Don't Be Fooled

Sermon-21 Pentecost Proper 24-Oct. 17, 2010
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”
Luke 18:1-8
Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, 'Grant me justice against my opponent.' For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, 'Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'" And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. 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. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
Every week on Monday morning I tell Erin to remember to put my Sunday sermon on the blog, and every week she asks me the same question-“what should I call it?” This week I think I will say, “Don’t be fooled”. When you hear this gospel you’ve already heard what the parable is about, “Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.” So what do you think the parable is going to be about? “To pray always and not to lose heart” Right? Ah, but what’s the title of my sermon? That’s right, “don’t be fooled.” It seems so simple, “pray always and don’t lose heart.” That’s a good message and important, and one we need to repeat and remember. I just don’t think it’s the point of the parable. Sorry, it would be a lot simpler if it was. One preacher I was reading said that all a preacher has to do on this Sunday is tell several stories about how people kept on praying and eventually what they prayed for happened. My gosh, we’ve got the obvious example of 33 miners in Chile, right, All praying to be rescued.
I think the key to this parable happens several verses earlier, a section of Luke we never hear read on Sundays. It’s the 17th chapter, the 20th verse: 20 “Once Jesus* was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming” . I think this story for today is an answer to that question. Notice how this parable ends, “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
Alyce MacKenzie, my new favorite preacher, wrote this: “it’s not just a personal message which nudges us to pray for a cure for a family member, a new job, or financial stability. It’s about a particular type of praying: for justice for those whose needs are not being met in our society, praying that they will receive what they need and what is rightly theirs.”
Did you notice that the word justice is repeated 4 times in this short parable? The woman was seeking justice, the judge didn’t care, all he wanted was for her to go away. “And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?” This parable is about prayer AND it’s about justice. AND it’s about doing what is right. Don’t be fooled, it’s not just that we should pray, it’s about fighting for justice and bringing the kingdom of God into the world now, AND it’s about praying. Fred Craddock once wrote: “All we know in the life of prayer is asking, seeking, knocking, and waiting, trust sometimes fainting, sometimes growing angry. Persons of such prayer life can only wonder at those who speak of prayer with the smiling facility of someone drawing answers from a hat. In a large gathering of persons concerned about certain unfair and oppressive conditions in our society, an elderly black minister read this parable and gave a one-sentence interpretation: "Until you have stood for years knocking at a locked door, your knuckles bleeding, you do not really know what prayer is." ..This parable is about prayer-and it’s about showing our faith through good works and fighting for the oppressed and doing the right thing and holding up the lowly. Do you know that the word for “widow” in Hebrew means. “The one without a voice”? This woman had no voice, no status, but she could keep fighting for justice. Do you really think Jesus only wanted us to pray more, and that’s why he told this story? “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" This parable was included here by Luke the gospel writer, 50-60 years after Jesus had died and risen, and the church was discouraged and oppressed. Those Christians, afraid, persecuted, hounded, were wondering, when will the world end, and when Jesus will come again and make things right? “ Listen again to the question from a few verses earlier :Once Jesus* was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming”. And the Christians Church, a few generations after Jesus was wondering the same thing.
And Jesus tells this story that not only should they keep on praying, but that they had to keep working and fighting for justice, for widows and orphans, for people who had no voice, and those who had no power. That’s why Jesus told this parable. This again from Alyce Mackenzie: “One thing about the Bible- it presents a full picture of God. Not just a God of reward and mercy. Not just a God of justice and accountability. Always a God of mercy and justice, [always a God of] grace and challenge. You can’t have one without the other, when it comes to God. And, in preaching, the good news is not the good news if it isn’t true to the whole character of God. So Jesus, after assuring us that it is God’s intention to grant vindication [or justice] for all, puts the burden to make some behavioral change back on us.“Yet, (despite the fact that we know God’s will is for justice on earth) when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? (18:8) When are we to prepare for the kingdom of God? We are to prepare now for then. How? By praying for justice, pestering for justice, persistently demanding justice from people and institutions with other priorities.”
We’re supposed to pray constantly, especially for those who have nothing but prayer-the powerless, the weak, the hurting, the defeated, those without a voice. AND we are supposed to help bring about the kingdom of God, by pestering working fighting and nagging for justice. One last clue. This gospel translates the judge’s phrase, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming. The real translation of “wear me out” is to “give someone a black eye”. The judge doesn’t want to be shamed by this voiceless person, he doesn’t want to be hounded all his life by someone who will not stop.. Our calling in this parable is not just that we are supposed to do that, but it’s also to pester and nag and work and fight for justice. , of course we are to pray always and not lose heart -AND we are to bring about the Kingdom of heaven on earth.
Don’t be fooled, we are to knock on the door of God with our prayers until our knuckles are bleeding-and we are called to work for the kingdom of God here on earth until all those without a voice are heard. Amen.