Persistence Pays Off

By

Reverend Litton Logan

October 21, 2007

Scriptures:

¹Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. ²He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. ³In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ ⁴For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, ⁵yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’” ⁶And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? ⁸I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Luke 18:1--8 (NRSV)

Sermon Text:

One of the most influential persons in my life was my maternal grandmother. Grandmother Lottie was a wonderful person, devote Christian, charter member of the Riverside Baptist Church, hardworking, thrifty and frugal to the point that she had a strangle hold on every penny in her purse. We used to kid her that she held on to a penny so tightly that Lincoln’s tongue was sticking out. As wonderful as she was, she had one terrible fault. She was the world’s greatest nagger. My granddad Logan said that once Lottie fixed her mind on having something, she would weary the devil and test the patience of God.

I remember once grandmother Lottie wanted to go to Brandon, MS, for her home church’s big, homecoming celebration. The homecoming was in July before we had air conditioning in our car. It was a three-and-a-half hour drive to Jackson, MS and another half an hour over dusty, gravel roads back into the hill country to the church.

I heard my grandfather say a half dozen times, “No, no, no, Lottie, we are not going to go to Brandon in July. It’s too hot and too far. That’s it, no more!” Yeah, sure.

A couple of days before the homecoming my granddad called in total exasperation and told my father that we were all going to that blankety, blankety, church thing in Brandon, MS. He said the thought of having to listen to Lottie complain about how she didn’t get to see ole so-in-so before they died for the rest of his life was a fate worst than going to the homecoming.

Granddad commented later that he knew exactly why Lottie was one of the church’s prayer warriors. God had to answer Lottie’s prayers because she nagged Him until the only place left for God to hide from her was hell.

I cannot hear this parable we’ve heard read today about the world’s second best nagger without thinking of my grandmother Lottie and her legendary nagging.

Luke recalls this parable for his community of faith because with the delay of the return of Jesus many in Luke’s church were becoming discouraged, loosing faith, or wondering if God was really listening to their prayers for deliverance and justice.

Luke’s church would have been made up of people from the lowest levels of society—outcast Jews, gentiles, soldiers, tax collectors, reformed prostitutes, and the powerless such as widows and slaves. One of the major issues in the lives of such people is fair and just treatment by the powers that be.

To understand the significance and force of our parable today, let me share with you some background on juris prudence, or the legal system, in ancient Israel. In the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses commands:

¹⁸You shall appoint judges and officials throughout your tribes, in all your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, and they shall render just decisions for the people. ¹⁹You must not distort justice; you must not show partiality; and you must not accept bribes, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those who are in the right. ²⁰Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that you may live and occupy the land that the LORD your God is giving you. Deuteronomy 16:18--16:20 (NRSV)

Jehoshaphat’s charge to the judges of his day in 2 Chronicles 19:7 included a warning. A judge is to “let the fear ( or reverent awe and respect) of the Lord be upon you [them]” (2 Chronicles 19:7) There is evidence however that many judges were not equally sensitive to the small and great alike and often took bribes and deferred to the powerful in their adjudications.

Within Judaism, there were three groups of people that were to be of special concern to the judges. They were the widows, the orphans, and the foreigners or resident aliens. A widow was of special concern because she could not inherit her husband’s estate and therefore male relatives including sons or appointed conservators frequently took advantage of the widows. Children that lost both parents before they reached the age of majority were also ripe for exploitation by family members or appointed guardians or conservators. The foreigner had little legal status within the community, which caused them to be a special concern in matters of fairness and justice. In summary, the legally, socially, and economically powerless enjoyed a standing warrant for divine protection and justice.

We don’t know a lot about the administration of justice in small villages in Palestine during Jesus time; but most likely, a single judge administered disputes over property rights. However, the comment that the Judge in our parable didn’t fear God nor was he a respecter of persons indicates that this judge was not a very devote and conscientious Jew and he was corrupt.

Most likely, the widow in our story was being taken advantage of by a male relative or an appointed conservator as it related to the use of her husband’s estate for her benefit. Therefore, these scriptures speak of a very bold woman, who steps way outside the bounds of convention and law to petition personally a judge for justice in a court where she had no legal standing.

Evidently, the widow didn’t have the money to bribe this judge so she nagged and nagged until the judge wearied from her intrusions and annoyances or he didn’t get a better offer from her abusers. He finally decided to give her justice although we don’t know if he actually did rule in her favor or not. It is interesting to note that the words translated “bothers me” were usually associated with boxers beating each other about the eyes and head. In other words, this widow’s nagging pummeled this judge about the head and shoulders and although he did not fear God nor respect any person, he gave in to her annoyance. Like y granddad’s perspective on my grandmother--the only place this judge had to hide from this woman’s nagging would have been hell.

Jesus in an unexpected turn of events tells his audience to listen to the wicked judge. If the wicked eventually give in and render justice due to nagging, how much more so will God answer their prayers for justice and vindication?

