Year C. Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost Luke 18: 1-8 October 21, 2001
Heavenly Father empower each of us, to learn the discipline, of consistently turning our attention to You and your eternal dimension and outlook. Amen.
Title: “Prayer is “heightened awareness” of God’s constant presence.”
Jesus teaches his disciples about the necessity of prayer in order to remain faithful by telling the parable of the Persistent Widow.
In Luke chapter seventeen, verses twenty-two to thirty-six, Jesus has taught about the Parousia, how there will be false claims that it has come, how sudden it will come upon the earth, even though expected, and even, in verses thirty-four and five, how it will not all happen on one chronological day or the same day for all.
Now he tells the parable of a widow persistently insisting on her rights before an unjust human judge in order to teach that disciples can only prepare for that Day by consistently remaining aware of its inevitability and by using it as a stimulus for fidelity.
Verses one, introduces the passage. Verses two to five, consist of the parable proper. Verses six to eight contain a double conclusion. Luke is apparently writing for a situation where there is severe persecution of Christians, with some denying their faith.
Verses one, about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. Jewish teaching limited prayer to three times a day, lest one weary God by being a pest. Luke teaches that prayer is really “heightened awareness” of God’s constant presence. One is to learn the discipline of constant, continual, as opposed to continuous, and consistent turning of one’s attention to God and his eternal dimension and outlook and attitude. The “Day of the Son of Man,” the End Time, the full, final and obvious-to-all Parousia and Divine Presence has not come yet. The disciples are experiencing persecution, which is tempting them to give up in the face of the delay. Jesus teaches that only the constant recalling of the presence of God here and now will hearten them, give them hope, keep them faithful.
Not to lose heart, unlike Jewish teaching against wearying God with continuous prayers, Jesus teaches that the real danger is that the believer becomes weary without continual prayer, in the Lucan sense. He tells a parable to illustrate his point. The fundamental prayer for the Christian is, of course, “Thy kingdom come,” and Jesus does not want his disciples to give up before that prayer is answered fully.
In verses two, a judge, judges were paid magistrates either of Herod or of the Romans. It matters not for the parable. Both types were notorious for being able to be bribed. The presumption in this case was that some richer person bribed the judge to keep a widow, a person with few rights and no influence or power, from getting what she justly deserved, probably her deceased husband’s property or, at least, some of it, his and her “kingdom,” if you will.
In verses three, a widow, note the prominence of widows in Luke-Acts: Luke 2: 37; 4:25-26; 7:12; 20:47; 21: 2-3; Acts 6:1; 9: 39, 41. Luke highlights the role of women, the poor, the marginal, even criminals in his works. This parable is peculiar to Luke, not found in the other Synoptics.
In verse four, for a while,…refused, but later, Jesus uses these words in the this-worldly sense, the passage of chronological time. The woman’s persistence, her use of the only thing she had, wore him, the judge, down. By law, the judge was supposed to give precedence to a widow’s case, but there was no one interested enough or just enough to enforce it. He was either bribed by money or intimidated by a person of influence to delay the case.
In verse five, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, literally, the Greek says, “blacken the face,” translated here as “strike me.” It means “black eye” and is used here metaphorically. It is unlikely that the judge would fear physical violence from the widow. He fears either that her nagging will wear him out or get him a bad name in the community for refusing to hear her case, or both. He will do justice by her, but not for justice’s sake. With this verse the parable proper ends and the added interpretations or lessons begin.
In verse seven, will not God grant justice to his chosen ones. “Chosen ones” means disciples of Christ, those who accepted the salvation offered to all. Jesus makes the point that he is not comparing God to the unjust judge but contrasting him. If the judge vindicated the widow who was a stranger to him, God will most certainly vindicate his own people. If even a dishonest judge can be prevailed upon to do the right thing, how much more so will God do justice by his own. Jesus turns the question around. There can never be a question of whether God will secure justice. He does allow that in terms of chronological time there may be a question of when God will act, but never whether. God shows no favoritism.
Who cry to him day and night, those who remain in conscious contact with God, who abide in the eternal perspective, know that this world’s chronology is not the only dimension of human existence.
