St. Luke 18:1-8
October 16, 2016
Proper 24C
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus~
Jesus told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. Some of Jesus’ parables
Are you losing heart? To lose heart feels a lot like despair and hopelessness. But the Greek word for losing heart also has a more specific meaning. To lose heart can also mean “to give in to evil.” It means to buckle beneath the weight of evil—to give up the fight—to throw in the towel—to conclude, “There is nothing I can do.” And now more than ever, Christians are being tempted to do just that—to give in to evil—to surrender, to retreat, to simply lose heart. There are plenty of reasons today for Christians to be losing heart. Allow me to share a few with you:
One is abortion, the murder of the unborn. Tens of millions of tiny, helpless human beings have been denied their first breath. And these evil acts aren’t just happening in some far-removed, distant location. Abortion happens three miles south of where you are sitting right now—on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. And do you remember when those undercover videos from Planned Parenthood were released a year ago, in which they discussed selling the body parts of aborted babies while laughing and sipping chardonnay? Did anything come of that expose? Well, the people who made the videos—the people who exposed the evil—they got harassed and were dragged into court for months of expensive litigation. But your tax dollars are still flowing to Planned Parenthood. Abortion “is settled law—the law of the land,” we hear. It’s enough to make a person lose heart.
And then there’s God’s good gift of marriage and sexuality. It used to be so simple and straight forward. In the beginning God created them male and female—males who became husbands and fathers—females who became wives and mothers. Such terms are now being outlawed—along with masculine and feminine pronouns, like “him” and “her.” God gave marriage as the fundamental building block of human life and society. Only our society has now made marriage meaningless. We’ve made sex meaningless. The LGTB movement desires nothing less than the destruction of the family. And right now there’s little standing in their way. It’s enough to make a person lose heart.
And then there are the scores of people who are abandoning the Christian faith, as we speak. Multitudes of believers across North America are simply turning their backs on the great good news of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and are walking away from His church. They care nothing for sound teaching or truth because their itching ears are only tuned-in to their own passions and desires. Sadly we see it right here at Our Savior—families and individuals drifting away—not to join other churches—just leaving the faith behind. Our young people head off to college and only a few will stay connected to this or any other church. It’s enough to make a person lose heart. It’s heart-breaking. It’s enough to ask along with Jesus, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find [the] faith on earth?”
This is why we need the pesky, persistent widow in today’s parable. She didn’t lose heart. She didn’t grow weary. She didn’t give up the fight against evil. It would have been so easy for her to do that—to simply resign herself to the facts that she was poor—that she had no standing or influence in the community—that it was almost laughable to think that she (of all people) could do battle against a corrupt and evil judge, and somehow, in the end, come out on top. All she could do was show up day after day in his courtroom, badgering him and battering him with her continual cries for justice. That’s all she could do. And she did it relentlessly. And right here is where the parable takes an unexpected turn. The crooked judge ends up giving the pesky widow what she wants—not on the merits of her case—but just to get her out of the courtroom and out of his hair. And if that’s how it is in the crooked courtrooms of this world—if arrogant and evil judges can occasionally do the right thing—will not God give justice to His elect—to His children—to you who cry out day and night? Yes. Yes He will.
But before you can walk in the ways of that widow, you must leave behind the ways of the unjust judge. For we live more like the judge than the widow in this parable. He carried out his work with no fear of God. “I neither fear God nor respect man,” he confessed. That should be our confession too. We don’t fear God. We do fear what others may think of us. We do fear what our friends may think of us—especially if we were to speak out in defense of the unborn. We do fear what might happen to us if we were to relentlessly promote marriage as the lifelong union of one man and one woman, and to lovingly reprove and correct those who have been deceived. We do fear alienating our college-age/twenty-something children by telling them to lead a sexually pure and decent life and by persistently urging them to receive God’s gifts in the Divine Service. Those are the kinds of things we fear—much more than we fear God.
And what that means is that, in God’s courtroom, we don’t have a legal leg to stand on. We are just as corrupt and crooked as the unjust judge. Under God’s law we are guilty. Our adversary, the devil, has an open-and-shut case against us. We neither fear God nor respect our neighbors. We are sinful and unclean. It’s enough to make a person lose heart.
But take heart. For you stand before a Judge who is gracious and merciful. You stand in faith before a Judge like none other. Jesus is the one who will judge the living and the dead—including you. Jesus is the judge in whose name all our prayers are prayed. Jesus is the judge who will always rule in your favor. Jesus is the judge who bears such love and concern for you that He stood in your stead and took your guilt and punishment upon Himself. Your sin—including your sins of despair and hopelessness—your failure to pray, praise, and give thanks—those sins can no longer condemn you. For Judge Jesus has made peace with the Father. Judge Jesus became the convicted criminal—Judge Jesus went to death row—so that sinners might be justified, declared righteous, and hear this sentence handed down: “Not guilty.”
This is why you are afforded the chance always to pray—to pray like that pesky, persistent widow. You pray not so much because you have a case to make, but because the case against you has been dismissed. You pray not based on your merits, but on the merits and in the name of Jesus—who is also praying with you and for you. You can boldly claim the right to be heard because you have been baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Beloved in the Lord, don’t lose heart. Even when God appears absent, silent, or uncaring. Remember how your Savior did not lose heart, even during those agonizing hours when He hung from the cross. Even then He prayed: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Even then He continued to pray with persistence to His Father: “Into your hands I commit my spirit.” When your prayers seemingly go unanswered, remember that your God is no crooked judge; He is your gracious and loving Father in heaven. And remember that you are so much more than a nuisance to Him; you are His child. Go ahead and bother Him with your prayers. Be shameless about it. Be pesky and persistent.
Jesus concluded this parable with a reference to the Last Day—to the day when He returns to judge the living and the dead. When the Son of Man comes, will he find the faith on earth? What does the Last Day have to do with your prayers this day? Well, on the last day it will all become clear. It will become clear just how tenderly Jesus has carried us along through all those dark times in life—those times when we were losing heart—those times when every syllable of prayer was a struggle—those times when our lives seemed so widowed and worthless. On the Last Day it will become clear how God’s apparent slowness is really only part of His wanting our eternal good—how by it He is building your faith and teaching you to rely completely on His grace, His mercy, and His love.
When the Son of Man comes, will He find the faith on earth? Yes. Yes He will. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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