Proper 24 Year C 10/19/2025
Jeremiah 31:27-34; Psalm 119:97-104; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5; Luke 18:1-8
Rev. Mark A. Lafler
Mother Teresa once remarked:
My secret is a very simple one: I pray.
To pray to Christ is to love him.[1]
In our Gospel reading today, Jesus, gives us an encouragement to persistently pray.
St. Luke writes in the opening verse:
Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.
Jesus then gives the parable we just heard about a judge and a widow.
The judge was not a good person.
He was not one who feared God…
Nor did he have an inner sense of what was right and what was shameful.
From a historic-cultural perspective he was probably most moved by bribery, which may be the reason he refused to give the widow justice.
The widow, though, was persistent.
In the Old Testament, the widow is a typical symbol of the innocent, powerless, and oppressed.[2]
And this certainly fits the impression we have in our parable.
Again, from a historic-cultural milieu, it was a rare thing that women would go to court.
Which makes the widow in the parable more troublesome.
She is all alone… because if she had a brother, an uncle, a son or some male member of the family they would speak on her behalf.
If she was a woman of wealth, she could offer the judge a bribe.
But she has neither money, nor family…
She is alone.
And yet she wants justice.
And so, she goes to the judge to seek justice against her opponent.
The judge refuses.
She comes back.
Repeatedly this takes place until the judge finally agrees to grant her justice because of her persistence.
Because he is getting worn down.
The Greek word here translated as “wear out” or “worn down” is quite interesting. (ὑπωπιάζῃ)
The meaning is definitely “wear out” or “harass” but the literal breakdown of the word means to “give a black eye”…
I don’t think the widow was going to sock the judge in the eye,
but her continual request was getting to him and getting to his reputation.
And then Jesus concludes with this:
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.
Will not God the Father grant justice to his elect…
To his people.
We serve a loving, gracious, and compassionate God.
Jesus is clearly teaching that God the Father, whom we serve, is a way better judge than the man in the parable.
And God certainly doesn’t take bribes.
In fact, a poor way to read this parable is that we can get God to do the things we want him to do through continual asking or through bribery.
There are some who pray that way…
It’s poor theology…
Those that say things like, “The reason the hurricane hit that area is because the people there didn’t pray hard enough.”
Or
“If you learn the right prayers using the right words God will answer your prayers.”
Or
“God if you grant this one thing, I will serve you more faithfully the rest of my life.”
Friends, that is not Biblical Christianity.
That would be manipulation…
As if we can twist God’s arm forcing him to do what we want…
or to talk him into giving us what we want.
Totally neglecting His sovereign power and providence in this world.
These types of prayers are not what Jesus is teaching in this parable.
What he is teaching is the need for us, the people of God, to be persistent in our prayers.
Remember the introductory verse that set up the parable:
Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.
It is about praying persistently… continually…
Similar to St. Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, where he wrote:
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
This is the piety of God’s people.
This is the practice of the church.
I would say, the Prayers of the People in our worship liturgy is an example of persistent prayer.
So are the prayers of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer…
The Noonday prayers and Compline…
All found in our Prayer Book.
If we practice them, they form a persistent pattern of prayer.
In these prayers, we don’t just pray for what our conscience tells us…
We don’t just pray according to our preferences…
We don’t just pray for what we desire.
We pray for various things that may be far from our minds.
There are certainly moments in these liturgies to pray for the people that are dear to us.
But they open prayer to so much more than that.
In fact, when I was new to the Anglican tradition…
One of the things that struck me very early was what we prayed for every Sunday.
I grew up in a non-traditional, non-liturgical style of church…
Where all the prayers we prayed were extemporaneous…
that is spontaneous prayers… and those are good.
But you tend to pray for the needs of the moment.
In our tradition, in the Prayers of the People we pray every week for our President and State Governor… regardless of who is in office.
We pray for those in the military connected to our church.
We pray for bishops and other ministers.
We pray for members of our church who are ill.
We remember the dead.
We even pray for the forgiveness of our sins.
All of these prayers…
Over and over… continually praying…
And reinforced with the daily prayers.
One commentator wrote describing the church at prayer:
Their whole existence is to be like that of the widow in relations to the unjust judge…. Praying and crying to God against injustices describes the whole life of believers: their efforts, their protests against injustice.[3]
This is one of the most powerful ways we fight injustice in our world.
We pray.
We come before God over and over…
And he promises to bring justice.
Jesus said:
Will he delay long in helping them?
I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them.
Jesus is speaking of the certainty of speedy action when the time comes.[4]
Jesus will vindicate us.
That is the promise of hope and love today.
Jesus will bring us justice.
So, in whatever ways you are praying…
For your children, your grandchildren…
For your spouse…
For your healing…
For your heart and soul…
For the ability to forgive…
For your outlook in life…
For your current situation…
For a change…
God hears your prayers…
Don’t stop praying…
Don’t give up…
There will be a day when God will grant you justice.
A few years ago, someone came to me for prayer on behalf of their friend…
who was in hospice, and they expected him to die in the coming days.
So I prayed, as I normally do asking for God’s healing.
The person came to me a few days later and asked, “Why did you pray for their healing when we know they are going to die soon?”
It’s a fair question.
My answer is because we believe by faith that God will heal them either on this side of glory or on the other side…
God is a God who heals… God will heal them, …
perhaps not in our timing…
but he makes his people whole in the resurrection of all things.
Praying continually is our lesson today…
We should practice this always.
I gave the first words of my sermon today to Mother Teresa.
I will give the final words to her as well.
Mother Teresa wrote regarding consistent prayer:
There are some people who, in order not to pray, use as an excuse the fact that life is so hectic that it prevents them from praying.
This cannot be.
Prayer does not demand that we interrupt our work, but that we continue working as if it were a prayer.
It is not necessary to always be meditating, nor to consciously experience the sensation that we are talking to God, no matter how nice this would be. What matters is being with him, living in him, in his will. To love with a pure heart, to love everybody, especially to love the poor, is a twenty-four-hour prayer. [5]
[1] Jose Luis Gonzalez-Balado, Mother Teresa In My Own Words (New York: Gramercy Books, 1996), 8.
[2] Kenneth E. Bailey, Poet & Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983), 133.
[3] Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke TNICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 638.
[4] Leon Morris, Luke TNTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 288.
[5] Gonzalex-Balado, 7.
