Serious Christians remember a sermon
if you simplify it. Hence, the title of my book, Simple Sermons for Serious Christians. Most often, I simplify
sermons by hanging three points on one letter. Today, three Ps – Parable,
Passage and Prayer.
Three points are easier to remember
if they all begin with the same letter. Case in point: An investor analyzes
businesses through people, product and process. An entrepreneur states the key
to success is passion, patience and perseverance. An anthropologist deems it
imperative that males aspiring to be men must protect, procreate and provide. A
professor teaches that we handle setbacks through personalization,
pervasiveness and permanence. While I do not expect you to remember all those
Ps, they illustrate that points are easier to remember if all the words begin
with the same letter. That said, for Christians engaged in the world: parable,
passage and prayer.
First, parable. What is a parable?
Simply defined, a parable is a short story that teaches a moral or spiritual
lesson. It comes to us from the Latin, parabola,
and the Greek, parabole, which
literally meant ‘a throwing beside.’ Its origin is from the term para, meaning alongside, and bole, a throwing, casting, beam or ray.
The geometrically gifted understand
that a parabolic curve refers to a comparison between fixed points and a
straight line. The St. Louis Arch and your satellite dish are parabolic curves.
Jesus, however, did not teach math or build arches. Rather, he compared real
life situations to teach a lesson about God.
Parables were part of Jewish
tradition. The Hebrew term for a parable was mashal. We find mashal in
the allegories, proverbs, riddles and taunts of Judges, Samuel, Proverbs, Prophets
and the intertestamental Book of Enoch. We are familiar with Nathan’s powerful story
to David of the rich man who stole and slaughtered the poor man’s prized lamb.
It transformed David to a humble, contrite sinner. So, we see that Jesus did
not invent parables, but like his ancestors, used them to win people over to
his views.
Jesus spoke parables to proclaim the
gracious advent, disturbing presence and challenging implications of the
Kingdom of God. At times, he opened with, “The kingdom of heaven is like…”[1]
or, “To
what shall I compare?”[2]
Often, he concluded with a question. “Which of these three … proved to be a
neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”[3]
Today’s parable asks, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find
faith on earth?”[4]
While Jesus’ questions did not
pressure listeners to choose any one direction, they confronted them with the
necessity to make a choice that determined their future. No doubt, his
listeners who viewed matters one way now discovered a better way. Discovering a
better way resulted in conversion, reconciliation and changed behavior. Once they
experienced conversion and reconciliation, his followers transformed society
and changed the world. As I conclude my first point on parables, I repeat that
last sentence. Once they experienced conversion and reconciliation, his
followers transformed society and changed the world.
From parable to passage, my second
point. I repeated the last sentence because repetition is effective pedagogy.
We learned our catechism by repeating answers to questions. As Luther employed
repetition, so did Luke. He emphasized continued prayer in this passage, and humble
prayer in the next. The conclusion of the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax
Collector reads, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who
humbles himself will be exalted.”[5]
We also find a parallel between this
passage and chapter 11, where Jesus said, “Which of you who has a friend will go to
him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of
mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.’”[6]
In both, the main character is the petitioned, not the petitioner. The
petitioned represents God, who listens and answers, but the attention goes to
the petitioner, who asks, seeks and knocks. In other words, do not be afraid to
bother God. Do not give up on prayer.
Jesus encouraged his disciples to pray
earnestly to the end. Luke recorded that when Jesus was in the Mount of Olives,
he was in agony but prayed more earnestly.[7]
In Acts, when Peter was in prison, the church prayed earnestly to God for him.[8]
Like the widow seeking justice, the disciples’ goal, even in the midst of
difficulties, was never give up before the Son of Man returns.
Jesus then described the judge as
unrighteous, unaccountable to God and inconsiderate towards people. The
listeners understood that this man was not a religious figure, but a secular
judge who ruled through the authority of the occupying power, a common practice
in the Ancient Middle East. In many cases, people sought justice in these
courts because the judicial process was quicker and smoother. We find an
indication of this practice in chapter 12. Jesus said, “As you go with your accuser
before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he
drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the
officer put you in prison. I tell you, you will never get out until you have
paid the very last penny.”[9]
The oppressed widow symbolized the
helpless and defenseless. She knew she had right on her side, appealed for
vindication and expected swift justice. As a favor to her oppressor, a rich and
influential man, the judge delayed her hearing.
The judge did not decide according
to the exhortations to give widows their rights according to the Law and
Prophets. There, we read, “You shall not mistreat any widow or
fatherless child.”[10]
“Everyone
loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the
fatherless, and the widow’s cause does not come to them.”[11]
“I
will be a swift witness against … those who oppress the hired worker in his
wages, the widow and fatherless, [and] those who thrust aside the sojourner,
and do not fear me, says the Lord.”[12]
Yet, the unrighteous, exasperated
judge yielded to the widow’s relentless pursuit of justice. He could do nothing
to appease her short of giving her a swift hearing based on Roman law. He did
so because he was tired of having his reputation sullied and his name ridiculed
among his peers because this poor, defenseless widow never gave up seeking
justice.
If the unjust judge does right by
the widow for whom he does not care – a case in which the chances for a
positive outcome are very slim – how much more will God respond to the
unceasing cry of his elect, since, in contrast to the judge, he listens
favorably to them.[13]
The unjust judge did not care for the widow and hardly wanted to listen to her.
