Lord, teach us to pray: wearing out God’s ear

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Lord, Teach Us to Pray: Wearing out God’s Ear

Luke 18:1-8

Meg Peery McLaughlin

Burke Presbyterian Church, Burke, Virginia

Jesus told them a parable abcut their need t© pray. It’s hard t© imagine s©me©ne who doesn’t see any reason to pray, for that would be someone void of any hurt, any desire, any gratitude. I don’t know anyone like that. Certainly all of us at some point in our lives have had need to say, “Help me. Help me. Help me,” or “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”1 Jesus told toe disciples a parable about their need to pray and not lose heart. It’s toe losing heart that I get. For “when we go all the way down, our deepest problem wito prayer is that we lose heart.” ؛We’re puzzled at how long our prayers go unanswered , and that question eats away at toe edges of our hearts. You can only knock so long at a closed door before your knuckles get bloody. You can only listen to yourself speak into silence so long before you start to wonder if anyone is there.’If we are honest, if مam honest, we wonder if prayer matters, which makes us wonder if wc matter. And we just lose heart, $ ,٠Jesus tells us a parable, a story about ajudge and a widow. Let me do a little teaching with you here. In biblical times. judges were those responsible for giving people a fair hearing, making legitimate peace between one person and another. Weaker members of the community were dependent upon them and only them. There were no juries. A judge’s duty was to give justice, and toe justice was seen as God’s. $ ٠you better believe that judges knew toe Torah, toe scripture, hke the back of their hand. And the scripture, well, it is always talking about widows, for widows were toe most vulnerable among toe people. Time and time and time again toe Torah says things hke “toe Lord your God is a God of gods, who executes justice for the orphan and widow.”* Time and time and time again, toe Frophets demand things hke “seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for toe widow.” ؛All this is to say that we all, especially judges, as they were in a position to help, best be paying attention to widows. But toe parable says that the judge “neitherfeared God nor had respect for people.” This guy has gotten it ah wrong. He is wholly unsuited for his calling. It’s hke saying that there was a chef who did not know how to melt butter, ٢٠there was a lifeguard who could not swim. He’sjust plain rotten.And yet, this judge ends up doing toe right thing. He does the right thing—not for any noble reason, not because God demands it of him ٢٠that his job description requires it ٢٠even because he has a soft spot for this needy woman; he does toe right thing because he’s annoyed. .. bothered. This widow woman //’،٧١not give up ,׳she is wearing out this judge’s ear, filling up his inbox, stalking his house, refusing to let it be. The judge says, “I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out.” But what toe Greek says, literally, is, “I will grant her justice so she //’،٧١not strike me under the eye.” It’s language used in toe boxing arena.6 This judge does toe right thing because he doesn’t want to end up with a black eye. And what Jesus says is that

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if this rotten judge, this seemingly soulless creaturey will do right by this widow, how much more will God do right by us? Do not lose heart, God will grant us justice; it’s inevitable. Just keep wearing out God’s ear and do not lose heart. I have early childhood memories of my dad asking me inane (questions when I asked him something that was inevitable. He’d say: “Does the sun shine? Does the moon beam?” He did it all the time. “D a a a d I’d say, “Of course the sun shines, of course the moon beams, but I’m asking you if you’ll read over my English paper when you finish dinner?” Nowadays he doesn’t even have to get past the word does, and I know the cadence , tone, and inflection that is coming. Will All Things Considered be on in his car radio at 4:30? Will he set out the breakfast cereal before he goes to bed? Does the sun shine? Will he drive out here when his grandchild is bom? Will he be willing to talk me through a tough day of ministry? Does the moon beam? This parable, I think, calls us back to that part of us that can say ofcourse God is listening, ofcourse God cares about the hurt of our hearts, ofcourse the God of goodness is at work among us to mend what is broken, right what is wrong, and draw closer the day God has indeed promised. Does the sun shine? Does the moon beam? This parable is intended to quell our fear and renew our faith. But there is more to say today about God and prayer and persistence, for parables are rarely one layered. They’re hard to exhaust. A number of years’ ago, I was at a conference in Montreat. It was a small conference, and the leadership was talking about the ?arable of fee ?rodigal Son. To get us into fee story, fee conferees were invited to stand in triads and“stand in the shoes” of one offeree characters: the Father, fee ?rodigal, or fee Elder brother. Each triad had to arrange themselves into a type of still life and just let fee role sink in for a few minutes of silence. It was an interesting practice of reading scripture. With today’s parable, I think I’ve always seen myself as fee nagging widow. Those are fee “shoes” I’ve stood in, for I ’ve tried to bother God. I’ve bothered God with my pleas: pleas for a child, pleas for peace if a child wasn’t in the cards. I’ve worn out God’s ear wife pleas for guidance when I’ve felt stuck and courage when I’ve felt scared and hope when I’ve felt hopeless. I’ve railed against God wife my anger at fee way fee world isn’t fair and fee way fee world isn’t nice and fee way fee world doesn’t make sense to me. I’ve raised my voice and sometimes even my fists when I felt like I wasn’t getting heard. I’ve told God, “I love you, but I’m mad at you. I am mad at you!”^ But to put my feet in the shoes of that rotten judge and to imagine that God is fee widow instead? Now that’s a reversal! If we stand this parable on its head and hear it as a testimony to the persistence of God, what would that mean for us? Might this parable speak to fee persistent, unrelenting, determined One who keeps knocking on our door, challenging us to respond, urging us to be the answers of our neighbors prayers?® If we think about it, God has, in fact, always been compassion-obsessed, justice-minded, mercy-driven. ?erhaps God, standing in widow’s shoes, will not stop clamoring for our attention , will not stop hounding until we come around right, ?erhaps your image of God doesn’t jive with that of an old woman who is insufferable enough to knock us in fee eye to get our attention, but for me, fee persistent, determined One is my hope. For

