October 16, 2022: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen.
Well, that’s an odd gospel, right?
Jesus is imploring his disciples to pray always and not lose heart. Sounds good. But then he tells them a story about a judge who had no respect for God, or for his neighbor. A widow came before him day after day after day, persistently asking for justice against her opponent. He eventually relented to get rid of her. Jesus tells his followers that unlike that judge, God responds quickly to those who cry out for help. Yet, even so, Jesus adds, will he find people of faith on earth when he returns.
What exactly is Jesus getting at here?
First, we need to know why Jesus is telling the story. Prior to these verses, Jesus had just told his followers all about the difficult days ahead for them after he would be rejected and not with them. There would be confusion and destruction. And he begins all of that by responding to a Pharisee’s question about when the kingdom of God would come. He said that it is already here. Then he tells his followers this parable.
Why? What is the purpose – for them, and for us?
Well, first of all, the point of the parable is not about the judge or the widow, or at least, not exactly. It is about prayer and faith and the kingdom of God. Yet to be clear, Jesus isn’t saying that if you pray hard enough for something, it will happen. If that were true, the NY Mets would still be in the playoffs, and eventually would win the World Series, ‘cause Lord knows, I prayed a LOT for that. Oh well…there’s always next year.
But seriously, I love how one commentator put it about this parable: “We don’t have persistence in prayer as if God needs constant reminders. God is not a dimwit.”[1] Love that – God is not a dimwit. Besides, that isn’t what prayer is about. It isn’t some sort of transactional thing – “Hey God, I need this or that.” “POOF!” here you go, says God. Lord knows (and, well, he does) there is much we pray for in life that does not happen – otherwise, our loved ones would live forever, disease, poverty, and oppression would be wiped out, and there would be world peace.
So, what then? If prayer doesn’t work like that, why is Jesus telling his disciples, and now us, to engage in it – a lot?
The thing is, prayer is conversation, and conversation is engaging in relationship. Prayer then is a faithful act of relationship with the divine. All of which means that prayer and belief are integral to each other. And Jesus knows his disciples will need faith to meet the days ahead, and so too will we.
But, since it is Jesus we are talking about here, there is more to the story. Getting back to why Jesus told this parable about the widow, the judge, and all the rest, remember that he had just told the Pharisees that “the kingdom of God is here.” See, that is the key.
Prayer isn’t so much about closing our eyes, kneeling, and imploring, but about connection with God – that our eyes may be opened, our focus redirected, our bodies ready to go. Because the kingdom of God is here, now. God is at work in the world, calling us to see and hear the widows in our midst, and to stand against the unjust systems of power that oppress. Prayer is a means by which we unite with God in kingdom work, and we have come to know through the centuries that the beloved community of God’s kingdom is not yet fully realized, but with every passing moment comes nearer.
Or, as a preacher in in the 1800s put it, “We cannot understand the moral Universe. The arc is a long one, and our eyes reach but a little way; we cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; but we can divine it by conscience, and we surely know that it bends toward justice. Justice will not fail, though wickedness appears strong, and has on its side the armies and thrones of power, the riches and the glory of the world. And though poor men crouch down in despair, justice will not fail and perish out from the world…, nor will what is really wrong and contrary to God’s real law of justice continually endure. The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”[2]
To be clear – praying for those in need, or for our own needs, is still important. Intercessory petitions are one of the ways we encounter the God at work in our lives. For healing comes in ways unimaginable, miracles abound, though not always as we hope. Now, before I go any further, I want to make something absolutely clear. It is very bad theology to take difficult situations and tell people that God has a plan – as though they should just buck up. That is absolute hogwash.
Oh, God does have a plan alright, but the idea that our creator would intentionally cause us harm, pain, or grief – that’s thinking in human terms. Terrible stuff happens to us and those we love. Terrible things happened to Jesus and his followers. That is why Jesus is telling this parable. The disciples were about to experience the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus. They could not know at the foot of the cross how God was at work in this moment.
God is at work in it, but not the cause of it. So, if that’s true, why do we pray?
Prayer draws us into the deeper relationship with God that will strengthen us in faith to meet the challenges we face. This is a large part of what Jesus wanted for his disciples. But if our prayers are only centered on what we want, what we and those close to us need, or even getting that perfect parking spot, we have lost sight of the larger picture, and the real power of prayer.
