21st Sunday After Pentecost
Text: Luke 18:1-8
Vicar Roy Askins
Beloved in the Lord, grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I quote: “We must understand that God is not joking, but that he will be angry and punish us if we do not pray, just as he punishes all other kinds of disobedience.” (Large Catechism, Kolb, pg. 443 paragraph 18) Thus wrote Dr. Martin Luther in the Large Catechism. Luther contended that the failure to pray is failure to be obedient to God. Luther spoke this way to explain the necessity of prayer. We ought to pray because God has commanded it.
Is this the only reason to pray? Are there other reasons for prayer? The world around us says prayer does not serve a useful purpose. They have examined the claims; they’ve done the research. They’ve come to the conclusion that the only real benefit of prayer is that it gives you a relaxed state of mind. Prayer only results in psychological benefits, they say.
Sometimes it seems likes the only reason to pray is to use God like a candy machine. Put in a one dollar bill and get a 75 cent candy bar. Many Christians today think this way. If you pray hard enough, God will give you whatever you desire. Did you get that $100,000 job you wanted? If not, pray harder. Perhaps on the next round God will get you the job.
With all the voices of modern science and hazy spirituality floating about, it is not surprising that we often find ourselves disillusioned with prayer. We often pray half-heartedly or distractedly. We rarely offer to God thanksgiving in dinner prayer. In fact, we rarely pray except when something is going wrong. And yet the stressful times continue to plague us. So we wonder if God really answers prayer. In the end, we end up neglecting prayer.
Not, of course, as though this was any excuse. Luther’s words accuse us today just as much as when he first wrote them. God does require prayer and punishes those who do not pray. Luther explains what Christ meant in the parable when he writes that we are to “drum into [God’s] ears our prayer that he may give, preserve, and increase in us faith and the fulfillment of the Ten Commandments and remove all that stands in our way and hinders us in this regard.” (Luther, LC pg. 441, paragraph 2) This was Luther’s way of saying what Christ said at the beginning of the Gospel, “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” (Luke 18:1)
Continual prayer is modeled for us in the Scriptures. Christ himself would pray. In fact, at every major event of His time on earth He prays beforehand: His Baptism, Transfiguration, and Crucifixion. Many other times as well, Christ goes out and prays alone. He prays also with His apostles. He prays with the crowds as he did when he fed the five thousand. St. Paul exhorts the Thessalonians, “Pray without ceasing...” (1 Thes. 5:17). The Psalmist proclaims, “Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice.” (Psalm 55:17) Prayer and crying out to God is a continual aspect of the Christian life. So Christ exhorts and exemplifies for us.
As the Psalmist proclaims in the verse above, the prayer we continually engage in is not merely a passive activity or something we do ‘on the side’ as time permits.
Rather this is a struggle, a combat, a contention in a sense. Jacob, in today’s OT reading, struggled with the Lord. He did not let the Lord pass before the Lord had given him a blessing. And though it cost him a lifelong limp, the Lord also blessed Jacob. Jacob struggled with the pre-incarnate Christ, and received the blessing and the name Israel.
The woman in the Gospel also struggled. When the judge says, “I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming...” (Luke 18:5) the word for, ‘to beat me down’ is one of physical struggle meaning ‘to strike below the eye.’ This is not a physical struggle as Jacob and the Lord struggled. This struggle wore the the judge out from continually being ‘pestered.’ She struggled with him by being persistent. The struggle of faithful prayer is the struggle to remain persistent in the face of doubt.
St. Paul writes to the Colossians about Epaphras who was “always struggling on [their] behalf in his prayers, that [they] may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.” (Col. 4:12) Epaphras struggled with God on the behalf of the Colossians, that their faith might be strengthened and their knowledge of the will of God be fully assured.
Our struggle in prayer ought to follow the patterns of Epaphras, the widow and Jacob. Our pattern ought to reflect the faith they held that God would answer in due season. For their prayers did not gain them salvation; their prayers did not gain them any merit; their prayers did not raise one dead person; their prayers did not get them the million dollar job. Rather, their prayers were answered because their prayer stemmed from faith. For this reason Christ says at the end of the parable, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8)
Christ did not seek abundant prayers for the sake of praying, otherwise monasticism would have redeemed the entire world by now. Christ did not seek long-winded prayers otherwise the Pharisees would have erased the need for a Savior. Christ did not seek prayers for relaxation, otherwise all we would need is psychology or Transcendental Meditation. Christ sought instead the prayers growing from faith. Christ sought the prayers of those who understand their failure to withstand the temptations and attacks of Satan. Christ sought prayers of those who pleaded for redemption from sin, renewal in the Lord’s Supper and renewal in Baptism.
This prayer Christ has bound Himself too. He must answer in the affirmative. Whenever His people cry out to Him with prayer seeking forgiveness of sins, he responds with a resounding, “Yes. You are my people. I have redeemed you.”
God is not unrighteous or reluctant. If the unrighteous judge granted the woman justice against her adversary, even though he cared nothing for her or her problems, how much more does Christ, our judge, grant us the redemption we need? Will not Christ, who suffered unjustly on our behalf, grant us the fruit of His sufferings? Christ was judged by sinful humans who had no right to judge him. He hung from a cross He did not deserve to redeem those who unjustly sacrificed him.
