PENTECOST 20

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: PENTECOST 20
PROPER: 24C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: October 21,2001

TEXT: CHILDRENS’ SABBATH
Luke 18:1-8a – “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.”

See also: Gen. 32:3-8, 2-30 “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.”

ISSUE: The readings for this day call for faithful, loyal, and a persistent relationship with God. Jesus’ parable of the persistent woman wrestling with a dishonorable Judge tells what God is not like, but rather God desires to serve his people much in the same way as Jesus’ ministry was a persistent proclamation of the love and justice of God. The Children’s’ Sabbath celebration calls us all to a persistent care and concern for the children of the church, the community, and the world. Through the church we work for a profound caring for our children that they may grow in love of the Lord and carry on that ministry.
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Jesus tells another parable. It is a parable that is told with a sense of humor to encourage people not to lose heart, but to attend to regular prayer, faithfulness, and loyalty with an assurance that God is responsive.
The parable tells of a widow who goes before a judge with a complaint. We are not told what her complaint is, but it may likely have to do with some property claim that she has. Powerful landowners at the time were eager to make claim on whatever property they could get their hands on. They were known for attempting to bribe judges. The widow is seeking some kind of justice.
Remember that the word widow in the Jewish language of this time meant literally “silent one.” A woman who had no married sons, and who had lost their husbands, had no one to speak for them in this time and culture. Yet the woman that Jesus describes in this parable is quite vocal on her own and persistently goes before the judge to get justice for her claim.
The judge is described in the parable is known for not having much honor, and caring less. He has no fear or awe of either God or respect for people. The widow persistently comes for him nagging him and demanding justice. The court case of the widow, it is helpful to understand, is a public hearing that would be observed by the community. Finally, the judge becomes aware that the community may well turn against him. The literal and more effective translation is that the old woman is not wearing him out, but rather she is going to give him a black eye by her continual coming. It is a “boxing” imagery.
The parable ends with Jesus saying, “And will not God grant justice to his chosen one who cry to him day and night. Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them.” This is a negative kind of parable. It does not tell specifically what God is like, but rather what God is not like. If a dishonorable judge can treat a widow and his constituents in this way, and finally be nagged into changing, then how much more will a God that loves and cares about his creation respond to the justice required.
The people of this age may question the conclusion to the parable. We argue that we pray and it seems at times that our prayers are not answered. We are a people and nation of instant gratification. Let me suggest that we might try to understand this parable in still another way. Sometimes its fascinating to wrestle with the parables and try to understand them in another way be reversing them. Jesus was himself a master at attempting to reverse things, i.e. “The first shall be last and the last first.” In this parable the old widow lady is much like God, and the corrupt judge is like the world. The judge is stuck in his ways of injustice; he is insensitive to human need. He is without sensitivity and compassion. It is the widow lady, who pleads with him time and time again to shape up and change and become a new person of justice and love. It is God who pleads with us, who persistently through the ages begs us to act sensitively, justly, lovingly, compassionately, and mercifully.
The Hebrew Scriptures contain the teaching of the prophets, speaking in the name of God, for the nation of Israel to be just and be a light for the world of the manifestation of the God of love. (Notice that in the Genesis reading today about Jacob. Jacob was such a scoundrel and trickster. Even in the story today, after cheating his brother, he divides all his possessions when he hears his brother is near, whom he has not seen in years. If his brother comes to take his property, at least he will only get half, Jacob hopes. That night an angel, a messenger of God comes to Jacob and the two enter into a struggle, a wrestling match. And finally Jacob is blessed by God and is changed and given a new name. No longer Jacob, but Israel, meaning one who struggles with God, and he is blessed in the struggle.) The ministry of Jesus is also a persistent faithful unwavering commitment to seeking justice for the world and especially for the poor, the sick, the underprivileged, and the disenfranchised, like women and children. His faithful persistence brings him to his death on the cross. He lays down his life in the effort to change the hearts and minds of people. In him and through him the world is changed in time. There is kind of humor in thinking of God as the old widow demanding a corrupt world to change. We can only guess that this is what the clever Jesus had in mind.