Jesus’ words would have said to Luke’s church, keep on praying and hang in there. In the end, you will be saved and vindicated in your faith. When doubt seems to be winning, go again and again and again to God in prayer. As the Apostle Paul would later say, “Pray without ceasing.” Pray because God hears and God will preserve you in your faith and deliver you. You may suffer in this life just as our Lord suffered; however, your greatest fear is not those who may kill the body but rather fear the One that controls your soul’s destiny. Yet, even in this, have no fear, if God cares for the sparrows how much more so for you.

With that in mind, now let us turn again to verse 8 and the crux of this parable for Luke’s church and for out time--And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

For Luke’s church the question is clear, when Jesus as the judge of this world returns will he find anyone (any of them) persisting in his teachings and witness? Will faith in God over the long haul win out over people’s immediate survival needs, personal gratifications, and the need for earthly vindications?

Two-thousand years have come and gone since this question was asked. And, today there are far more believers in the Way of Jesus than when these words were spoken or written. Therefore, we have an answer to Jesus’ question for today. If the world stopped today, if Christ came today, we can truly say there would be many people on this earth who claim faith in Jesus Christ but what about in the future?

What is amazing is that across the annuals of Christianity in spite of corruption in the church, poor theology, the various forces of evil that have held sway over the church at various times there are still people who have faith in the teachings and life-view of Jesus of Nazareth as the ultimate way for us to be truly human.

I believe this is the case because down where we human beings are endowed with the ability to know the truth when we hear it and see it, even relative truth, we know that the teachings and witness of Jesus the Christ proclaim the highest truths for what it means to be the best a person can be in this world and the world to come. There will never be a time when the words and teachings of Jesus will not be relevant to the human condition. The Way of the Christ is ageless and will always open hearts and minds to reveal the truest pathways of divine and human relationships.

To this point, let me share with you some words from an interview with Edward Teller, the father of the hydrogen bomb and once resident of Los Alamos that was published in the November 2001, issue of Popular Science:

Question: You became a physicist in the late 1920s. Have relationships among scientists changed over the years?

Edward Teller: …You see, in 19^th century physics, if you believed in God, you had to admit that God was unemployed. He created the universe and then left it up to the rules of science forever after. But today, using the same metaphor you could say that if God exists, there is plenty for Him to do. Modern quantum mechanic has led to the denial of absolute prediction of the future and leaves room for what we might call a freedom of choice, for God and for human beings. Our own actions might not be determinable by the molecules of our bodies and our brains. So the new science has answered many questions, but has opened other much more exciting, challenging questions.

We are creatures who live in a world whose potential is unlimited and undetermined. This indeterminacy and its uncertainty causes us a lot of anxiety. Typically, the way we deal with the deep anxieties of existence is through the power of the mind to ask questions and to find answers that give us or restore confidence in life, others, and ourselves. Moreover, all questions about any uncertainty, great or small, are inevitably and eventually questions about our faith in that which holds all reality together—The Great I Am--God. In effect, all questions are acts of faith.

However, the question in verse 8 is more than a question about universal human faith on this earth, but rather a personal question of faith.

In spite of all that has happened to you in your life that could have caused you to abandon your faith in God, do you still have faith in God’s care and concern for you? Do you believe that God is an ever-present source of comfort and guidance?

Yes, I thought so. In each of our lives, we have proven Jesus’ instructions to be persistent and to come often in prayer so that we may discern the ways of God. As Christians we must never abandon our quest to be in God’s will from moment to moment, situation to situation praying second to second. We are to be persistent in seeking divine strength to preserver in times of trouble, sickness, and doubt.

God hears every prayer and moves in our lives to orient us and to lead us toward answers, assistance, and justice. However, we must be willing to listen and to recognize divine opportunities in the ordinariness of our lives.

Let me give you a specific example of what I am talking about in general. I know most of you have heard this story but it bears repeating because it makes a powerful point about our faith in God and prayer in the practical versus the theoretical, which would have been very import for Jesus’ audience, Luke’s audience and us in times of doubt and persecution.

God granting miracles

A religious man is on top of a roof during the flooding of hurricane Katrina. A man comes by in a boat and says "get in, get in!” The religious man replies, "No I have faith in God, he will grant me a miracle."

Later the water is up to his waist, another boat comes by, and the guy tells him to get in. The man responds that he has faith in God and God will give him a miracle. With the water at about chest high, another boat comes to rescue him, but he turns down the offer again because "God will grant him a miracle."

With the water at chin high, a helicopter throws down a ladder and a crewmember yells for the man to climb the ladder. Mumbling with the water in his mouth, the man again turns down the request for help because of his faith in God. The man drowns and arrives at the gates of heaven with broken faith and says to Peter, I thought God would grant me a miracle; God has let me down.” St. Peter chuckles and responds, "Look dummy, I don't know what you're problem is, we sent you three boats and a helicopter."

Let us be persistent in prayer but don’t be blinded to God’s answers by misplaced religious sentimentality and supernatural expectations.

Persistence in seeking God’s will, persistance in seeking God’s ways, persistence in seeking God’s help pays off, doesn’t it? Each life in this sanctuary can give testimony to that divine fact—right!