Parables: Quantity, Quality, and Connection
Luke 18:1-8
Pastor Kendy Easley
Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and never give up. He closed the parable with a question: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Jesus invites his followers into a life of conversation, exemplified by persistence and trust.
I. Quantity – Persistent Widow
II. Quality – NOT the Unjust Judge
III. Connection – On earth as it is in heaven
“Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil with good.” – Maya Angelou
Discussion Questions
Before questions, attempt to give the group a bit of a summary of the main points of the sermon and then choose a few questions that fit your group’s needs and style. We don’t intend for you to use all of these. Three to five questions may be a good number.
Begin by reading Luke 18:1-8 aloud, taking turns reading the passages.
Pray over the group before beginning discussion.
- Do you know someone who is persistent?
- Do you find this quality irritating or endearing?
- In yourself and in others? Share a story of persistence
- Do you have a core prayer, core disappointment, core hope or something you are asking or begging God to act on?
- What would lead Jesus to believe that he needed to tell his disciples to "always pray and not lose heart"?
- "Go where your best prayers lead you." Reflect on this quote from Frederick Beuchner.
- What are your "best prayers" for yourself?
- For others in your small group or for the Bethany Community Church Family as a whole?
- What would it look like for Jesus to "find faith on earth"?
- How might you live into that vision this week?
Intro Self:
Picture of looking at vintage photo album together
I’m in a bittersweet season in my family life - My Dad is 88 and we have lost 3 members of his generation in the past 5 months. In celebrating these loved ones lives, we’ve spent a lot of time looking photos, some on our phones, and just recently, some in actual albums - you remember the kind? I’m guessing you’ve seen these, or maybe have some in your family large, black pages, little corners to hold the pictures in? There’s a joy in looking back together - trying to figure out who’s in the photo - which kid is which, and who that friend was who came on that vacation! Or why this person is scowling?
I find myself wondering what my family will be like when I am 88, and who I’ll be sitting with, probably looking at photos projected onto a screen, rather than a heavy book in my lap. I think Jesus is having such a moment in this parable - he’s been with his disciples . . . he’s looking back and looking forward, reminiscing about the future. The now and not yet.
We’ve been studying the parables of Jesus this summer, and today is our last day in this series. Jesus told dozens of parables, they were quick stories about everyday life that caught people’s attention, without alerting authorities to the power of what he was speaking.
Jesus told his disciples this parable and says straight up, it is to show them that they should always pray and never give up. And he closed the parable with a question:
(Slide) When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? (Luke 18: 8)
(please leave slide up as I pray)
That’s the big question for us today, please join me in prayer
(Slide from Silas) Various Titles of the Parable (from various bibles)
Here’s our outline for today - .
(one slide with all three)
- Quantity - Persistent Widow
- Quality - NOT the Unjust Judge
- Connection - On earth as it is in heaven
1. QUANTITY
Quantity of prayers/petitions
Badgering with Questions
Are we there yet?
Badgering - can I get a puppy? Or a motorcycle? Please please please!!
Don’t leave me, don’t break up with me, please, please, please?
Will you marry me, please - I know a guy who asked four times before she said year =- happily married for 30+ years!
Persistence-
Applying for job after job, maybe at the same company!
Athlete who tried out and was rejected repeatedly, finally someone takes a chance - big winner
Taking bar exam - 30 times! Before passing!
Desire to have children, infertility, in vitro, adoption
Prayers - all prayers , for parking place, or partner, welcome! Pray persistently.
But this widow,
Circumstances of widow
Correlating scriptures gleaning- she was praying for justice- justice mentioned 5 times in this passage!
Issues of justice - racism, ageism, justice system, law enforcement, - ethical issues and moral failures practices and policies -
A few years ago here at church we were seeking to understand how our rates of pay compared to other churches in urban areas. As we looked at the data, one of the questions was did we want the comparative Payscale for men or women. We discovered the Women’s Payscale was 20% lower for doing the same jobs! That seems WRONG! Unjust!
A few years ago, after my mom died, my Dad wanted to purchase a condo in a retirement community. He had the money, he had the mental health, he had the physical health and mobility, but he had a history as a cancer survivor. So . . . He was going to be rejected on that basis. As his eldest child, I stood with him and objected, we pleaded and they finally relented and called a meeting. Turns out the meeting was just to say sorry, no go. It’s a policy. I asked who wrote this policy? It’s unfair, unjust.
Got on the phone, badgered my way to the buildings owner - they heard me out and looked into it - found their policy wouldn’t hold up, they can’t discriminate against someone due to health history
Over time, this woman's persistence wore down the judge so that he ended up granting her request.
The idea behind this is the greek term anaideia - which means shameless audacity or bold persistence. If you trace that word back, you will find a Hebrew term called Chatzufo which can also mean tenacity, and another word for Chatzufo is the word.
(slide) Chutzpah - persistence, strength, unyielding tenacity, bold determination, grit
It’s also known as ‘Grit. This woman had the chutzpah to keep asking going back day after day.
So many cross references in scripture . . . pray without ceasing . . . ask, seek, knock.- in greek KEEP ON asking, KEEP ON knocking, KEEP ON seeking . .
Keep after it!
What was the result of her chutzpah did? The unjust judge responded to her plea!
Unjust judge. Tongue twister, because it doesn’t go together! Expectations of a judge
Deuteronomy, hearers would be astounded, this is not possible, judges are upright, trustworthy, admitted leaders - well not this one!
2. QUALITY - NOT unjust judge
He neither respects God nor people, he’s bothered by her - in facts she pesters him so much the image is that he’s black and blue!
