Don't Lose Heart

Luke 18:1-8        Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

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I want to share two stories with you.  The first one is from the sermon roundtable this week.  As we contemplated this story from Luke, one of our members said, “It sounds like the moral of the story is to be like a nagging widow.”  That gave me a brilliant idea.  I said, “Let’s do the widow ladies dance – kind of like Beyonce’s single ladies dance, only different – instead of flashing your ring finger, you wag your pointing finger.”  It seemed like a good idea to me, but we couldn’t do it because suddenly everyone at the table remembered something else they had to do, someplace they had to go.  No one was with me.  Maybe that’s for the best.

The second story is about something I heard on the radio this week, having to do with our current national politics.  The reporter was in a home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania talking to a husband and wife who are essentially cancelling each other’s votes – he is voting for him, she is voting for her.  As the wife was explained the reasons why she is voting for her candidate, her husband interrupted her and said, “Do you really think she comes across as a good person?  She reminds me of the evil schoolmarm – she’s old, she’s overweight, like some of these other women you see.”  His wife pointed out that his candidate was also old and overweight, but he said, “No, he’s fine.  He’s 230, can hit a golf ball 280.  He’s in fine shape.”[1]

It was more than a little disturbing to hear that this candidate is being judged as evil because she is old and overweight.  There are legitimate reasons for opposing her as a candidate for president, but this is not one of them.

When women are valued for their beauty, we want the less attractive ones to disappear.  When women are valued for their fertility, the ones who are beyond those years can just disappear.  In the world of the New Testament, fertility mattered.  So an older woman, particularly an older widow woman, was without value, therefore without respect. This story seems to illuminate the point that there are some people in our world who are not respected because of the categories they fall into. 

And it should not have been this way.  The law of Israel explicitly guaranteed certain rights for widows, along with orphans, because they were the people who were most vulnerable.  Without a man to take care of them, widows and orphans were at the mercy of society.  According to the law, this woman’s plea for justice should have been heard.   

But this particular judge didn’t care about that.  He didn’t care about anybody or anything other than his own self-enrichment, so he callously turned this woman away.  She had nothing to offer him, she was of no value to him. 

Yet this widow was not ready to give up.  She hounded the judge, day in and day out.  She knew her rights and she was insistent that she would get a hearing.  She finally succeeded, not because his heart softened, but because he was irritated, or embarrassed, perhaps.  In the end it was his self-interest that brought justice to this woman.

Years ago, I heard a woman on the radio, part of the Story Corps Project, I think, recalling what it was like living in the south during the days of Jim Crow.  She recalled going to the courthouse to register to vote.  But she was black, and the man turned her away.  She came back the next day, and he again turned her away.  So it went, day after day after day she showed up at the courthouse asking to register to vote.  Finally, one day the man said to her, “I’m gonna let you register just so I don’t have to look at your ugly face ever again.”  Such as it was, she got justice. 

Jesus says that when even an unjust judge will eventually relent and give you justice, wouldn’t God grant justice to God’s children crying out day and night?  Eventually. 

Eventually.

Notice that Jesus gives no assurances that justice will arrive quickly.  And while we know God is not like the callous, small-hearted judge, God’s ways are often mysterious to us and justice sometimes seems long delayed.  The question is: when it finally arrives, when the Son of Man arrives in the fullness of time, will he find us faithful?

Will we still be praying for justice?

This is the third time in as many weeks that the question of faith has been raised, and each time Jesus holds up a different facet for us to examine.  In the first case, he suggests that faith is a matter of being open to receiving it from God – any amount of faith, even faith the size of a mustard seed, can do wondrous things.  The question is not how great is your faith but how open is your heart to receiving faith as a gift from God?  In the second case, he suggests that faith is a matter of recognizing all we have as gifts from God to us, just like the Samaritan man who was healed of his leprosy and returned to give thanks.  And in this case, in the parable of the unjust judge, it would seem that faith is a matter of persistent prayers for justice. 