Is it possible that we miss a greater understanding of prayer and God’s response to us, because we have not listened to God’s persistent pleading with us?
There are essentially two things we are looking at today in the life of our parish. The first is the issue of our stewardship. All members of St. John’s are asked to be responsive to God’s faithfulness towards us by being faithful, persistent, sacrificial members of our congregation, and to be honorable in our response to God through making a pledged commitment for the new year, 2002. The Scriptures of the Lord asks us to be faithfully committed to Christ’s through the Church. Gail Landers, Senior Warden, will talk with you more about this issue, at the breakfast this morning, and at the lunch next week. Please attend one of these meals . . . signed-up or not.
The other issue with which we are concerned today is this day set aside as Children’s Sabbath, which is being celebrated over this weekend in Islamic mosques, Jewish synagogues, and Christian Churches. From our Christian perspective Jesus demanded that children be brought to him, and he blessed or honored them. Unfortunately, there are many suffering children around the world and at home. Sadly we are at war. Wars not only maim children, but they make them orphans. Children have notoriously suffered in war times at the hand of destructive weapons, and from fear, anxiety, trauma and shock. Children that grow up in an atmosphere of conflict and hate are likely to have their futures warped and profoundly influenced by that hate. TV news reveals that in the faces of Palestinian and Jewish children, as well as northern Irish children. Over the years many of us have perhaps become insensitive to the pictures of starving children as a a result of famines and political intrigues. Children have suffered from stray bullets in our cities drug wars. Children also suffer from wounding and death caused by unlocked firearms that get into their curious and inquisitive hands. In recent years we have become increasingly aware that many children, both boys and girls have suffered from abuse both physical and sexual in their own homes, communities, and even churches. Unfortunately around the world and in our own country, children do not always have proper medical care as a result of their family finances.
As your pastor and priest, I have been very concerned in our community about our children. Needless to say they are all pretty well fed, clothed, educated, and loved by their parents. Sometimes they may be even over indulged. A recent TV feature told of modern day families so over extended in activities that they hardly have time for being together for family interaction and times of quality time just for development of friendship and love among one another. My concern is that we are neglecting the spiritual lives of our children. It always strikes me a Christmas and Easter how many children are associated with this parish, and yet we have very sporadic attendance, with 6-7 kids gathered here on any regular Sunday morning. Children are often lacking in regular, persistent, faithful participation in Sunday School, Church, and the development of a spiritual life in community. It has also been my observation that fathers are often missing in the development of their children’s spiritual lives. Christmas-Easter spirituality is so very lacking. For the sophisticated children of today the fact that Jesus was born, claimed to be Son of God in a very mythological story, and then rose again doesn’t make a lot of sense. Understanding Jesus as Lord and as resurrected comes through an on going development and knowledge of all the rest of the story. More needs to be done to encourage mothers and fathers to witness to regularity and persistence in faithful prayer and participation in the educational and worshipful aspects of the church here at home.
I know, as you all do, that having children in church coming to the altar at the communion has its distractions. Children can be distracting, but it was Jesus that said, “Let them come.” They do bring not only distraction at times, but they also remind us of live in the church, vitality, exuberance, that may be something of a pestering that awakens us all to sensitivity and human need that cries out disturbingly around all of us in the church, and that calls us to a just response.
There are still many things we can do here at St. John’s that helps to participate in the spiritual development of our children. Exchange the peace with them. Get to know them by name. Condone good behavior. Participate in Sunday School. Participate in Bible School. Encourage and support field trips for our Sunday School and Acolytes. Offer scholarships for kids to go to Claggett Center in the summertime.
Remember the kids at the Ark, our Day Care Center for homeless children through Episcopal Social Services. Cry, weep, mourn, pray, and respond over and for any child that suffers anywhere in the world. Stop asking where is God, but stop, ask, listen: God, What are you asking me to do to be persistently faithfully involved in your mission for the world’s children.