Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and from
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
[The
Widow and the Judge]
“When
the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8b)
In our gospel lesson, Jesus tells His disciples a parable about
two people who couldn’t be any more different from each other. Jesus tells
about a persistent widow and an unrighteous judge.
Jesus said: “In a certain city there was a judge who
neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who
kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a
while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God
nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her
justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming”
(Luke 18:2-5).
As I said, these two couldn’t have been any more different from
each other. The judge feared nothing. He doesn’t fear God. He doesn’t even fear
his fellow man. This judge operates outside the normal social patterns of his
day. He does not observe the Torah and he does not observe the
social customs of his people. He issues judgements purely from his personal opinion.
Now, the widow, on the other hand, fears God. But, she is also
unusual. Normally, a widow would go into obscurity. But not her! She instead
constantly pesters this judge and to the point that he gives in to her demands.
Keep in mind that this judge literally holds all the cards. And,
this widow is literally helpless. She has no husband and in Jewish society, she
would be likely forgotten. She has no companion to advocate for her. Yet, her
persistence wins the day.
Through this widow’s persistence, she has won over this
unrighteous judge.
[The
Twist]
Then Jesus gives us an unexpected twist. He says, “Hear
what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect,
who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?” (Luke
18:6-7)
In a shocking move, Jesus is comparing the unrighteous judge to
God the Father. What? Really? Is Jesus saying that the Father is unrighteous?
No, by no means!
You see, the judge finally gives vindication because he is
harassed. God the Father, however, will eventually give vindication because He
has promised salvation to the elect, who cry out to Him day and night.
So, who is the principal character of this parable? Is it the
judge or the widow? It’s actually neither of them. This parable is all about
the fundamental characteristic of God the Father: His compassion and mercy for
sinners.
The underlying reality is the Good News that God is merciful and
long-suffering and He will deliver His elect in Christ.
[Pray:
Do Not Lose Heart]
But, we should also remember what Luke was inspired by the Holy
Spirit to write to introduce this parable: “And [Jesus] told [His disciples] a parable
to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart” (Luke
18:1).
The other point of this parable is to not lose heart if we
believe that Christ’s return is taking too long. Instead, we are to continue
steadfastly in prayer. You see, persistence in prayer is to be the Church’s
posture until Christ returns in glory.
Now, what does persistence in prayer mean? Does it mean that we
have to pray continuously, that is, uninterrupted and without ceasing? No. But,
we are to pray continually, that is, regularly and with perseverance from the
moment of Jesus’ bodily ascension into heaven to His second coming.
As we pray, we are not to become discouraged or give up if our
petitions are not answered immediately. We are to be as persistent as the widow
was to the unrighteous judge, because when we pray to God the Father, He is far
greater than the unrighteous judge. For God the Father is always true to
Himself and to His Word. He always will answer our prayers speedily.
[Will
Christ find Faith on Earth?]
But, what about how Jesus ends His parable? He says: “Nevertheless,
when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8b)
What is Jesus asking us? Well, He is asking: “Will there be a
faithful community awaiting at the coming of the Son of Man?”
His question alerts us to the urgency of listening carefully to
His catechesis so that we would be found in the praying, believing community,
with people like the persistent widow.
So, how are we to be ready? This is answered by the Apostle Paul
in his second epistle to Timothy.
Paul writes to Timothy: “As for you, continue in what you have
learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from
childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writing, which are able to
make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy
3:14-15).
Here, Paul is encouraging Timothy and all followers of Christ
that the purpose of Scripture is to point us to Christ, to admonish and repent,
to encourage godliness, to strengthen our faith and to assure us of our salvation.
For if we would turn to another teaching that is not
found in Scripture, our faith would be threatened, likewise, our
assurance of salvation would be threatened.
Now, what other teaching could there be? Well, Paul reminds us
that “all
Scripture is breathed out by God” (1 Timothy 3:16), but he also warns
us that the “time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching” (2
Timothy 4:3).
