The Rev. Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year C (Proper 24) - October 17, 2010
Jeremiah 31:27-34
Psalm 119:97-104
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Luke 18:1-8
We live in a world of instant gratification… from the human desire to have an immediate pat on the back for a job well done, to the microwaves ovens sitting on our kitchen counter…
In our world we spend a whole lot of time rushing around to find the source of that instant “feel good” – an unhealthy sense of urgency has taken over our culture…
It is displayed in our culture by the fast paced trading on the stock market – causing our stocks to rise and fall in a matter of seconds. It is even seen in commercials on TV… We are told that we need everything from instant weight-loss to those work from home businesses that will make us instant money…
The images in our society of this “instant” need will absolutely make your head swim… Instant breakfast, instant coffee, and ATMs that dish out “instant” money.
I sometimes feel that the internet is a direct result of this need for instant gratification… As great as it is, it is a source of instant knowledge – to know what the weather is, what the current news issues are, and it even gives us the real time sports scores… In seminary it was even common for us to look up facts on the internet concerning what the instructor was talking about, and then cut and paste them into our notes…
This need for instant gratification and spontaneous reward has even worked its way into our prayer life… When we pray to God, we want instant results… It is somehow that we want the Almighty, Omnipotent, creator of heaven and earth to be reduced to our vending machine. Push a button… have a prayer answered… And we think that if God doesn’t give us instant answers, then we believe that we are somehow not good enough, or deserving of God’s infinite graces.
We fall into the rut of thinking our faith is quantitative and not large enough or our prayers are not sincere enough… We think that maybe God isn’t listening… it’s then that we often either give up, or feel defeated and quit praying all together.
Jesus tells us a parable this morning about a widow, and a judge… The widow has a need for justice in a time and place when widows did not rate anything in society. Widows were on the bottom rung of the ladder and had no rights. They were exploited and oppressed.
Unlike today, widows were not even allowed to inherit their husbands estate, and if they didn’t have any sons to take care of them, they were often forced to return to their father’s family. Interestingly enough… The Hebrew word for widow means “one who is silent” or the “one unable to speak”
So this widow, who was not even allowed to speak in society on her own behalf, is pleading with the judge for justice… We aren’t told what the issue was, but we are sure that she knew the judge… he didn’t respect anyone or anything, not even God, do you think he had the time or even the desire to spend a second discerning the appropriate justice for this widow?
The widow is persistent in her pleading and doesn’t give up… It almost seems like she gets a bit feisty in her pleadings because there is some language in the scripture that indicates the Judge may have thought she would become physical. So, the judge takes action and grants her justice, almost as if to brush her off or somehow get rid of her.
Jesus takes this image and puts God’s love for the faithful in contrast… If this Judge, who doesn’t respect anyone, not even God grants justice to the persistent widow then how much MORE will God do for us, who cry out to God? How much MORE will God bless those who are persistent and faithful with their prayers?
Over the past few weeks, we have really gotten our tool box for discipleship full of useful equipment that we will need in our ministry to others as we seek to proclaim the kingdom of Jesus Christ to the whole world.
We have learned to be moving forward, and mission focused. Jesus has made sure that we know how to receive others with radical hospitality, and how to serve them without prejudice. We have loaded up our tool box with prayer, love, and faith. We even learned a couple of weeks ago, that if we had faith the size of a mustard seed, the tiniest of seeds, then we could do tremendous things like move mountains.
Today, Jesus adds to his metaphor of the mustard seed of faith, and teaches us about persistence. Yes, we must have faith, but our faith requires persistence. Persistence to keep close to God, even when it seems to us that God is far off. Persistence to keep praying even though it seems to us that God is not listening.
The scripture indicates that we should to show our faith in God through the persistent actions in our life. This parable often gives folks the false impression that we can somehow conform God to our needs for instant gratification. That we can somehow “wear down” God and get God to do what we want God to do by our persistent prayers.
But – that’s not the point at all. Our persistent prayers to God are NOT a means of controlling God. We cannot reduce God to some genie in the sky that grants us wishes. God will not be controlled like that! Our prayers to God are the mechanism that guides our hearts and minds to help us grow - to be formed and be informed by God’s love for us and God’s will for our lives.
Our prayers to God are the way we grow and are formed in our faith. It is how our minds focus on and how our soul connects with the One who created us. It is the way we know WHO we are and WHOSE we are. Prayer is our response to our God, with or without words.
In faith, we keep praying, and in faith, God keeps listening. We show our faith by the fact that we are even praying at all... trusting that God hears us and that God will respond to us.
When we pray, there are rarely any easy instant answers or any instant gratification. There is no microwave or website or lever to pull that will automatically give us the connection that we are longing for. There is no instant salvation. But, God is always faithful and God always acts in God’s own time. So, we keep on praying with persistence knowing that God loves us, hoping and trusting that God will deliver us, and that God will provide us with what we need.