Our righteous, loving God has a lively interest in his elect and is always
prepared to listen to them.
God is always prepared to listen;
however, as I mentioned earlier, Jesus often concluded parables with a
question. Here, he asked, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find
faith on earth?”[14]
Will he find disciples actively engaged in prayer?
Will he find disciples actively
engaged in prayer? That, folks, leads me to my third point, prayer.
What is prayer? Prayer is the
necessary foundation of our work as church and individuals. It is communal and
personal. We pray in our sanctuaries and rooms. To paraphrase one holy person,
prayer is God looking at me, and me looking at God. It is from the heart, but
it is also vocal. We speak the Lord’s Prayer as Jesus taught it to his
disciples.
Prayer involves reading Scripture. Daily,
my wife and I read aloud the Psalms. We are also reading the New Testament in the
Community Bible Experience. When I pray the Scriptures, I use the Five Ps of
Prayer: Passage, Place, Posture, Presence and Passage. This method calls me to
read, question and wonder.
Prayer involves thought and
imagination, gifts Jesus employed as he formed parables. Praying over Nathan’s
story to David may reduce me to a humble, contrite sinner. Pondering Jesus’
closing question in the Parable of the Good Samaritan may leave me wondering if
I show mercy to diverse neighbors. Meditating on the Parable of the Prodigal may
challenge the depth of my love for father and brother, mother and sister. So,
friends, you see why my last point is prayer. When the Son of Man returns, will
he find faith in me? Will he find me praying earnestly to the end – like Peter
in prison or Jesus in the Mount of Olives?
Jesus based this parable on trust
and confidence in God’s help and assistance. He could be so straightforward in
his assurance that God hears the cry of his people because he took seriously
the action of God in his own life and ministry. He saw it in Israel’s history
and the world around him.[15]
We do not live in that history and
world. We live in a country with a different history and a different world. Therefore,
we pray over this parable in order to relate it to our daily lives. When I pray
over the passage, many questions rise to the surface, but let me focus only on
a few.
First, who are today’s widows? Who
are God’s elect who cry out to him day and night seeking justice? Whose voices
are the exploited and oppressed?
Second, Jesus promises that God will
give justice to his elect. If I – created in the image and likeness of God, baptized
in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit, a redeemed sinner and child of God –
If I am to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, how do I extend mercy
to those who seek justice? If the unjust judge who neither feared God nor
respected man knew how to extend justice to the poor, exploited and oppressed
widow, to whom do I extend justice?
I asked myself, “Who are the
exploited?” As a REALTOR®, I know predatory lenders exploited poor families who
lost home and savings. Recalling my work at World Neighbors, an international
organization solving hunger, I saw the immensity of poverty in rural Asia,
Africa and Latin America. As a fundraiser for a homeless service provider in
Berkeley, California, I met many homeless vets and people with mental health
disorders. As a program manager for Incarceration to Independence, I
interviewed dozens of women exploited by pushers and pimps. I could list scores
of exploited and oppressed people who cry out to God seeking justice, but only
the unborn do not have a voice.
Abortion killed 700,000 unborn
babies last year. In the United States, for every 1,000 babies that were born,
we aborted 200.[16] Lutherans
for Life, Priests for Life, Operation Rescue, Guttmacher Institute, the CDC and
others publish pages of statistics and stories on their websites. Read them.
Think about the 80 babies aborted during the length of our worship service, or
the 25 during the length of this sermon. Ask yourself if these exploited and
oppressed elect of God cried out when aborted because they were inconvenient to
the parents.[17]
I concluded my first point by saying
that once people heard Jesus’ parables, they experienced conversion and
reconciliation, transformed society and changed the world. “When the Son of Man comes, will
he find faith on earth?”[18]
Will he find that Lutherans Engage the
World is a reality or simply a magazine?
Friends, these exploited and
oppressed people created in the image of God have no voice and yet cry out for
justice. As men and women who experienced conversion and reconciliation, our
prayers and actions can transform society and change the world. As we approach the
election, seriously consider not only people, but also political parties and
policies that ignore or respond to those who cry out to God. Let your vote
express justice and mercy for those who cry out to God, yet have no voice.
Beyond the ballot box, pray and
protest the inhumane slaughter of the innocents, and tax-payer funding of
agencies that abort unborn persons. Do this, and know that when the Son of Man
returns, he will find you engaged in prayer and in the practice of your faith. When
He returns, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding
keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[1]
Matthew 13;31,33.
[2]
Luke 7:31.
[3]
Luke 10:36.
[4]
Luke 18:8.
[5]
Luke 18:14.
[6]
Luke 11:5ff.
[7]
Luke 22:44.
[8]
Acts 12:5.
[9]
Luke 12:58-59.
[10]
Exodus 22:22. See also Deuteronomy 27:19.
[11]
Isaiah 1:23.
[12]
Malachi 3:5.
[13] Herman
Hendrickx, The Parables of Jesus, San Francisco: Harper & Row (1986). 223.
[14]
Luke 18:8.
[15] Hendrickx,
229.
[16] www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/data_stats/
[17]
This is the primary reason parents seek abortion.
[18]
Luke 18:8.
