Pittsgrove Presbyterian Church
Sermon – Luke 18:1-8 – Prayer
October 20, 2019
Two weeks ago, we talked about mustard seed faith which is planted in us by God and grows into mature faith throughout our lives. Then last week we talked about the gratitude we owe as a result of all the blessings we receive from God. Today we will see that prayer will shape our hearts so that we begin to work for justice. But before we get to this, please pray with me.
Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen. (Calvin)
Luke 18:1 Then Jesus[a] told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. 3 In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ 4 For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’”[b] 6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? 8 I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Our scripture today is about God’s call to justice. We live in a world of grinding poverty where many people live in squalid conditions on less than a dollar a day. We live in a country where many of us are unemployed, have no savings and depend on food stamps. People are crying out for justice continually day and night.
Widows in ancient times were the poorest of the poor. They had no job prospects and no family for support. God required that the government of the day support the widows by mandating that their husband’s family care for them. But when the husband’s family refused to take care of her, her only recourse was to go to a judge demanding justice. Judges had been commanded by God to order the husband’s family to do their duty. But they often refused the command and ignored God. But, God was patient and called on widows to press her case over and over again.
The ancient Hebrews were no strangers to grinding poverty. After most of the population of Judah was carried off to Babylon the ones left behind, the poor, the needy, the widows, and the orphans, all those who could not support themselves were left behind.
In the face of grinding poverty, we, who have been blessed by God, are called to keep our eyes open for any injustice and, like the widow, make our demands for justice continually day and night. If we see someone being treated unfairly, if we hear about someone being taken advantage of, if we find someone who has fallen through the cracks, then we are called to respond to injustice by demanding justice.
Jeremiah asked this question, “to deprive a man of justice would not the Lord see such things?” (Lamentation 3:36). Of course, God sees injustice in the world and like the widow in our story today we are called to demand justice continually until justice is fully realized.
Let’s see what Jesus has to say about all of this.
6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? 8 I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them.
When I was a pastor in California in my first called I started a new Sunday evening worship service and dinner. While passing out fliers in the community I noticed that the homeless population was growing in our community. People were living in their cars. On Sunday nights they would come to the church hoping for a hot meal. We gave them that, but we also invited them to worship. Our evening worship service became a worship service for the poorest people in the community. Over 60 people came to Sunday evening worship. We prayed for justice.
This scripture is about justice for the oppressed. But it is also about prayer. We see a widow praying for justice, but her prayer seems to have to effect. All of us have prayed for things to happen. Maybe a loved one is sick. Maybe you are looking for a job or a spouse or you want children. You pray over and over again and nothing happens. And you begin to think that God must be sleeping or on vacation or something. You pray and pray and pray and God’s seem to never respond.
Jesus is telling us today to keep praying every day, morning and night. Be persistent. Don’t stop. God wants us to keep praying and will respond in God’s own time. We have to be patient and continually pray, trusting that one day God will act.
The widow in our story today prayed for justice, day and night, every day and every night until one day the judge finally responded to her call for justice and acted on her behalf. Rest assured in your prayers that God loves you and hears you when you pray. God wants you to keep on praying continually and be patient, as God is patient until the world is ready for God to act.
As a pastor, I have met many people with loved ones suffering from chronic diseases. These people have been praying for years. Day and night they pray for healing. They pray for wisdom for their doctors. In their prayers, they hope that one day God will act. But now they have to be patient and keep praying.
I know something about constant prayer. I wanted to be married and have a family. I prayed for this for years. Year after year nothing happened. Then at age 47, I went to seminary. There I found Grace, the perfect pastor’s wife.
In the passage read earlier from Timothy, Paul tells us of a time to come.
2 Timothy 4:3 For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths.
That time has arrived. People are turning away from true faith turning toward anything that suits themselves. People today believe that all religions are basically the same. Jesus is just one way; there are many others. What should we do in this environment? Paul says that we must be persistent.
I solemnly urge you: 2 proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching.
That’s God’s call to us. Keep praying, morning and night. Pray over and over again. Keep praying the same thing every day if you have to. God never tires of what you have to say. And be filled with the hope that one day God will act in God’s own way.
We need to patiently and continually pray, assured the God will respond. We have to pray continually before we can see injustice in the world abolished.
So these go together: praying day and night to bring God’s justice to the world.
This then is the mission of the church. We are called to pray unceasingly. Pray every day, confident that God hears your prayers and one day will respond. As we pray our hearts will change. We will begin to see injustice in the world, and we will find ourselves motivated to end that injustice. As we work for God’s justice on earth we will find the need to pray even more. So prayer and justice go together. Let’s pray.
Father in heaven, help us to keep praying. Open our eyes, ears, and hearts to recognize injustice when we see it. Help us to respond to that injustice. And equip us in prayer. We pray in Jesus’ name who prayed continually and worked to end injustice. Amen.
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