Fr Mike's Message - 10/16/22

The Gospel: ​Luke 18:1-8
​Jesus told his disciples 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?"

Prayer: Lord, you have promised that when two or three gather in your name you will be present with them. We depend on that promise today and pray that you will move among us. Lord, we pray that you have inspired Mike's preparation, that you will enliven his presentation and that you will empower our application. Amen

The Message: ​So, I am returning to the Gospel of Luke for the basis of my message for this week. 

I am grateful for the input of the Working Preacher commentators for their challenges to my preconceived ideas about his particular passage. I hope I can share the thoughts that they provoked with some clarity. I hope that it will help us all consider our response and leave this morning with a deeper understanding of what Jesus is saying. Perhaps what Jesus is calling out in us in the world in which we live?

The first thing that the commentators suggested was that this passage from Luke is provocative because it seems to be one which we would say is "easy" to understand. That Jesus gives an example of being persistent in prayer with the expectation that persistence will bring about desired results. 

I deeply appreciated the candor of the commentators as they discussed the fact that often this has not been their experience. That there have been times in their lives when there has been a concerted effort on their part to seek to reach God and God has seemed distant or unmoved by their prayers. That they felt that they had been persistent but that God had not responded, or at least they had not been aware of God's response the way they wanted. 

This led them to a discussion of the last verse of this passage and its implications for us a 21st Century followers of the Lord.
"And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

The dynamic of the conversation changed at this point as they began to look at the passage in relationship to what came before it and what came after it. They began to look at the parable in its context to other scripture. 

I have spoken about this approach before, encouraging us to consider the context of the passage, what leads to what is said and what follows what is said in the general context of the passages we read. In real estate they talk about location, location, location. As Christians we talk about context, context, context.

They pointed out that it was important to understand that Jesus is responding in this parable to the long description of the end times he has laid out at the end of chapter 17. I am not going to read it here this morning but can I encourage you to read it sometime this week. 
The passage looks at why it will be so difficult to discern the time of the end times and the return of Christ. 

It is summarized in Luke 17:20-21 NRSV
"Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.”"
That last section is worth repeating: "the kingdom of God is among you.”"

Much of what Jesus describes, in response in that long dissertation at the end of chapter 17, is so normal. People are going about their everyday lives just as the people in Moses time at the time of the flood or the time of Lot when Sodom was destroyed. 

The parable we read this morning follows that explanation at the end of chapter 17. It is almost as if this is another example of the normal things that will be going on at the "end times." 

Then, in the rest of Luke 18, Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and tax collector, Jesus blesses the children, Jesus tells the story of the Rich young ruler, Jesus foretells his death and resurrection and then finally Luke records his healing of a blind beggar near Jericho. 

This parable raises the question: "And yet, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?" In all the normal things that will, be going on, with all the people who will be responding in their normal ways, how will faithful people distinguish themselves?

If we are willing it could raise the question for us. How we will distinguish ourselves in the normal progress of the life around us. When Jesus returns will he find us, to use a phrase that we don't us very often, "about our father's business" in the world in which we find ourselves?

The persistence that the widow exhibits comes despite the lack of response on behalf of the person who holds authority in the situation. Perhaps the important thing is not that he eventually relents and gives her what she is asking for. Perhaps it is that she persists in living her life looking for justice in an unjust situation. 

As I listened to the commentators and read through the scriptures looking for the understanding that they were promoting I was reminded of the succinct summary, of what God hopes and longs for, that we find in Micah.
​
Micah 6:8 NRSV
"He has told you, O mortal, what is good,
 and what does the Lord require of you
 but to do justice and to love kindness
 and to walk humbly with your God?"

When I looked at the parable of the widow and then the following stories and parables I began to see how often justice, kindness and humility stands out in each of them.

How will the Lord find his people distinguishing themselves by these marks of his activity in their life and behavior? How will the people of God stand out among the normal activities of the world which surrounds them?

How will we distinguish ourselves in the way that Micah describes faithfulness?

Micah 6:8 NRSV
"He has told you, O mortal, what is good,
 and what does the Lord require of you
 but to do justice and to love kindness
 and to walk humbly with your God?"

As we go into the world this week how will we distinguish ourselves from the normal activities going on around us?

How will we: "do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God?"