Family of God Lutheran Church
October 16, 2016
Let us Pray.
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you my Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.
As Jesus taught His disciples and crowds of people, He always spoke to them in parables. Parables helped teach all people in a effective way so they could understand.
So this parable of the widow and unjust judge is another teaching moment for Jesus and His disciples. We have this widow who is persistent in her praying and letting the judge know what has gone wrong. We hear this story of the widow and in our minds we probably think of an older lady but in my opinion I would think this could be a lady in her late 20’s and 30’s. Remember back then it was common for girls at age 15 to be married and start having children. But still this widow was getting taken advantage of by someone and she wanted this unjust judge to do something about it. This unjust judge didn't care one ounce for God and for other people around him. He was only looking out for himself. Simply put she wanted justice. So she finally got her way. She was persistent.
Here is a question I have for you.
If God is all knowing, sovereign and all caring, then why bother him with our prayer requests?
Let me tell you why. It is an honor and privilege for us to pray. We must pray and never grow weary of praying. No matter what. We must be faithful to the end.
I remember when I was younger there was this terrorist bombing in Beirut during the Reagan presidency. Anyone remember this? I remember this because I have relatives and friends in the military. Hundreds of Americans were killed and injured as they slept in the barracks. A few days after this tragedy, Marine Corps Commandant Paul Kelly visited some of the wounded soldiers in Frankfurt, Germany. Among the wounded was Corporal Jefferey Lee Nashton. He survived the bombing but was hooked up to tubes and wires everywhere on his body. He looked more like a machine than a man. As the commandant got closer to the corporal, the corporal asked for a piece of paper and pen even though he was in immense pain. The Corporal wrote a couple words on the note and asked to pass the note to the commandant. The commandant read the note and it said “Semper Fi.” The latin motto for the United States Marine Corps meaning “always faithful.” After all that the corporal went through he still wrote those two words. Two simple words that speak for the thousands of men and women who are faithful to their country. Simply Amazing.
Is there a connection for us with our faith life, our prayer life and us being persistent in what we ask God? Yes there is. Our faith life isn’t just us sitting here on a pew Sunday morning and coming to church, singing hymns and taking communion. It is part of it. Our faith and prayer life is an everyday thing. We need to pray everyday for ourselves and we need to pray for others and be faithful in doing so. It’s hard to pray and it’s hard to be faithful. When setbacks and trials disappoint you, where will we place our hope?
To be honest with all of y’all. Some of y’all know this but I lost my little brother 8 years ago. He was in a one car accident and died instantly. Leaving behind his young wife and two children. My sister in law was too young to be a widow. This was a big time set back for me and I fell behind in my prayer and faith life. I was hurting. Luckily for me I had family and friends that surrounded me with prayer and love. I am such a firm believer in signs. Signs that our past loved ones give us to let us know they are okay. At my brothers funeral at the end someone wanted to give some family members some doves to release them so that it can be a sign of peace with what happened. When doves are born, and not trained, they have this instinctual part of them that when released they fly back to their original home. So, there are a few white doves that were released. This was in Jan of 2008. Around Sept 14 on my little brothers birthday that year, I realized it was his bday but we as a family decided we were going out for dinner. We come home from dinner around 8pm and it was dark and I see something perched by our front door, right on the edge of the roof. I was wondering what can that be, what is it? We go inside the house and I tell Rhea, I’m going to go check out what that was outside. I go outside and look and it is still there. It was a white dove. It looked right straight at me. Stayed there for a few minutes and flew away. For me that was a sign from God telling me that I am going to be okay and my little brother is with him in heaven.
Like myself and others who are sitting here or the widow in the parable we have to be like a great defensive linemen rushing the passer or a famous goal scorer sweeping down on the goal, we have to keep on keeping on and keep being persistent with our prayers and faith. It’s not always going to look pretty at times but when it does work it’s a beautiful thing. Being faithful and prayerful is a beautiful thing. The day we were sealed with the holy spirit at baptism that we are a child of God loved beyond measure or when we break bread together in communion. That is how we become persistent in our prayer and faith life.
I want to end with two things. I’ve told this to our 9th grade confirmands in confirmation a couple weeks ago because we talked about prayer. This is my challenge to everyone here. It takes 21 times for something to become a habit. Whether good or bad. When I coach my soccer girls we have to do something well 21 times and do it right so it just becomes a good habit. My challenge for you is to pray everyday for 21 days. Maybe you pray everyday already. Awesome. Take it up a notch and start a prayer list and pray for others. Be persistent. Take time in your busy day just to stop and pray. It will change your life.
My final thought is this, Jesus ends his parable with a simple question for us all.
Will you and I have faith, faith that perseveres to the end of time when Jesus returns in glory to judge the living and the dead?
Our answer out loud is, “YES!!!”
Amen.
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