Luke 18:1-8 (Pentecost 19C)                               
St. John, Galveston 10/19/25
Rev. Alan Taylor
 
+ In Nomine Jesu +
 
Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
 
    Today’s message is based on the parable of The Persistent Widow. “There was a widow in that city who kept coming to (a judge) 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 (to me).’ ” Will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

    A young man went into a drugstore to buy 3 boxes of chocolate: one small, one medium, and one large. When the pharmacist asked him about the three boxes, he said, “Well, I’m going over to a new girlfriend’s house for dinner. Then we’re going out. If she only lets me hold her hand, then I’ll give her the small box of chocolate. If she lets me kiss her on the cheek, then I’ll give her the medium box. But if she lets me give her a big ole kiss on the lips, I’ll give her the big box.” He made his purchase and left the store.  
 
    That evening as he sat down at dinner with his girlfriend’s family, he asked if he could say the prayer before the meal. He began to pray, and he prayed an earnest, intense prayer that lasted for almost five minutes. When he finished his girlfriend said, “You never told me you were such a religious person.” He said, “And you never told me your father was a pharmacist!”
 
    It’s a good thing to pray–whatever the circumstances! The vast majority of Americans seem to understand intuitively that it is important and even useful to pray. A number of years ago, the Gallup organization found that 90 percent of Americans surveyed said they prayed. In that same poll, however, 86 percent of the people said they believed in God. That is a strange thing, don’t you think? More people say they pray than say they believe in God.   
 
    Since nowhere near 90% of Americans are professing Christians and since more people polled said they prayed than believed in God, the Gallop poll suggests a couple of things to us about people and prayer. First, prayer is natural to the human spirit. There is a connectedness between us and our Creator. We all face challenges and heartaches in life. In a way, prayer results from our helplessness in the face of those challenges and heartaches. That’s why there are no atheists (as they say) in foxholes. We long to be heard. And more than that, we long to be understood. And so we pray.   
 
    The second thing the poll suggests about prayer is that it is quite often misunderstood. Why else would some people say they pray when they don’t even believe in God? Even when we do believe in God, even when we believe in Christ who came to reconcile us to God, prayer remains a bit of a mystery. For many of us, we’re left wondering if we’ve prayed enough, or if we’ve prayed too much. We wonder if we’ve prayed in the right way, for the right things. Because God doesn’t always answer our prayers according to our timetable, we sometimes even wonder if He hears our prayers. In those moments, Like the psalmist, we cry out, “how long, O Lord, will you forget me forever?”  
 
    It is for just those kinds of situations, the times when heaven seems silent, when God doesn’t seem to hear us, that Jesus tells the parable that we have before us this morning. The unrighteous judge finally gave in to the woman’s request so that she wouldn’t keep coming to him to badger him with her request. It seems like the parable teaches us to ask God for the same thing over and over again, to wear Him down, if you will, so that He’ll finally give in and give us what we ask for. Sort of like a child who asks mom or dad for something and is told no. If the child says “please” 10 or 20 or 30 times, chances are, mom or dad will give in and give him what he wants. It seems like that’s what we’re supposed to take away from the parable, doesn’t it?
 
    Certainly God wants us to be persistent in prayer, but not so that we can force Him to give in to our demands. Rather, He wants us to be persistent so that we don’t lose heart when we pray. And that is probably our biggest struggle when it comes to the subject of prayer, not losing heart, that is, especially when we pray for something for months, even years. We start to ask the prayer again and we think, “what difference does it make?” God hasn’t answered me yet and when He does answer it is going to be in His own way anyway. So, “what difference does it make if I pray?”
 
    God certainly doesn’t want you to come to that conclusion about prayer. Rather, He wants you to trust that whatever He has in store for you is far better than what you could ever imagine or even think. In the parable, even the unrighteous judge gave the persistent widow what she asked for. God, on the other hand, always gives us the best, the most, the ultimate.      
 
    Jesus often uses a certain form of argument to make His point in parables. He makes an argument, if you will, from the lesser to the greater.  He did the same thing when He talked about a child asking for something from his father. He said, when a child asks his father for an egg he won’t give him a serpent will he? The point being, even the sinful father loves his child enough to give him good things. Since that is true, how much more then will your heavenly Father give what is good to His children. So, if an unrighteous judge, one who doesn’t fear God or men, will finally give in to a persistent widow who comes to him night and day, how much more will God give justice to His elect, who cry out to him day and night?
 
    When God delays in answering our prayers he wants us to trust that it is for our good. The giving, compassionate heart of God is not the issue when the answer to our prayers is delayed. God has already shown us how much He loves us and cares for us. He gave His Son in death for you. He raised Him from the dead as your guarantee and victory over sin and death. He called you to faith by the power of the Gospel. He cleansed you from sin and it’s damning consequences in the water of Holy Baptism. And He feeds your faith with His body and blood that you might be steadfast and immovable against all threats. And more than all this, He assures you that He elected you to be His own before the very foundation of the world was laid.
 
    Sir Walter Raleigh came to Elizabeth, the queen of England, with a petition. Since Sir Walter was intent on finding the “City of Gold,” which he believed to be somewhere in South America. His petition to the queen centered on his plans for future expeditions. The queen, somewhat indignant, remarked, “Sir Walter, when will you ever stop to approach me with petitions?” Raleigh quickly replied, “I will stop when the queen will stop to grant me my petitions.”

    Persistence in prayer is a good thing. Not, however, because our persistence will ultimately wear God out so that He will give us whatever we ask of Him. It is a good thing because it recognizes that every good and perfect gift in life comes from above, from the Father of light, in whom there is no shifting or shadow. Faith contemplates God and life through the lens, if you will, of the Incarnation, the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. God’s love and His good will toward you is made manifest, it is demonstrated to you, in those very things. For that very reason, the Apostle Paul wrote elsewhere, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”
 
    And so, since God’s promises remain, we will pray without ceasing. If an unrighteous judge or a queen embroiled in political affairs will give what is good to those who ask, how much more will “God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily.”  

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.
 
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.
 
+ Soli Deo Gloria +