Luke 18:1-8
I don’t have a prayer! There’s no way I’m ever going to…
- Get a date with her/him.
- Get on the varsity team.
- Get a loan for that house…or get a loan to start my small business.
- Get into the college I prefer.
- Win this lawsuit.
- Avoid this penalty.
- Get justice.
We get the picture here…because we have all been in a similar spot at one time or another.
- One of the implications in all these situations may be:
- I don’t have a prayer…so why pray?
But…another side of this is to say:
- I’m going to try everything I can to fix this issue…solve this problem…work this out…
- Then…if it still is not resolved or fixed or worked out…I will try praying. It can’t hurt…right?
For many…prayer is the measure of last resort…
- Often uttered in frustration because we have tried everything else.
- I guess I should pray … although I really don’t think I have a prayer.
- I wonder if Jesus ever heard people say:
- I don’t have a prayer.
- We don’t have a record of that…
- But we do have today’s text in Luke 18 which says something along those lines.
- The Lord be with you.
Jesus told a parable about the need to pray always and not to lose heart.
- Clearly…Jesus had heard the words…
- Or at least the sentiment expressed in expressions like: I don’t have a prayer.
- So…he told this story.
- The judge is described first.
- He neither feared God nor had respect for people.
Coming to him was a widow with very few resources.
- Her one hope was that the judge would rule in her favor.
- Grant me justice against my accuser.
- One scenario is that this lady…recently widowed…had lost her inheritance to one of her children…
- Probably the oldest son…who claimed it for himself.
- Cruel…but this often happened.
- Or…she lost it to an unscrupulous businessman.
- We don’t know the details…but in Jesus’ story it could have happened like this.
- It is also easy to assume she had no other choice in how to fight this…except to go before this judge.
So…she really had two adversaries.
- The person who wronged her and the judge who refused to listen to her.
- He had no regard for God and certainly no regard for this poor widow.
- It looked like she didn’t have a prayer.
Except for her audacity…with nothing to lose…she kept coming back.
- At first the judge ignored her…then was annoyed by her…then was really annoyed by her…
- Then lost sleep because of her…then began to worry what his peers might say.
- So…for his own benefit…he finally decided to rule in her favor.
- He took no pleasure in doing so…but at least she was off his back.
- So…in the end…the poor widow found justice from a corrupt and cruel judge.
Then Jesus said: Listen to what the unjust judge says.
- Jesus continued by contrasting the unjust judge with God.
- And 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.
- That sounds encouraging and helpful…except Jesus closed this section with a rhetorical question:
- And yet…when the Son of Man comes…will he find faith on earth?
- Said another way…Jesus meant:
- But when I come back…I’m not so sure you will even have faith in me?
This points to the real lessons in this parable.
- Jesus said the parable was about their need to pray and not to lose heart.
- Jesus wanted to make sure they understood what losing heart might look like.
- Will he find faith on earth? Will Jesus find faith in us?
Here’s the thing: God is not represented by the unjust judge.
- Quite the opposite.
- God does not grant us justice to stop us from pestering him.
- God gives to his children his love and mercy and grace.
- God is never reluctant to hear from us.
- He loves us abundantly and wants us to love him in return.
- God wants us to remain faithful…and he wants to find faith on earth in us and through all who love him.
I believe the question about finding faith on earth stems from the reality that God’s timing…
- And God’s actions do not coincide with our wants and needs.
- When life is going well and the future looks bright…faith is easy and natural.
- We think and believe…I love God and want to live for God…and I have complete faith in God.
- But…as we well know…life gets in the way.
- Sometimes things fall apart…sometimes the roof caves in…sometimes the lights go out…
- Sometimes we find ourselves trapped in the darkness of our souls…
- With no sign of hope…with no glimmer of grace…with not even a whisper of love.
- And we think of so many devastated a year ago by hurricanes Helene and Milton.
We say there is no hope and we do not have a prayer.
- How do we go on praying and having faith when things go from bad to worse?
- How do we find the will to get up each day when we have no hope?
- How can we keep the faith?
The widow in Jesus’ parable knew this feeling well.
- She could have given up and lived her life in misery.
- No one would have been surprised.
- But she kept up her push for justice.
- And in the end…to everyone’s surprise…
- This wicked judge gave her what she wanted and the justice she deserved.
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.
- Jesus includes this promise at the end of the parable.
- This is Jesus giving a long view of a life of faith in God.
- The promise does not include time frames.
- God’s quickly may not be the same as ours.
- What God does promise is that our cries offered to God are always heard…
- And that he will not delay long in giving help.
The important part for us is to pray and not lose heart.
- We did not realize it earlier…
- The hurricanes hit us…
- We had repairs to our building that needed to be done…
- The cost seemed insurmountable…
- But thanks to our commitment and prayers and God’s love…
- We always had a prayer.
- Thanks be to God.
- May Christ be with you.