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it means that God will not give up on even us. Let me say that again: it means that God will not give up on us. And that helps me not lose heart. Our ineessant God will not let us stay as those who “neither fear God nor have respeet for people. ״God will not allow us to get comfortable in foe unjust judge’s shoes, ?erhaps we’ll start listening beeause we don’t want to end up with a blaek eye ؛perhaps we’ll drag ourselves off our happy eouches because we’re tired of that insistent knock. Or, finally worn down—we’ll just flat give in and be the answer to someone else’s prayer. I’ll never forget one of our “Why Village Matters” moments. !’11 never forget Dr. John Hall, member of this church and salt of the earth guy. He stood up and said, “My name is Dr. John Hall and Thursday afternoon 1 got another obnoxious email from Mason Ormsby.” (!t took me a minute to realize he was really using foe word “obnoxious” in reference to another church member, right there in foe broad daylight of the sanctuary.) John told us that Mason’s email had indieated that there weren’t enough doctors for Saturday’s shift at foe Kansas City Free Health Clinie. John read that email and thought: “!am tired.” But Mason’s email said, “We’ll schedule some patients for you.” Good Lord, he was unrelenting! John went that Saturday, and he met a client named Mr. Tanakas who has lived in Kansas City for seven years on a green card. Mr. Tanakas was eomplaining about a problem of his wrists. John fumbled through foe man’s chart. There was no mention of wrists, but notes about tests run for A!DS, anemia, thyroid disease, hepatitis, leukemia—all of whieh turned out negative. No one had found anything wrong with this man. “You are thin.” John said. “That’s it, that’s it,” and Mr. Tanakas showed John his wrists. “Do you have digestive issues?” “No” “Do you vomit?”

“Do you eat?” “No” Awkward, awkward pause. “Would you eat if you had food?” “Yes” “Do you have food?” “No” John figured out how to get Mr. Tanakas emergency food stamps and set him up to get into our Food Fantry that Monday. And John eharted foe first case of starvation he had ever diagnosed. John’s speeeh that morning eoncluded with a word of thanks to Mason Ormsby, who every single week sends out email reminders, ineessant rcminders . He said thanks to foe unrelenting Mason, and he sat down. ! wonder if a word ofthanks isn’t in order—a word of thanks to God who still has hope for us and in us, who loves us enough to elamor for our attention, who stands at our door and knoeks. Maybe today we’ll open foe door to our persistent God, who indeed hears our prayers and who makes the sun to shine and the moon to beam, and who will not let us lose heart.

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Notes لAnne Lamott, Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith (Anchor Books, 1999). 2 Tom Long, “?raying without Losing Heart” (Sermon, October 7,2007). 3 Barbara Brown Taylor, “Bothering God” in Home By Another Way (Lanham, Maryland, Cowley ?ublications, 1999). 4 NRSV, Deuteronomy 10:17-18. 5 ،سIsaiah 1:17. 6 Alan Culpepper, Luke, The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary Volume IX, ed. Leander Keck (Abingdon ?ress, 1996). 7 Used a movie clip in The Gathering: Robert Duvall in the movie The Apostle. 8 Bob Dunham, “Whose ?ersistence?” (Sermon, October 21,2007).