From this tree God wreaked vengeance on all sins and transgressions of mankind. God wreaked his vengeance on Satan. God gave justice to Christ who suffered the greatest injustice. From this place, God made Christ the judge of all mankind. Will not this judge “give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night?” (Luke 18:7)
He has and he will continue to do so. The delay that this judge takes is not a delay but forbearance. This judge could decide to give justice right here and now for all the sins we have committed. He could have sentenced you to eternal damnation from the moment of your conception. Yet His forbearance moved Him to delay in order that you might be brought to faith in Him and from this faith to accomplish the works He has set before you.
And so we are in a sense, the widow, who approaches the judge imploring him to grant her remission, to grant her justice against her adversary. Who is our adversary? St. Peter answers that question, “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8b) This is your adversary. This is he who stirs up against you your sinful flesh and the world, to lead you into vice and shame. Against him we plead to the judge.
We cry out against Satan and all his minion with those in Revelation, “who had been slain for the Word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, ‘O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Rev. 6:9b-10) With these who were given white robes we cry out to God for justice and vengeance. We cry out for Satan to be destroyed with all his works and ways. We cry out for the strength to endure until we join this host of witnesses. This also is the struggle in our prayer.
Our prayer does not fit into the categories of science. Our prayers do not always have tangible results. For science, this doesn’t work; according to science, you must be able to duplicate the experiment in order to prove it works. Our prayers consist of more than a psychological relaxation and reorganization of the brain to face the challenges of the day.
No, our prayers are fervent pleas to the creator of the heavens and the earth. They are pleas to deliver us from the attacks of our adversary satan and to redeem us from our transgressions. God is also aware of our physical circumstances, and is concerned with them. Satan often uses our physical circumstances as means by which to turn us from God. So we also pray for our physical well being as Christ taught us in the Lord’s Prayer. And while our primary need is reconciliation with the Father, we also pray for strength to endure the struggles and hardships incorporated in our daily lives.
I began with an exhortation by Martin Luther to prayer from the Large Catechism on the Lord’s Prayer. It is fitting to conclude, then, with these words from his Lord’s Prayer hymn, verse 9 :
“Amen, that is, so shall it be.
Make strong our faith in You, that we
May doubt not but with trust believe
That what we ask we shall receive.
Thus in Your name and at Your Word
We say, ‘Amen, O hear us, Lord!’”
(LSB 766 vs. 9)
Vicar Roy Askins
Beloved in the Lord, grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I quote: “We must understand that God is not joking, but that he will be angry and punish us if we do not pray, just as he punishes all other kinds of disobedience.” (Large Catechism, Kolb, pg. 443 paragraph 18) Thus wrote Dr. Martin Luther in the Large Catechism. Luther contended that the failure to pray is failure to be obedient to God. Luther spoke this way to explain the necessity of prayer. We ought to pray because God has commanded it.
Is this the only reason to pray? Are there other reasons for prayer? The world around us says prayer does not serve a useful purpose. They have examined the claims; they’ve done the research. They’ve come to the conclusion that the only real benefit of prayer is that it gives you a relaxed state of mind. Prayer only results in psychological benefits, they say.
Sometimes it seems likes the only reason to pray is to use God like a candy machine. Put in a one dollar bill and get a 75 cent candy bar. Many Christians today think this way. If you pray hard enough, God will give you whatever you desire. Did you get that $100,000 job you wanted? If not, pray harder. Perhaps on the next round God will get you the job.
With all the voices of modern science and hazy spirituality floating about, it is not surprising that we often find ourselves disillusioned with prayer. We often pray half-heartedly or distractedly. We rarely offer to God thanksgiving in dinner prayer. In fact, we rarely pray except when something is going wrong. And yet the stressful times continue to plague us. So we wonder if God really answers prayer. In the end, we end up neglecting prayer.
Not, of course, as though this was any excuse. Luther’s words accuse us today just as much as when he first wrote them. God does require prayer and punishes those who do not pray. Luther explains what Christ meant in the parable when he writes that we are to “drum into [God’s] ears our prayer that he may give, preserve, and increase in us faith and the fulfillment of the Ten Commandments and remove all that stands in our way and hinders us in this regard.” (Luther, LC pg. 441, paragraph 2) This was Luther’s way of saying what Christ said at the beginning of the Gospel, “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” (Luke 18:1)
Continual prayer is modeled for us in the Scriptures. Christ himself would pray. In fact, at every major event of His time on earth He prays beforehand: His Baptism, Transfiguration, and Crucifixion. Many other times as well, Christ goes out and prays alone. He prays also with His apostles. He prays with the crowds as he did when he fed the five thousand. St. Paul exhorts the Thessalonians, “Pray without ceasing...” (1 Thes. 5:17). The Psalmist proclaims, “Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice.” (Psalm 55:17) Prayer and crying out to God is a continual aspect of the Christian life. So Christ exhorts and exemplifies for us.