In our own lives, what does it look like to make our persistent prayers for justice?

I know a United Methodist pastor who was serving in the Houston area last year when a woman named Sandra Bland was pulled over for failing to use a turn signal.  She was removed from her car, beaten on the ground, and arrested.  This much was filmed on the dash camera.  Three days later she was found dead in a jail cell.  From that moment until now, the Reverend Hannah Bonner, along with others, has been persistently shining the light of Christ on this case.  Sadly, there have been some voices of authority who have demeaned her, trying to shame her into retreating. But she has not; she will not back down from demanding justice.

What is a prayer for justice?  Calling out to God to fix a broken situation, to heal, to mend, to right what is wrong.  But it is also to confront the injustice where it is.

To persistently and faithfully confront injustice with justice, violence with peace, hate with love.

We live in a world in which justice has not yet fully arrived.  And there are seasons when the injustice of the world feels so real, so omnipresent, it is easy to lose heart. 

I will share one more story with you.  It is a story about a time when Mother Theresa was visiting New York to meet with some high power executives about donating money to her work among the poor in Calcutta.  Unbeknownst to her, the executives had agreed with one another before the meeting that they would not give her any money.  She made her plea to them, but they said, “We appreciate what you do, but we just can’t commit any funds at this time.” Mother Theresa said, “Let us pray.”  They bowed their heads and she asked God to soften the hearts of these men.  After saying amen, she asked again if they would consider donating to her work.  They said once more that they were sorry but could not commit any funds at this time.  Mother Theresa said, “Let us pray.”

Pretty soon, they pulled out their checkbooks.[2]

Don’t lose heart, Jesus says to us.  We don’t know how long justice will take; some days it feels far away.  But don’t lose heart.  Make your persistent prayers for justice; keep your eyes on the prize; recognize that, as our Pledge of Allegiance says, justice means justice for all – for all! 

Don’t lose heart.  Don’t retreat to a corner and disappear.  Make your persistent prayers for justice in the face of injustice.  The days are surely coming, says the prophet Jeremiah.  Don’t lose heart, says the Lord.

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[1] BBC News, “A House Divided”

[2] As told by Pastor Tom Long, quoted on http://cep.calvinseminary.edu

A Lens of Gratitude

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7  These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Luke 17:11-19        On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

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Have you ever been in a place that was not of your own choosing?

I know a young woman from back in Pennsylvania – I keep in touch with her on facebook.  Her husband is in the military, and they have lived in some places that she really did not want to be.  She longed to go back home – or almost anywhere else, on some days.  But while she is living there, raising her family in this community, do you think that God is calling her to seek the welfare of that place?

I visited a church once in the city of Wilmington Delaware.  This was a grand old Presbyterian Church.  50 or 60 years ago, the members of this church lived in the neighborhood.  But as the community around the church changed, it got to the point where all of the members lived outside the city and drove miles every week into the city to worship.  The congregation found themselves in a place they did not choose to be – not because they moved, but because the area around them transformed into something different.  They considered selling the building and relocating to suburbs.  But in the end they decided to commit themselves to urban ministry – to seek the welfare of the place God had put them.

To seek the welfare of the place where God has put you –

That’s what Jeremiah is encouraging the people of Israel to do while they are in their Babylonian exile.  There were hopes, of course, that somehow they would be rescued from this predicament, that they would be freed and allowed to return home and everything would be just as it was before.  But Jeremiah knew this would not be.  He knew that this situation would last for a while.  And so he wrote to the refugees in Babylon and told them so.  “Build homes for yourselves.  Plant and tend gardens.  Raise your families, and seek the welfare of the city where you have been sent.”

Jeremiah needed them to accept their situation and go on with the living of the lives God had given them.

I read a story about a Syrian refugee community in France.  There are thousands of people there, mostly living in tents.  Here they sleep and cook and eat and play.  They work.  They set up small shops and schools.  Volunteers help them learn English.  They don’t know how long they will be there, but they must continue to live while they are there.  I wonder if God calls them to seek the welfare of the city where they are living.

