked her why she was carrying an umbrella she said, ‘Don’t you know that it’s going to rain?’ I looked up at the sky and said, ‘I don’t think so.’ Then she said, ‘Aren’t you praying for rain?’ ‘Well sure,’ I said, ‘but it doesn’t look like my prayers are doing any good. I gave up on praying for rain a long time ago!’ Then she said, ‘Too many times people pray for rain but forget to carry their umbrella. They pray, but they don’t really believe God will answer their prayer and they give up too soon.’ Then she started whistling and went on her way. I prayed for rain and then I fell asleep. I woke up when the first raindrop fell on my sunglasses. I smiled and ran all the way home, thanking God for listening to the umbrella woman’s prayer.”
Pray like the “umbrella woman,” my friends! Better yet, as disciples of Jesus pray like the persistent widow!
To God be the glory!
Amen