As the Psalmist proclaims in the verse above, the prayer we continually engage in is not merely a passive activity or something we do ‘on the side’ as time permits.
Rather this is a struggle, a combat, a contention in a sense. Jacob, in today’s OT reading, struggled with the Lord. He did not let the Lord pass before the Lord had given him a blessing. And though it cost him a lifelong limp, the Lord also blessed Jacob. Jacob struggled with the pre-incarnate Christ, and received the blessing and the name Israel.
The woman in the Gospel also struggled. When the judge says, “I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming...” (Luke 18:5) the word for, ‘to beat me down’ is one of physical struggle meaning ‘to strike below the eye.’ This is not a physical struggle as Jacob and the Lord struggled. This struggle wore the the judge out from continually being ‘pestered.’ She struggled with him by being persistent. The struggle of faithful prayer is the struggle to remain persistent in the face of doubt.
St. Paul writes to the Colossians about Epaphras who was “always struggling on [their] behalf in his prayers, that [they] may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.” (Col. 4:12) Epaphras struggled with God on the behalf of the Colossians, that their faith might be strengthened and their knowledge of the will of God be fully assured.
Our struggle in prayer ought to follow the patterns of Epaphras, the widow and Jacob. Our pattern ought to reflect the faith they held that God would answer in due season. For their prayers did not gain them salvation; their prayers did not gain them any merit; their prayers did not raise one dead person; their prayers did not get them the million dollar job. Rather, their prayers were answered because their prayer stemmed from faith. For this reason Christ says at the end of the parable, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8)
Christ did not seek abundant prayers for the sake of praying, otherwise monasticism would have redeemed the entire world by now. Christ did not seek long-winded prayers otherwise the Pharisees would have erased the need for a Savior. Christ did not seek prayers for relaxation, otherwise all we would need is psychology or Transcendental Meditation. Christ sought instead the prayers growing from faith. Christ sought the prayers of those who understand their failure to withstand the temptations and attacks of Satan. Christ sought prayers of those who pleaded for redemption from sin, renewal in the Lord’s Supper and renewal in Baptism.
This prayer Christ has bound Himself too. He must answer in the affirmative. Whenever His people cry out to Him with prayer seeking forgiveness of sins, he responds with a resounding, “Yes. You are my people. I have redeemed you.”
God is not unrighteous or reluctant. If the unrighteous judge granted the woman justice against her adversary, even though he cared nothing for her or her problems, how much more does Christ, our judge, grant us the redemption we need? Will not Christ, who suffered unjustly on our behalf, grant us the fruit of His sufferings? Christ was judged by sinful humans who had no right to judge him. He hung from a cross He did not deserve to redeem those who unjustly sacrificed him.
From this tree God wreaked vengeance on all sins and transgressions of mankind. God wreaked his vengeance on Satan. God gave justice to Christ who suffered the greatest injustice. From this place, God made Christ the judge of all mankind. Will not this judge “give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night?” (Luke 18:7)
He has and he will continue to do so. The delay that this judge takes is not a delay but forbearance. This judge could decide to give justice right here and now for all the sins we have committed. He could have sentenced you to eternal damnation from the moment of your conception. Yet His forbearance moved Him to delay in order that you might be brought to faith in Him and from this faith to accomplish the works He has set before you.
And so we are in a sense, the widow, who approaches the judge imploring him to grant her remission, to grant her justice against her adversary. Who is our adversary? St. Peter answers that question, “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8b) This is your adversary. This is he who stirs up against you your sinful flesh and the world, to lead you into vice and shame. Against him we plead to the judge.
We cry out against Satan and all his minion with those in Revelation, “who had been slain for the Word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, ‘O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Rev. 6:9b-10) With these who were given white robes we cry out to God for justice and vengeance. We cry out for Satan to be destroyed with all his works and ways. We cry out for the strength to endure until we join this host of witnesses. This also is the struggle in our prayer.
Our prayer does not fit into the categories of science. Our prayers do not always have tangible results. For science, this doesn’t work; according to science, you must be able to duplicate the experiment in order to prove it works. Our prayers consist of more than a psychological relaxation and reorganization of the brain to face the challenges of the day.
No, our prayers are fervent pleas to the creator of the heavens and the earth. They are pleas to deliver us from the attacks of our adversary satan and to redeem us from our transgressions. God is also aware of our physical circumstances, and is concerned with them. Satan often uses our physical circumstances as means by which to turn us from God. So we also pray for our physical well being as Christ taught us in the Lord’s Prayer. And while our primary need is reconciliation with the Father, we also pray for strength to endure the struggles and hardships incorporated in our daily lives.
I began with an exhortation by Martin Luther to prayer from the Large Catechism on the Lord’s Prayer. It is fitting to conclude, then, with these words from his Lord’s Prayer hymn, verse 9 :
“Amen, that is, so shall it be.
Make strong our faith in You, that we
May doubt not but with trust believe
That what we ask we shall receive.
Thus in Your name and at Your Word
We say, ‘Amen, O hear us, Lord!’”
(LSB 766 vs. 9)
posted by Luther Memorial Chapel at
10/23/2007