The time will come when people will not endure sound teaching.
Indeed that time has come. Timothy dealt with it. We are dealing with it today.
False doctrine is what threatens the faith the most. False doctrine
threatens our salvation.
You see, as fallen human beings, we look for teachers to suit our
own passions.
I have often heard of people who church hop in order to find a
church they like the most. Now, there is good and bad to church hopping. The
good is that I hope the one hopping is searching for a church that preaches and
teaches correct doctrine. The bad is that, often, the person church hopping is
really searching for a church that scratches their own itching ears.
Often church hoppers will search for teachers to “suit their
own passions.” They may search for a church that agrees with their opinions,
such as politically or socially. They may like the idea of the social gospel or
the prosperity gospel, which neither preach Christ crucified and risen, but instead
preach about feeling good about themselves apart from Christ. They may search
for a church that follows the world, rather than following Christ.
By looking around enough and going from teacher to teacher, they
will find a great number of teachers who say what they want to hear. Their ears
“itch” to hear what flatters their egos.
You see, our ears “itch” to hear anything but God’s revealed
truth. Every cult and every denomination, every new and misinterpretation of
Scripture, will find receptive ears in a world that has grown weary of the true
gospel, and of sound doctrine.
Martin Luther wrote of this itching ear phenomenon saying:
“The world wants
to be deceived. If you want to catch many robins and other birds, place an owl
on the trap or lime rod, and you will meet with success. So when the devil
wants to catch Christians, he must set up a monk’s cowl or, as Christ calls it
in Matthew 6:16, a sour, hypocritical face. Then we marvel far more at these
owls than at the true suffering, blood, wounds, death, and resurrection that we
see and hear in Christ, our Lord, who suffered for our sin.
“For we always
have something new. Christ’s death and resurrection, faith and love, are now
old and common, wherefore they mean nothing anymore; but we must have new
things to tickle our ears, as St. Paul says in 2 Timothy 4:3. And since our
ears itch so much that we can no longer endure the ancient, real truth, it
serves us right, that we load upon ourselves, great heaps of new doctrines.”[1]
Our sinful nature likes to hear new things that catch our
attention. This is likely why social media is so popular. It’s always new. But
what we really need to hear is what Christ alone has accomplished for us.
[We
Persevere in Christ]
So, the point of Jesus asking: “When the Son of Man comes, will
He find faith on earth?” is this – all Christians are to steadfastly
persevere in the Faith.
We persevere knowing that God has promised to be with us. We
persevere knowing that God always listens to our prayers. We persevere knowing
that we have been redeemed by Jesus Christ. Jesus has purchased us through His
sacrificial death upon the cross as He atoned for our sins. He defeated the
powers of sin, death and Satan for us! We are sure of His victory, because He
physically rose from the grave on that Easter morning.
God is faithful, even when we are lacking in faith. God promises
to remember us even when the world will not endure His sound teaching. And, God
keeps His promises!
As we endure worldly persecutions of doubt and terror, God is
here to aid us through His Means of Grace.
Through hearing and inwardly digesting His Word, we are
strengthened knowing that by grace we have been saved through faith in Jesus
Christ alone. Through hearing and inwardly digesting His Word, we are made
competent and equipped for every good work.
Through the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, we are
strengthened knowing that God will never leave us, nor forsake us since we are
baptized into Christ. Now, we may wander off into myths, but God will never
turn His back on us. So, when we repent and follow Jesus, God the Father sees
us as He sees His Son – righteous.
Also, when we receive Christ’s very Body and His very Blood at
this altar, we are forgiven and our weak faith is strengthened. You see, it is
God – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – who gives us the power to endure. God
gives us the power to persevere.
So, let us be persistent as we rise to arms in our prayer life,
because God is listening. And, let us be persistent as our Lord keeps us
steadfast in what we have learned through His Word, so that when the Son of Man
comes He will find faith at His coming! Amen.
The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
T SOLI DEO GLORIA T
No comments:
Post a Comment