Luke 18: 1-8 18 Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. 3 In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my accuser.’ 4 For a while he refused, but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’ ” 6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? 8 I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Genesis 32 22 The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. 24 Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” 27 So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then the man[a] said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,[b] for you have striven with God and with humans[c] and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the place Peniel,[d] saying, “For I have seen God face to face, yet my life is preserved.” 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.
There is hardly a subject I love to preach on more than prayer. For me it is the bottom line–most important part of our Christian journey. I know I’ve talked about centering prayer quite often here. Today’s scriptures deal with another aspect of prayer. Persistence.
But first I want to share a story with you. I actually have two stories to share today. They both come from a book by a Jesuit priest, Anthony De Mello, called“The Song of The Bird.”
One day, the Bishop’s ship stopped at an island. The bishop, walking along the shore, came across three fishermen. In broken English they told the Bishop “ We Christians!” It seems a missionary had visited the island some time ago and they had converted.
The Bishop was thrilled to meet them and asked them if they knew the Lord’s prayer so they could pray together. He was shocked when they told him they had never heard of it. He asked them how they prayed.
“We lift eyes in heaven. We pray ‘We are three, you are three, have mercy on us.”
The Bishop was appalled at the primitive nature of the prayer. He spent the day with the fishermen teaching them the Lord’s Prayer. They learned with some difficulty but by the end of the day, the Bishop felt good about all that he had accomplished. He left certain that they would now be able to pray the Lord’s prayer.
Months later the Bishop’s boat happened to pass by this same island. As he was walking the deck he noticed a light off in the distance. It seemed to be moving toward the boat. As he watched, he began to make out three figures walking across the water holding a lantern. He ordered the crew to stop the boat.
He immediately recognized the men as the three fishermen he had taught the Lord’s prayer some months ago.
They called out “Bishop! We hear your boat go past island and come hurry hurry to meet you!”
“What is it you want?” asked the stunned Bishop.
“We so sorry. We forget lovely prayer. We say ‘Our Father in heaven, holy be your name, your kingdom come…’then we forget. Please tell us prayer again”
The Bishop was humbled at the sight of the men on the water. He said, “Go back to your homes, my friends, and each time you pray, say, ‘We are three, you are three, have mercy on us!”
One of the things that breaks my heart is to hear people tell me they can’t pray aloud with others because they don’t know the right words. The prayers we pray in the liturgy are often beautifully worded, but unless they come from the heart, unless we actually pray them, they have no power at all. The simplest prayer, prayed from the Spirit, is far more powerful. Jesus told the woman at the well, in the book of John chapter 4, that God looks for those who worship in spirit and in truth. The power of prayer is not in the words but in the heart from which they are prayed. Pray your heart, no matter how simple the words are and don’t give up because you heard someone else use words that sounded more “holy.”
And still, it seems that even when we cry out from our deepest pain or need, God would have us continue to come back and keep praying over and over again even as Jesus tells us the widow does to the judge. Jesus says, “And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?”
Doesn’t it sometimes feel like we are Jacob wrestling with a man all night long and finally having to hold on to him to receive a blessing. Even, sometimes, needing to be hurt in the process. Why do you think prayer is often like this?
Perhaps prayer is less about getting what we want and more about getting what we need. And sometimes what we need is to be transformed. Persisting in prayer will do that.
Once a great man said:
“I was a revolutionary when I was young, and all my prayer to God was ‘Lord, give me the energy to change the world.’
As I approached middle age and realized that half my life was gone without my changing a single soul, I prayed ‘Lord give me the grace to change all those who come in contact with me. Even if only it is family and friends.’
Now that I am an old man and my days are numbers, my one prayer is ‘Lord give me the grace to change myself.’ If I had prayed for this right from the start I should not have wasted my life.”
The world is often changed by first allowing God to change us.
I wonder how the widow was changed, how her request might have changed as she persisted. Jacob was changed in the wrestling. So much so he was given a new name, Israel. Which by the way means ‘he who struggles with God.’
Our persistence in prayer is less about nagging God to get what we want but rather about learning what we need. And hopefully praying for that and accepting that. Remember Jesus’ prayer in the garden? He begins with “take this cup from me” and moves to “not my will but your will be done.”
What is it we are praying for without ceasing? What is it that breaks our hearts so that we call out to God over and over? What is it that God is offering to change in you (in us) through that prayer?
Like the man who learned to pray for the grace to change himself, sometimes it takes us a long time to get there. But that is certainly no reason to give up. God answers those who call out day and night.
“And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” We must not grow tired in doing good and in calling out to God. The answer will come. In what form I cannot say. Except to say it will be in the best possible form. Even more than you can imagine.
Continue to pray for the world, for the country, for the church and be ready to be changed in the process. God loves you enough to do it if you will just allow!
Join with me in a moment of silence to what God longs to change.