The sermon text is below the sermon video. I thought I knew this parable well (“The Indifferent Judge and the Importunate Widow”) but I was wrong and open to new light… such is the glory of God’s Holy Word.

Click here: https://zionepiscopal.com/Sermon%20Videos/nineteenth-sunday-after-pentecost-10-16-2022-neale.html

Sermon preached at Zion Church, Washington, NC; Sunday October 16th 2022
The Reverend Alan Neale; “Never… give up”

Luke 18:1 “Pray always and never lose heart”.

Cha Sa-soon lived alone in the tiny mountain village of Sinchon in South Korea. She always wanted to drive but did not begin the process until her mid-60s. It was – literally – a difficult road. Grandma Sa-soon failed the written portion, consisting of 40 multiple choice questions 949 times; the concept of many of the questions were confusing to her, being an elderly woman living in a remote village. Finally, on the 950th attempt she got a passing grade of 60 and moved on to the actual driver’s test which she only failed 4 times before getting passing marks. By this time all of South Korea knew of her persistence and she became a national hero. She was even given a Kia Soul and appeared in their commercial.

I do not know if Cha Sa-soon prayed to her higher power, but this I do know… she never lost heart, she never gave up.

Let me introduce the two characters in Jesus’ parable; today’s parable of the indifferent judge and the importunate widow.

First, the judge. He was a man thoroughly self-sufficient; he was indifferent to His Creator and indifferent to those he served – he was ridiculously fearless and utterly disrespectful. The only factor that makes him pay attention is when his physical well-being is threatened. Verse 5 “I will act otherwise she will wear me out.” “Wear me out” – the word is used only by Luke and Paul in the New Testament. Literally it expresses the act of the pugilist when he strikes a blow and leaves a livid bruise. In other words, the man feels so punished that he is glad to surrender to the widow’s request; lest she beat him black and blue.

Second, the widow. Widows in the Bible are objects of pity, recipients of favors. Without a male to protect them, living in a patriarchal society, they were often victims of injustice. They were outsiders, helpless and defenseless. This widow was plucky even fearsome; she had a strong sense of right and wrong, she refused to kneel before harsh social customs and she prayed… and as she prayed she became more strong, more determined, more resilient. The widow knew that Hebrew Scripture (our Old Testament) was on her side.

In fact, the word Jesus uses for prayer in our text suggests that in prayer an exchange takes place between the one who petitions and the one to whom the petition is made. Years ago I learned a simple prayer for those about whom I felt a resentment… the prayer? Lord, bless him/her… change me. It works, it really does. And only recently have I begun that journey again… it might take days, or months, or years.

I once heard prayer described as a sort of lock that canal boats enter on their journeys. You know how it works, the boat enters the lock and the gate behind is closed. And then water fills or is emptied from the lock. When the water level in the lock is level with the water ahead… then the gate opens. The boat is neither overwhelmed nor drops too suddenly. So often our persistent praying, never losing heart, is preparing us for the next stage in life, in relationships, in work so that we be neither overwhelmed nor suddenly taken aback.

Professor C.S. Lewis, after his conversion, was once challenged that answers to prayer are only coincidences. “You may be right,” he responded, “all I know is that coincidence seem to happen more when I am praying!”

“Pray always and never lose heart.”

As I pondered this parable, I saw something wonderful. Maybe (always) God is as the persistent widow and we are as the indifferent judge.

Do you remember these verses from Psalm 139 (verses 7-10)?
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

It is this Psalm that inspired Francis Thompson to write her famous “Hound of Heaven” poem.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, our loving God is the one who persists with us always, and surrenders us never.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, our loving God knows no limit to the divine love nor boundary to the divine forgiveness.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter how often we fall, relapse, suffer setback – the divine grace is always sufficient and never capitulates.

As I wrote these words yesterday, I thought back some fifty years when I was in Oxford. The preacher in the college chapel was Dr. Arthur Moore (ironic really, because he was really so very short!). During this sermon, one of those electric moments took place. He said something like this, “I cannot believe that recalcitrant puny little man can raise his fist to heaven and say, ‘I will not be saved’”. He believed that, ultimately, in the end God… for God never loses heart with any of His creatures. That was a very significant moment in my life.

Luke 18:1 “Pray always and never lose heart”.

When we are tempted to lose heart, to cease praying, (a la Churchill) “never, never, never give up”. Take comfort in the Word of God, claim those promises as you pray; take comfort in the community of the church, resist the call to individual discipleship and take comfort in the power of the Holy Spirit to persist and be heart-resuscitated.

Though we see a world rife with vicious inhumanity, content with profound callousness at the hungry and homeless, where right is upturned and wrong glorified… we pray on for we see Jesus to whom, one day, all will surrender.

I finished yesterday a most beautifully written book about John Donne, Dean of St. Paul’s, London in the early 17th century. I was reminded of one of his prayers:
Batter my heart, three-person’d God, for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.

Three-person’d God, batter my heart that I may never lose heart and that I may rest in the comfort of your endless pursuit.

AMEN