Will he delay long in helping them? In the light of eternity, God’s “time” a thousand years are but a second and a thousand times a thousand but a day. In this perspective, as opposed to the chronological one, God cannot be slow. The idea makes no sense.
In verse eight quickly, this claim makes no sense to those who live only under the light of time. God is not like the judge who had to be pestered to do the right thing for the wrong reasons. He long ago, in eternity, decided to be just at all times. The injustice in the world slows God’s justice from entering the world. That’s why the Christian’s prayer is “Thy kingdom come.” Once that slowing down of God’s justice by injustice, sin, is halted, the world will know his presence.
Will he find faith on the earth? From the eternal perspective the question is not whether or even when God will secure justice, but whether humans will remain faithful until that time. Jesus is teaching that, absent the constant, continual consciousness of God and eternity, a follower loses the wherewithal to be faithful, succumbs to the false notion of reality that living in this time-dimension alone brings with it, and causes a person to give up. The “delay” in the Lord’s coming, and even the delay in justice being done in smaller matters, is not one of real, long-term consequence. In eternity what seems on earth to have been a long time or a long delay will pale into insignificance. For now, persistence in prayer, not persistence of the pestering variety, but of the consistent, continual kind, will translate into fidelity in action. Without constant prayer, as Jesus teaches and Luke defines it, there can be no “faith” in the sense of faithfulness. The onslaughts would be too great to overcome and last too long to endure for long. The real question, then, is not the one disciples would ask of Christ, but the one he will ask of them: Will they show a faith as persistent as that of the nagging of the widow?
Sermon
The word “vindicate,” translated variously as “avenge,” “secure the rights of,” “do justice,” etc., appears throughout this passage in verses three, five, seven and eight. It is the key word binding the parable and its application together. It means the vindication of a wronged person by the punishment of the wrongdoer. The New Testament does not consider vengeance to be wrong as such, only that it is God’s prerogative according to Romans, chapter twelve, verse nineteen. It also considers mercy, as the other side of justice; a side humans, are to show if they are to receive it at “Justice Time,” the End Time, final judgment. We learn that vengeance or vindication belongs to the Lord. It is too easy for us humans to be wrong or to overdo vengeance. In due time, in God’s good time, justice will be done. It has to be. It is part of God’s character. Sometimes we may see it done in our lifetime, to us and to others, in repayment for the wrong, they or we have done. However, that is not always the case. We may die before justice is done. However, the consequences of our actions do come home to roost. While we may wish that God act swiftly and do justice in our day, we should realize that his “delay,” in earthly terms, is a form of his mercy, justice’s other side. He delays in order to give us all a chance to repent. Apparently, earth is the necessary corridor to heaven and God wants as many of us there as he can possibly persuade. That can take time in earth years. If an enemy does not get what we consider his or her just deserts, it may well be because God sees the possibility of repentance, over time, on that person’s part. We should rejoice in this. It means the salvation of one more person. It also means God will treat us with the same mercy and patience.
Because we are really made for and better suited for eternity, any delay in time can undo us. Merely waiting a few minutes can cause a volcanic eruption of our nervous system. We have to constantly and consistently enter into prayer, into the heightened consciousness of eternity, if we are to get relief from the demands and pressure of time. In that realm and dimension and attitude, we can see for miles and for years. What appears like and feels like a delay, or pressure, stress, etc., is only that- apparent. It is not really real, no matter how “real” it “feels.” Now, in time, the eternal seems unnatural, unreal, a fantasy trip in order to cope. But we “other-worldly” types do not really care how the “worldly” explain us. We know from experience that it is true, that what Jesus tells us is always true- if we try it. If we do not, if we rely only on our sense and senses, we will never know this other dimension. It is not really another world. There is really only one world. It is simply another dimension, one that persistence, and discipline, and constant prayer, will get us into. When we are tempted to think that God is slow in acting, in answering prayer, or in doing justice we can be pretty sure that we have neglected to enter the eternal dimension. Our prayer has not left the ground, so to speak.
