Proper 24 C
Appearing Before the Judge
St. Luke 18:1-8
16 October 2016 – Redeemer
In today’s parable Jesus teaches us about prayer by bringing us into a courtroom. People go to court because they want some wrong set right. So a certain widow went before the judge seeking vindication. Maybe one of her relatives mistreated her. Maybe her son who was supposed to take her into his house had not fulfilled his legal obligation. Maybe she sold a quilt on consignment and the store never gave her the commission. She had done what she could to set things right, but to no avail. She was helpless and that is why she went to the judge.
Is that not why we also pray? Because we are helpless. Your wife has dementia and you are helpless. You daughter is diagnosed with cancer and you are helpless. Your grandson became addicted to drugs and is in jail and you are helpless. You worked for years, thought you did a good job, and then were fired — helpless. Your needs, your helplessness drive you to pray. You go before the Lord, the Judge of all, and you petition His court to set things right. Help me endure. Heal the cancer. Free my grandson from addiction. Give me work.
When do you think the widow wanted justice? When you go to court how soon do you want it settled? When you pray when do you want an answer? Yesterday would be best. Now would be great. But don’t delay.
The widow had to wait. She had a couple of things against her – first she was a widow and widows in Biblical times had very little legal standing. The other obstacle to judgment was the judge himself. He neither feared God nor respected man. A judge who does not fear God has no conscience – such a judge would declare abortion legal, imprison the police and free the criminals. He might make the victim of a hit and run pay for the damage to the car. You never knew. He didn’t care what anyone thought so he delayed judgment hoping that widow would just leave him alone.
Now when you pray, you also have a few things against you. Actually you, on your own, have a whole lot against you. Consider what you are doing when you enter into God’s presence with your prayers and ask Him to set things right in your life. What if at the same time you walked into His courtroom seeking justice, your wife or children entered into that courtroom and they sought justice against you? Would any of us, on our own, dare to stand before God and say, “Give me justice!” Couldn’t God rightly respond, “What about those who seek justice against you? What about your boss from whom you’ve stolen by being lazy? What about your children whom you dealt with in anger? What about your fellow church members whom you’ve neglected when you’ve chosen your Saturday night pleasures over your Sunday morning pew? What about – just fill in the blank with the person you have most sinned against?
So then how do we dare to pray? Why would Jesus use this very parable to encourage His disciples and us, “always to pray and not lose heart.”
Well, remember in the parables there is always a surprise and that surprise is usually where the Gospel is revealed. That widow woman did not go away quietly. She was that annoying person who always spoke up, who talked too much, who raised her hand in class so much that everyone rolled his eyes. Well, that’s how she was before the judge. She sat in his court every day, caught up to him on the way to his chariot, hung out at his favorite bar. She bothered him day and night. And then we learn something about the judge – he really does care about his reputation. “People are going to see this poor widow pestering me and they will question what sort of a judge I am.” So finally he relents. Surprise! He judges for her – “I will give this widow justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.”
Now here, once again, we need to let Jesus interpret the parable. He does not say and Scripture does not teach and we do not believe that if you pester God enough He will finally answer your prayers. That sort of teaching makes God out to be a weakling who basically gives in to your bullying. That kind of false teaching advocates that you should be prayer warriors and storm God’s castle with your requests. It almost makes God our enemy who needs to be conquered and won over.
No, the point of comparison for Jesus is this – that judge in the parable, finally answers the woman because his reputation is at stake. The judge fears that this woman will “beat him down” with her coming and that phrase means his reputation would suffer, she would give his name a figurative “black eye.” This is the connection to our daring to petition God for help. We pray to God because of His reputation, His good name. We are counting on Him not only to hear us, but to answer us, and to vindicate us because of His own good name and reputation.
We confessed God’s name this morning – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and what does His name reveal of His reputation? What does the name Father tell us? Does it not tell us that He is filled with fatherly and divine goodness and mercy for us? That without any merit or worthiness in us He gives us all we need to support this body and life? What does the name Jesus tell us? Does it not reveal that the Son took our place in the womb of Mary and in the tomb outside Jerusalem? Did He not, in love for us, vindicate us and deliver us from our own sin, from death, and hell with the just payment of His own body and blood? What does the name Holy Spirit tell us? Does it not tell us that we have been declared righteous? That the waters of baptism have given us new life in God’s family? That the words of absolution have cleansed our consciences? That at the Lord’s Table we eat the body and drink the blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins, life and salvation? Does not this name reveal that we know this judge favors us because we know that He is our Father through the work of His Son by the gifts of His Spirit?
How do you dare to pray? Well, it’s quite simple. You know the judge’s name. He’s your Father through the Son in the Spirit. God is your Father and you pray because He already has vindicated you – He took on your enemies through His Son and worked justice. They lost and He won for you. He worked justice by His own hand, by His own flesh and blood, by His Son’s death on the cross. When you were baptized, when you are forgiven, when you receive communion He declares you “not guilty,” forgiven, my child. God Himself, has already ruled in your extreme favor. He did not do this because of you. He did this because of His name, His gracious gift-giving reputation.
When we pray we don’t always get the judgment from God that we want. Sometimes judgment is delayed, as in the case of the parable. That is why Jesus encourages us “always to pray and never lose heart.” Judgment will come because Jesus has already come and worked righteousness. You may have to wait, until the last day, but then you will have by sight and sense, what you have now by faith – “not guilty, forgiven, my child.” So pray always and do not lose heart. You know the judge by name. He will hear and He will judge for you because He has already judged for you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
15 October 2016 anno Domini