Sermon with a Twist

PERSISTANCE AND PERSPECTIVE

Sermon at First Church Ipswich, October 17th

Luke 18

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

 ¹Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ²He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. ³And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.'

 ⁴"For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, ⁵yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' "

 ⁶And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? ⁸I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"



 I love evangelical preachers. No, not all of them, not late night TV ones, or ones that exclude chunks of humanity when they preach. But I love a good, over the top, fire and brimstone preacher. A few years ago we took the Youth Group on a mission trip to NYC. On Sunday we attended a church service at Riverside Church, a Federated church, a combination of Methodist and Congregational churches. The minster was a great black preacher. He started out his sermon, in almost a tent revival fashion. He said, “Today, I am in deep trouble. When I say what I have to say to you, people will be angry at me, they will be stirred up. Some may not forgive me. But I have to say what’s in my heart.”
Did the congregation listen? Oh my yes, to every word. I tell you this because I am a bit like that minister today. I am going to take a bible passage and put a new twist on it, and some may say that I am way out of bounds doing it. I may be in trouble after I am done, my preaching rights could be revoked, Reverend Rebecca may be inundated with angry phone calls and emails, but I hope you will all forgive me and take this sermon in the light of grace that I mean it in.
Listening? Ok today’s passage is a lousy story. Lousy as a story is what I mean. I mean a good storyteller holds the climax, the payoff till the end. I mean I never skip to the end of a mystery novel or movie, I want the whole experience. Yes, even when the 7^th Harry Potter book came out, I read it through to find out what happened.Yet here we have Luke giving away the whole story in the introduction.
Luke starts by saying that Jesus told a parable to his disciples so that they would know they should pray and never give up. Then he relates the parable to us, about the Judge, who neither feared God nor cared for men, and the widow that drives him crazy. Lame! Really, shouldn’t we hear the parable, and then have the lesson at the end? I mean we do get the message at the end, how if the widow can get justice through persistence from a hard edged judge, then how much easier is it for us to get what we want from a God who loves and adores us. And that really is the message, that persistent prayer is important.
And today all over the world at Congregational churches, ministers are standing in the pulpit  talking about that message. That if we are like the widow, and sincerely and continually petition God,  we will be heard. Now, as you know, God answers all prayers, but sometimes the answer is no. But it is the dialog with God, the praying to God, that matters. So often when faced with troubles greater than ourselves we feel like we have no power. But if we view prayer as an action, as something we can do that will have a result, then we may not feel powerless. We may feel like we can and do take action.
So the Parable of the Widow and the judge teaches us persistence, faith and prayer and gives us a promise of God’s justice. And ministers all over are today relating that theme and it is a great one.
Are you listening? Because right now I am taking a left turn and leaving other ministers and other congregations and want to travel with you someplace totally different. And I need to stress that most preachers are today going with the theme of persistant prayer , and I am pretty sure almost no one is going to go where I am going. Now, if you know me, that should not surprise you, I view many things in life differently.
Now, to be clear,  I love the idea of ceaseless praying,  persistent praying. A great  minister once said “Unless you have stood knocking at the door for days and days till your knuckles bleed, you don’t know what persistent prayer is.” I love that. But, I want to look at the story with fresh eyes. The judge represents God, right? But he is a judge who doesn’t listen to God nor care about men. I know Jesus uses that to show us that a loving God will more readily listen, but it bothers me a little to think of the Judge representing God. If you and I are truthful, a judge who ignores God and his fellow man sounds more like….Us. You and I. I freely confess there are times I ignore God, and have been far from Christian to people around me. So is it a stretch to think of the Judge as not God, but us. Us who often ignore God and treat each other badly, isn’t that easier to accept? So stay with me as I develop this theme


What if we take a new slant on this story. What if it is not just about praying ceaselessly? What if we rearrange the characters and God is the Widow, and you are the judge? What if God is pursing, pursuing, pursuing us to be right and just. What if all God wants is for us to give in.  Can’t we also, you and I look at this passage about prayer, and see God asking us to pray? Could he not be annoying us with those thoughts we all get, I should pray more, I should pray, I should go to church, I should do more, I should give more. Could not we see The Widow as God demanding more from us? When we see bad things happening in the world around us, when are hearts break as we see people bullied to death because they are different, is it possible that the sickening in our hearts is the call to do something? I am radically suggesting we can look at the parable in a different way, and use it as a lesson that encompasses the theme of the Congregational church, that God is Still speaking, speaking to each of us like the widow did, following us around demanding justice, justice for those who need it.  And I can then link in the wonderful message of praying as one of many active responses to the demands of the widow.
About 400 years ago there was a poet and clergyman name John Donne, who gave us gorgeous love poetry, and gave us religious poetry as well. Here is the first stanza of a poem by John Donne, which makes me think of the image of our God persistently asking us to be better than we are.. BATTER my heart, three person'd God; for, you
As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow mee, and bend
Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new…

What would happen if we give in? Give in to that widow that constantly seems to be yammering at us demanding of us, pleading night and day with us. What wonders might we see in our lives if we could simply allow ourselves to surrender as the Judge does in the parable? What if our persistent praying is not just a shopping list of what we need, but fervently asking God to speak to us, to tell us what God desires us to do, to give an audience to the Divine that speaks to us all? That voice that pursues us every day.

Are you listening?