Persistence and the Unjust Judge: Last Sunday's Sermon

The Readings

Jeremiah 31:27-34

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. In those days they shall no longer say:

"The parents have eaten sour grapes,
and the children's teeth are set on edge."

But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge.

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt-- a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the Lord," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

The Epistle

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

As for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.

The Gospel

Luke 18:1-8

Jesus told his disciples 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?"

The Sermon

Persistence

In these readings we get a message that God is with us and we should never think differently. That is not an easy thing to do. There are times in our lives when it looks like all is lost. During those times we must remember to keep the faith.

Even though Jeremiah sometimes wears me down with his gloom and doom, in this passage we read, “The days are surely coming says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah....I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. They will know me...I will remember their sin no more.”

All through Jeremiah there is a tension between God and his people, but another constant theme is that God never abandons them. God never gives up. God is persistent.

In Paul's letter to Timothy he writes, “I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message, be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching.” Paul was all about spreading the word. He went from town to town and sometimes the response was unfavorable. But, he never gave up. He was persistent. That message of persistence rings true for us today. While I was reflecting on these writings I looked over at the side of my desk and I saw a box of business cards. I ordered those cards about three years ago. I believe there were about 250 in the box when I ordered them. Today, there are about ten left. I have been persistent in handing them out. It is one small part of what I do to proclaim the message. We are expected to, as followers of Christianity, to talk about our faith, to be persistent.

In Luke Jesus tells us to not lose heart. He tells the story of the persistent widow, who never gave up and was eventually listened to by a hard hearted judge. Jesus message to us is that God is not that kind of judge. God hears us every time we pray.

A relative and I were talking one day about something that was troubling her and I recommended that she pray to God about the matter. Her response was that God is way too busy to spend time on trivial matters like hers. I think it is important that we keep in mind what Jesus said in Luke Ch. 12 -7 that the hairs on your head are all counted. We matter to God. When we pray to God, God listens.

The Inter-church Council has a motto, “We are the hands and feet of Christ in the here and now.” I think God works through us to respond to the needs of others. When we work at the food pantry we are often an answer to the prayers of people who are hungry. Many times I have had people tell me that if not for the food pantry they might not have made it.

It is often the simple acts of kindness that each of you do that makes a difference in the lives of others. You can be and often times are the answer to peoples prayers. It is also our acts of persistence that makes a difference in peoples lives. When we see injustice happening to others and we persistently respond until there is change we are answering the prayers of those in need.

God wants us to not only be persistent in our prayers but in our actions. When we stand up for what is just we are answering God's call for us to love each other and to be there when others are in need.