How is God calling us to seek the welfare of the city we find ourselves in? 

The scriptures tell stories of people who are often in some place they do not choose to be.  From the beginning, when God led Abraham on a journey through wilderness, toward a land that God would give him, God’s people have been journeying through alien lands - even up to this day.  No matter where we find ourselves, our primary identity is as children of God, our primary citizenship is in the kingdom of God.  But at the same time, doesn’t God call us to seek the welfare of the place where we are living? 

Isn’t that what Jesus did all the time – seek the welfare of the place, wherever he was?

Which brings us to the the story from Luke about the 10 lepers.  As he is entering a village, Jesus hears the ten lepers calling out to him.  They are keeping their distance, and they are outside the village, because their condition made them exiles.  The law of the land required that they live in isolation from any community, to avoid contagion. 

So I imagine that what they did was to form their own communities with other lepers, because humans are made to be in community, not isolation.  Just as homeless people tend to form communities, finding places where they can live together; just as refuges form functional communities in their exile, lepers would have created their own communities.

And this community of lepers is made up of people who would not have been friends otherwise.  Their exile is what brought them together, because there are nine Jews and one Samaritan.

Jews and Samaritans were not allies, although they probably should have been.  They were neighbors who worshiped the same God, yet they separated themselves.  That is why the parable of the Good Samaritan is such a powerful story – in it, the only one who shows compassion is the Samaritan.  It’s a story Jesus made up to point out to his listeners that people are people, and it’s just silly to treat some like enemies. 

This episode here, he didn’t have to make up, this ragtag group of lepers actually came to him.  Truth really is stranger than fiction.  They came to Jesus and begged him for mercy, for healing.  Jesus gave them what they asked for.  He told them to go show themselves to the priest, because the priest would have to verify that they were leprosy-free, before they could be readmitted to the community.  They followed his instruction and as they went they were made clean.

Then one – only one – stopped.  He turned back.  He raised his voice in praise and he thanked Jesus for what he had done for him.  And he was the Samaritan. 

Why do you think the others did not turn back?  There’s no right or wrong answer to that question.  I have no idea why they failed to give thanks. 

Regardless of the reason, Jesus is concerned about their failure to give thanks.  Now, that might be because he was an egomaniac and he needed to have their praises heaped upon him.  Or, there might have been some other reason.  Here’s what I think.

Everything in life is better when we acknowledge the gifts we have received. 

We can only really enjoy the blessing when we know that it is a blessing. 

Joy does not come from getting what we are entitled to; joy comes from receiving extravagant gifts – like having your affliction removed.

Like the glorious color show that appears in the western sky so many evenings – no charge.  Like a marriage that creates a new family out of two existing families; like the birth of a child.  Like some perfect stranger who comes and sits down next to you to teach you a new thing – how to speak English, or how to read.

What extravagant gift have you received this week?  There are, no doubt, many – but name just one.

Thankfulness is important.  Yes, this is, in part, because we need to be thanked for the good things we do.  But even more, it is important because expressing thankfulness connects us to one another.  Thanking another person is acknowledging their humanity; it is saying that we value them as human beings. 

Seeing the world around us through a lens of gratitude has great power to change things for the better.  It moves us to give thanks, and not only that –

Seeing the world through a lens of gratitude moves us to be generous. 

Seeing the world through a lens of gratitude sets a beautiful cycle in motion.  It connects us. It moves us to want good things for others as well, it encourages us to consider the welfare of those around us.  So, let me ask you again –

How is God calling us to seek the welfare of the city we find ourselves in?  Is there one thing you can identify that God might be calling us to do for the welfare of our community?

May your eyes be open to all the wonderful gifts God is giving you.

May you be generous with your gratitude.

May we all seek the welfare of the place God has brought us to.