19th Sunday after Pentecost: Jeremiah 31:27-34; Psalm 119:97-104; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5; Luke 18:1-8
The parable in today’s gospel is designed, Jesus says, to show us the importance of praying always. It’s a short story: there is a judge who did not fear either God or the people. A widow kept coming to him, asking for justice. The judge grants the widow’s petition not because it is right, but because he is tired of being pestered. Jesus closes by saying, if the unjust judge can do the right thing, how much more will a just God hear the prayers of his people.
But that is not the end of the story. Jesus ends with a seemingly unrelated question: “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Whose faith? What faith? Is it the faith of the widow, who believes that if she persists, if she does not lose heart, her plea for justice will be answered? Is the faith that the Son of Man is looking for that of those who pray always, who do not give up? It seems like it.
I am always ambivalent about advice to pray for things. I don’t buy the idea of a God who is sitting there deciding whose prayers get answered and whose do not. Why does one person get their prayer answered and not another? You can hardly say that all those who pray faithfully always have their prayers answered.
So I don’t usually pray for specific things. Confronted with joy and with sorrow, with blessings and confusion, I find myself offering them to God. I have prayed with those doing something hard that they do not feel alone. I have prayed when those I loved were very ill. I have prayed for those who are dying, and for those who love them. Unlike the widow, I do not pray always, but I pray.
So do we, as a congregation. Our small congregation has kept going, kept on praying. Most of our services for the last 10 years have been morning or evening prayer. We pray. We don’t know what will come next. But for now, like the widow, we are persistent. We are present every Sunday, and we pray. We don’t just pray for ourselves: we pray for our friends in Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, and for those around us in Merced, and we pray for the world.
In the Gospel, Jesus suggests that praying always helps us to not lose heart. This is the faith that the Son of Man will want to see. In the Epistle, Paul is writing to Timothy, encouraging him in his ministry. He tells him to “be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable”. Keep on going, no matter what is happening.
We are human, so we do lose heart. Paul was worried that Timothy would lose heart. We lose heart as individuals and as communities. But we also persist. At our best, we keep praying, but at least we keep showing up. Sometimes showing up is the best we can do. The liturgy helps, because when we do lose heart, it gives us words to pray with and to find our way.
People sometimes think that faith is an easy way out. But faith is not easy. It was not easy for the widow in the Gospel. It certainly was not easy for Paul, and evidently not for Timothy. Todays readings offer little comfort, but do offer a way to live in faith: pray always, be persistent, and do not lose heart.