Christ Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year C (Proper 24) - October 17, 2010
Jeremiah 31:27-34
Psalm 119:97-104
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Luke 18:1-8
We live in a world of instant gratification… from the human desire to have an immediate pat on the back for a job well done, to the microwaves ovens sitting on our kitchen counter…
In our world we spend a whole lot of time rushing around to find the source of that instant “feel good” – an unhealthy sense of urgency has taken over our culture…
It is displayed in our culture by the fast paced trading on the stock market – causing our stocks to rise and fall in a matter of seconds. It is even seen in commercials on TV… We are told that we need everything from instant weight-loss to those work from home businesses that will make us instant money…
The images in our society of this “instant” need will absolutely make your head swim… Instant breakfast, instant coffee, and ATMs that dish out “instant” money.
I sometimes feel that the internet is a direct result of this need for instant gratification… As great as it is, it is a source of instant knowledge – to know what the weather is, what the current news issues are, and it even gives us the real time sports scores… In seminary it was even common for us to look up facts on the internet concerning what the instructor was talking about, and then cut and paste them into our notes…
This need for instant gratification and spontaneous reward has even worked its way into our prayer life… When we pray to God, we want instant results… It is somehow that we want the Almighty, Omnipotent, creator of heaven and earth to be reduced to our vending machine. Push a button… have a prayer answered… And we think that if God doesn’t give us instant answers, then we believe that we are somehow not good enough, or deserving of God’s infinite graces.
We fall into the rut of thinking our faith is quantitative and not large enough or our prayers are not sincere enough… We think that maybe God isn’t listening… it’s then that we often either give up, or feel defeated and quit praying all together.
Jesus tells us a parable this morning about a widow, and a judge… The widow has a need for justice in a time and place when widows did not rate anything in society. Widows were on the bottom rung of the ladder and had no rights. They were exploited and oppressed.
Unlike today, widows were not even allowed to inherit their husbands estate, and if they didn’t have any sons to take care of them, they were often forced to return to their father’s family. Interestingly enough… The Hebrew word for widow means “one who is silent” or the “one unable to speak”
So this widow, who was not even allowed to speak in society on her own behalf, is pleading with the judge for justice… We aren’t told what the issue was, but we are sure that she knew the judge… he didn’t respect anyone or anything, not even God, do you think he had the time or even the desire to spend a second discerning the appropriate justice for this widow?
The widow is persistent in her pleading and doesn’t give up… It almost seems like she gets a bit feisty in her pleadings because there is some language in the scripture that indicates the Judge may have thought she would become physical. So, the judge takes action and grants her justice, almost as if to brush her off or somehow get rid of her.
Jesus takes this image and puts God’s love for the faithful in contrast… If this Judge, who doesn’t respect anyone, not even God grants justice to the persistent widow then how much MORE will God do for us, who cry out to God? How much MORE will God bless those who are persistent and faithful with their prayers?
Over the past few weeks, we have really gotten our tool box for discipleship full of useful equipment that we will need in our ministry to others as we seek to proclaim the kingdom of Jesus Christ to the whole world.
We have learned to be moving forward, and mission focused. Jesus has made sure that we know how to receive others with radical hospitality, and how to serve them without prejudice. We have loaded up our tool box with prayer, love, and faith. We even learned a couple of weeks ago, that if we had faith the size of a mustard seed, the tiniest of seeds, then we could do tremendous things like move mountains.
Today, Jesus adds to his metaphor of the mustard seed of faith, and teaches us about persistence. Yes, we must have faith, but our faith requires persistence. Persistence to keep close to God, even when it seems to us that God is far off. Persistence to keep praying even though it seems to us that God is not listening.
The scripture indicates that we should to show our faith in God through the persistent actions in our life. This parable often gives folks the false impression that we can somehow conform God to our needs for instant gratification. That we can somehow “wear down” God and get God to do what we want God to do by our persistent prayers.
But – that’s not the point at all. Our persistent prayers to God are NOT a means of controlling God. We cannot reduce God to some genie in the sky that grants us wishes. God will not be controlled like that! Our prayers to God are the mechanism that guides our hearts and minds to help us grow - to be formed and be informed by God’s love for us and God’s will for our lives.
Our prayers to God are the way we grow and are formed in our faith. It is how our minds focus on and how our soul connects with the One who created us. It is the way we know WHO we are and WHOSE we are. Prayer is our response to our God, with or without words.
In faith, we keep praying, and in faith, God keeps listening. We show our faith by the fact that we are even praying at all... trusting that God hears us and that God will respond to us.
When we pray, there are rarely any easy instant answers or any instant gratification. There is no microwave or website or lever to pull that will automatically give us the connection that we are longing for. There is no instant salvation. But, God is always faithful and God always acts in God’s own time. So, we keep on praying with persistence knowing that God loves us, hoping and trusting that God will deliver us, and that God will provide us with what we need.
It's not going to be instant... But it will happen! If we are paying close attention, we just may even recognize it.
No comments:
Post a Comment