Later in the service we will sing a familiar hymn during communion. It begins with “See ye first the kingdom of God, and its righteousness, and all the rest will be given unto you.” While it might seem like – okay, do that and all you want is yours – we already know prayer doesn’t work like that. What that hymn is saying is – seek first the kingdom of God. The rest will come, because in doing that, we have reframed our lives. Prayer does not necessarily change things, or at least not the specific things we might pray about, but the act of prayer changes the one who prays. That is what Jesus is saying too.
And if we do that – pray without ceasing, persistently seeking the kingdom of God – we will come to know that far from being powerless to change the world, we are capable of great and wonderous things. That with faith rooted in prayer, our hearts yearning to see God at work in the here and now, we will have our world view totally turned on its head. And that, my friends, that will change us and our world in ways unimaginable.
And that is why we need this parable now. Because our 24 hour news cycle is filled with so much for which we pray, and like that widow, we implore day after day after day for things to change. Yet it seems our prayers go unanswered. More than that, whenever we hear of the latest mass shooting, politicians everywhere offer their “thoughts and prayers,” to the point where even people of faith are asking them to just stop. It can make us feel so powerless, and prayer so meaningless.
Yet if we remember that the kingdom of God is here – that prayer connects us to that reality – we will begin to see that we are not powerless, nor is prayer meaningless, but by the grace of God, we are powerful beyond our imaginations to change what is to what may be because of prayer.
How?
Through our prayer, we begin to see things in a new way – in communion with our God. As theologian Dorothee Soelle put it, we are not led “to a new vision of God but a different relationship to the world—one that has borrowed the eyes of God.”[3] We begin to link ourselves with those around us – standing in solidarity with the widows in our midst – the ones crying out for justice. Prayer then becomes more than words.
I am reminded about Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, a Jewish theologian and philosopher, who was deeply involved in the civil rights movement. Considered “one of the truly great men” of his day and a “great prophet” by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Heschel articulated to many Americans, regardless of their race or faith, the notion that they had a responsibility for each other’s liberation and for the plight of all suffering fellow humans around the world. He is pictured in the front line of linked 
arms in the Selma march with King and others. Rabbi Heschel said of that moment, “I felt my legs were praying.” [4] And to be sure, they were.
Prayer, in that moment, was the very act of being the widow – standing against the powers that oppress and calling for justice. His legs, the arms of Dr. King and Heschel, and so many more, their voices, it was all prayer, it was kingdom building in a most powerful way.
That is the power prayer has, which is why Jesus needed his disciples to understand it, and to do it with without ceasing, and it is why we need to today. For as they came to know, that darkest night of injustice on Good Friday was followed by Easter. Death does not have the last word. And love will always overcome hate. Prayer carried them through then to boldly proclaim the good news, and continues to do so for all of us today, that we may be the transformative agents of God’s unconditional love.
And so it should not be a surprise to any of us, that one of the things we do as followers of Jesus is, you guessed it, pray. We come together as a community of faith here to pray together. In our churchy language, we like to say: “Lex orandi, lex credendi – Latin for “the law of what is prayed [is] the law of what is believed”, which is sometimes expanded as Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi –”the law of what is prayed [is] what is believed [is] the law of what is lived”. But a simpler way to understand it is that prayer becomes belief becomes how we live.
And today, as part of our stewardship season in which we consider the gift this parish is to each of us, you will be given a card blessed at the altar. It is a prayer card, with a verse of scripture written on it. The scriptures vary, but the purpose does not. When you take it home, put it someplace where you will see it at the beginning of you day. Maybe where you have coffee in the morning, or on your nightstand. Let it be a reminder to you to begin this day, and every day in prayer.
Pray for your needs and those of others.
Pray also for this place, your parish home, which is in need.
Seek the kingdom of God.
And finally, spend a moment in silence to hear the other side of that prayer conversation – it may surprise you. You may find that you have entered into such a communion with God that your prayer, your faith, your life, are intertwined in ways you cannot before have imagined.
Amen.
For the audio, click below, or subscribe to our iTunes Sermon Podcast by clicking here (also available on Audible):
[1] https://preachingtip.com/archives-year-c/pentecost-year-c/proper-24-year-c/
[2] 1853, Ten Sermons of Religion by Theodore Parker, Of Justice and the Conscience, Start Page 66, Quote Page 84-85, Crosby, Nichols and Company, Boston. (Google Books full view) link
[3],3 https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-29-3/commentary-on-luke-181-8-5
The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
October 16, 2022
Pentecost 19 – Year C – Proper 24 – Track 1
1st Reading – Jeremiah 31:27-34
Psalm 119:97-104
2nd Reading – 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Gospel – Luke 18:1-8