- grants her the justice she requests
If persistence of the widow to the grumpy judge gains her justice,
How much more
(slide) If you, then, though you are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! - Matthew 7:11
Call to persistent prayer, not because persistence is super fun, but because
Because of Character of God - (Who God is should motivate our prayers)
Unjust judge. Tongue twister, because it doesn’t go together! Expectations of a judge
Deut. -
Parable : Widow pesters the judge until he, who neither respects God nor people - grants her the justice she requests
If persistence of the widow to the grumpy judge gains her justice,
How much more
If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven, who loves, you will respond to your persistent prayer.
Call to persistent prayer
Because of Character of God - (Who God is should motivate our prayers)
Theological orientation thinking of and KNOWING and EXPERIENCING God as the generous heavenly father who wants to bless us
Ex: Don’t want to tell others and ask for prayer when you learn you are pregnant, b/c you might miscarry -
Opposite - if you miscarry, you have others to walk with you through that grief! AND if you continue to carry a life within you - you have others to celebrate with you!
Ex: If you are embarrassed because you hate your job and want a change, or you have no job and you have financial worries - Do you wait until things are better before you tell anyone, because perhaps you don’t want to be a burden?
Opposite - Let your requests be made known to God (scripture reference)
Ex: You are secretly at war with yourself, you feel anxious, or you get in cycles in which you feel self-destructive, or you are in love with someone in a cycle like this, or you are the parent of someone who feels this way -
Opposite - Let your requests be made known to God
Put yourself, your life, into God’s presence
So, here’s what I want you to do, God helping you -
(slide) Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking around life, and place it before God as an offering.
Romans 12: 1, The Message
This is the CONNECTION that Jesus came to establish, and sent the Holy Spirit to confirm and empower.
Trinity - Father - Son - Spirit
Also known as Creator - Redeemer - Sustainer
Holy Spirit as COMFORTER, Wind, Breath
CONNECTION
(slide) 3. Connection - On earth as it is in heaven
prayer, plea, persistently What does Jesus teach about prayer? What is it? When do we do it? How do we do it?
Lord’s Prayer -
THY KINGDOM COME - - - - ON EARTH - - - as it is IN HEAVEN
How? Through prayer, through people, through faith
Jesus closes the parable this way -
(slide to leave up for a bit) When the son-of-man returns will he find faith on earth?
Reformer John Calvin said -
(slide) Prayer is the chief exercise of faith - John Calvin
Jesus asks, will I find faith on earth, not prayer on earth
Prayer is THE CONNECTOR
It is a relationship, a conversation, a posture of hope and humility in this world
Faith-prayer
Persistence
Teresa of Avila - (slide), Carmelite Nun, 1500’s, (get photo from Silas?)
(slide) Prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God. - Teresa of Avila
Maybe you don’t feel on friendship terms with God . . . unsure what’s true anymore
Dr Loder - If you can’t pray, pray that would be able to pray, if you can think of a conversation with God, say to God that you can’t be in conversation with God right now,
The wish to pray is a prayer in itself. - Georges Bernanos
(novelist and polemical writer whose masterpiece, The Diary of a Country Priest, established him as one of the most original and independent Roman Catholic writers of his time.)
pray all the time and don‘t give up
Joshua - army walked around the walls of Jericho each day for 6 days, and on the 7 day . . . . !
(slide to leave up for a bit) When the son-of-man returns will he find faith on earth?
And the answer he’s hoping for is - YES! YES LORD, you WILL find faith on earth!
Find it in me! Find me on my knees, find us up here writing in the prayer books, coming forward to the prayer ministers, pleading with you for justice
For you are the RIghteous Judge, the provider of healing and meaning
The Master of Hope
The Promise-keeper and Prime Mover
The Great Lover of our Souls
The One who was, and is and is to come!
The One who holds the Book of LIfe,
By speaks things into being with a Word
The One who gathers us all under your wings, and at your table
Harriet Tubman - (closing story?)
Harriet Tubman - American abolitionist, civil war scout, spy, nurse, suffragist, civil rights activist,1822 - 1913 Harriet Tubman’s maternal grandmother, Modesty, arrived on a slave ship from Africa.
When Harriet was a teenager she suffered a head injury when an overseer threw a heavy metal at a runaway slave and instead hit her in the head
In 1849, Harriet and her two brothers, Harry and Ben, successfully escaped. Her two brothers had second thoughts and returned to the plantation. Harriet decided to continue and successfully made it to Pennsylvania, a free state.
Harriet used the Underground Railroad, a network used by fugitive slaves to escape to free territories. They were aided by abolitionists and free African Americans who guided them to secret routes and safe houses.
Her first trip to bring a family to freedom was in 1850, she was 28. In ten years conducting the Underground Railroad she had made 19 trips and guided her parents, siblings, relatives and friends, perhaps hundreds of slaves. After Harriet escaped, she came back for her husband but he had married another woman.
Also known as “General Tubman” and “Moses of her people,” the historical icon bravely led dozens of enslaved Black people to freedom in the 1800s without ever getting caught, but many don’t know she was also a Civil War spy and scout, a devout Christian, a nurse, a suffragist and a wife and mother who opened an elder care facility later in life, and donated her estate to maintain care for elderly and persons needing refuge. Remained illiterate throughout her life.
“God's time is always near. He set the North Star in the heavens; He gave me the strength in my limbs; He meant I should be free.”
(slide to leave up during prayer) I said to the Lord, I’m going to hold steady on to you, and I know you will see me through. - Harriet Tubman
Pray without ceasing
This is the air I breathe . . . .
Transition to song. . . . . invitation to reflect, to write in books
Draw me Close to you -
You’re all I want
You’re all I’ve ever needed
Help me know you are near