This amazing ability to communicate with the divine, the eternal, requires no technology. It is a gift, but one that must be used, yet not one we can become an expert at using. It is ever new. We are always novices. There are no maps to be studied or set of instructions. There are only guides, really only one, the Lord’s Spirit. But what a trip it is! He shows us, reveals to us, opens us up to realities we could never dream of, realities “seen” not with the eyes, but with the mind-spirit. Call it persistence or consistency, the constant, conscious contact with the Lord- day and night- what I like to call, “practicing the presence,” grants a power to not only cope in this life but to enjoy it as a forerunner, a foretaste of the life yet to be completely fulfilled. In that sphere, the kingdom of God, time-delays are rather easy to take unless physical pain is added to the mix. Even then, they are much more bearable than they would otherwise be. The Christians for whom Luke was writing were either experiencing that physical pain or about to, so the message that Jesus preached, and Luke reminded them of, was all the more “timely.” However, we do not have to be in physical pain to know other kinds of pain. The message is the same because the eternal is “un-circumstantial” and by no means “inconsequential.” In fact, the Lord, either directly, through his Spirit, our guardian angels, or some other angel, lets us see what is inconsequential in our present circumstances and empowers us to properly, eternally, interpret how to value present realities and how to respond.
Prayer is heightened awareness. Without constantly recalling the eternal dimension in one’s life, a disciple will grow weary of trying to remain faithful to Christ.
Prayer is not pestering God, but persisting in trusting him no matter what. Justice will be done in God’s good time and on his good terms.
Disciples should not be concerned about God’s response to injustice, but their response to him.
Motivation for Justice.
The judge eventually did the right thing. However, his motivation for doing so was not right. He did justice because he was more concerned about his own reputation and well-being, than because he was concerned about either the widow’s rights or doing the right thing because it was the right thing to do. While it is preferable that justice be done rather than not done at all, no matter what the motive, it is not really an act of virtue if done for selfish reasons. We do justice because God does justice and we are his children, children who imitate and repeat his behavior, his good example. Justice is a major characteristic of God and we want to look like and act like God, our Father. Doing the right thing because it is the right thing is characteristic of adult behavior. The issue to Christians, is not who is right, but what is right. Doing the right thing out of fear of the negative consequences we might suffer is really characteristic of childish or adolescent behavior. Motive makes the difference.
Waiting for Justice.
Because God has a million things to do, to take care of, to oversee, we know that he will eventually get around to righting all wrongs. If we are not to lose heart or lose faith in God, we need to remain in constant contact with him while we wait. We also know that God will delay doing justice if there is some hope that a person will come to his or her senses before the negative consequences of wrongdoing set in. If a person relents and repents before the inevitable results and corollary damage injustice causes start to happen, then God might mercifully see to it that those negatives do not, in fact, happen. If God acted sooner, the victim might get justice, but the perpetrator might lose the opportunity to stop doing any injustice in the future. God continues to love us even when we are unjust. He gives us time and in doing so might seem to delay justice for the victim. In the end, however, justice will be done.
Pestering vs. Persisting.
There is a difference between being a pest and being persistent, although externally they may appear to be the same. It is a matter of a difference in motivation. When we pester we want our way and on our own timetable. When we persist we want the right way, God’s way, and are willing to wait until the most possible good can be accomplished. God can use injustice and its ill effects to motivate people to change. If more people will be advantaged by the “delay,” God will most probably “delay” so that that might happen. God does not force justice on people, though people might do so. He wants people to do what is right because it is right, not because of the “might,” of the commander. Pestering God, or anyone, says, “Give me what I want.” Persisting in prayer says, “Give me what you want.”
Disciplined Awareness.
To see and interpret our experiences from God’s point of view, the truly “just,” point of view, we need to be in constant conscious contact with God. This is not easy. In fact, it is the major challenge of every moment of our lives. When we are not connected to God in our consciousness, other interpretations of reality rule, like the ones our lower brains, our feelings, the feelings of others, secular philosophies, etc., are quick to announce. These other viewpoints tend to shout, whereas God usually whispers, giving us time and room to freely choose his point of view over others. It does take concentrated effort to develop this discipline, the discipline of listening to God and looking at life from his vantage point, the eternal perspective. This is prayer or, more correctly, the pre-condition for prayer. It is keeping ourselves in good condition and our “eyes of faith” and “muscles of love” in good working condition. It is like doing spiritual workouts. We need no special clothes or special gym or times to do these workouts. We simply need to do them. Amen.
