LUKE 18:1-8

1. And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.

3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’

4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man,

5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’”

6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says.

7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?

8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

We live in an age of instant gratification.  We want everything to be quick and easy.  That’s why you can order a pizza now and have it delivered to your house with a 30 minute guarantee.  When you got to buy a new car it’s why the sign in the window promises you “Instant Credit Approval.”  Because of Twitter, Instagram and text messaging it’s possible now to communicate with people all around the world in the blink of an eye.  It’s why that church south of Boston is now offering people drive thru prayer.  Did you hear about that?  Christ Lutheran Church in Scituate started this outreach ministry a little over a week ago.  All you have to do is drive into the church’s parking lot.  You don’t even have to get out of your car.  Someone will be there to pray with you. According to an article in Time magazine the first Saturday they tried the drive thu prayer they had 18 cars.  One person asked for a Patriot’s win and another person asked for a win by the Green Bay Packers.  It reminds me of a Doonesbury cartoon I saw many years ago.  In the cartoon a husband and wife are talking to a minister in his office.  They’re obviously church shopping.  At one point the wife turns to her husband and says, “Let go back to the church down the street dear.  They only have 8 Commandments and they also have a basketball court.”

Yes, we live in an age of instant gratification.  We want everything to be quick and easy.  That’s why you have to be careful when it comes to the Walton’s Syndrome.  Do you remember that television show?  For those of you who may be too young to remember, “The Waltons” was a television show that was very popular back in the 1970’s.  It was about a family in the mountains of Virginia and the challenges that they faced during the Great Depression.   It was based on author Earl Hamner’s recollections of his childhood.  Life was hard on Walton’s mountain but it didn’t matter.  John Boy could be in the hospital with a brain tumor.  Mary Ellen could be expelled from school for something she didn’t do. Before the hour was over though the problem would be solved and everything would be back to normal on Walton’s Mountain.  The lights would slowly go out and the family would go through it’s nightly ritual.  “Good night John Boy.   Good night Erin.  Good night Jim Bob. Goooood night everyone.”

Many years ago I read an article that suggested that because of television shows like “The Walton’s” people now have unrealistic expectations when it comes to their problems.     It doesn’t matter how serious the problem is the expectation is that you should be able to solve it in 60 minutes or less and if the problem can’t be solved that quickly people will get angry or just give up.  It’s called the Walton’s Syndrome. 

Do you ever feel tempted to do that yourself?   That’s what a mother found herself dealing with one morning when it was time for her son to go to school.  “Hurry up,” the mother hollered. “You’re going to be late for school.”  The son who was still upstairs in his bedroom couldn’t have cared less. “I’m not going to school today,” the son announced.  “Why not?” the mother asked.  “Because,” the son said.  “It’s boring. The teachers are mean to me and all the kids hate me.”   “That’s ridiculous,” the mother said.  “You have to go to school.”  “Why?” the son asked.  “Give me one good reason why I have to go to school.”  “Okay,” the mother hollered. ““I’ll give you two good reasons. First of all, you’re 55 years old and you're the principal.”

We may want life to be quick and easy but that’s not the way it works.  Just ask the widow in the parable that Jesus shared with his disciples while they were on their way to Jerusalem.  The situation was simple.  The widow was the victim of an injustice. So, she went to this judge and said, “Give me justice against my adversary.”  Unfortunately for the widow, however, her plea for justice fell on deaf ears.  The judge could have cared less.  We don’t know why.  All we’re told is that he “neither feared God nor respected man.” 

Now that poor widow had four strikes against her.  First of all, she was a woman who lived in a male dominated society.  That was strike one.  If that wasn’t bad enough she was also a widow which meant that she didn’t have a husband or man in her life who could advocate for her.  That was strike two.  Not only that but because she was a widow it probably meant she was poor which meant that the judge didn’t really have a reason to listen to her.  So, there you have strike three and strike four.

The deck was stacked against the widow but she wasn’t about to take “no” for an answer.  She kept going back to the judge day after day after day.  Finally, the judge realizes that the only way he’s going to get rid of the widow is by giving her the justice that she wants.  The judge says to himself, “Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.”

Sooner or later you will find yourself in the same boat as that widow.  In fact, you may be in that boat right now.  You may be dealing with a problem or an injustice or a challenge of some kind.  If you are remember that widow.  Her formula for success was simple.  It’s a formula for success that can also work for you.  All you have to do is remember three words and each of those words begins with the letter P.   Three Potent P’s!

The first thing you need is persistence.   So, forget about the Waltons and that church with the drive thru prayer.  Life was never meant to be easy.  As someone once said, when it comes to success the elevator is out of order.  The only way to get there is by using the stairs - one step at a time.  The widow was successful in her crusade for justice because she kept going back to the judge day after day after day.

That why the second thing you need when you’re dealing with a problem or an injustice or a challenge is patience.  Now that can be hard precisely because we live in a society that teaches us that everything should be quick and easy.  Because of that there are times when we all feel the same way Phillips Brooks was feeling one day when a friend came to visit him.  Philip Brooks was a great preacher and theologian back in the 1800’s.  You know him because of a poem that he wrote.  Back in 1865 he traveled to the Holy Land and after he visited the place where Christ was born he sat down and wrote these words:

O little town of Bethlehem how still we see the lie.

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by.

Phillip Brooks may have written the words to that Christmas carol  that we love, but he was anything but still and  calm when his friend came to visit him.  The friend found him impatiently pacing back and forth in his study.  When the friend asked him what was wrong Dr. Brooks replied, “The trouble is that I am in a hurry and God is not!”

When it comes to a problem or an injustice or a challenge it’s helpful to remember that God’s timetable isn’t always going to be the same as yours.  So, you have to be patient and you have to be persistent and to help you do that it’s also important to pray.  That in fact is how the Parable of the Widow and the Unrighteous Judge is introduced.  According to Luke, Jesus told (the disciples this) parable “to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”

The widow was successful in her crusade for justice because she was persistent and patient and because she prayed.  No one else came to help her but God was there to help her. It could be that the widow subscribed to the PUSH Principle.  PUSH by the way stands for “Pray Until Something Happens.”

That’s what a daughter did when it came to her mother.  The mother had made a lot of mistakes over the years and because of that her life was a mess.  Bill Hybels, the pastor of the world famous Willow Creek Church tells the story this way.   After a baptism at his church he said, “I bumped into a woman in the stairwell who was crying. I thought this was a little odd, since the service was so joyful. I asked her if she was all right. She said, ‘No, I’m struggling.’ She said, ‘My mom was baptized today. I prayed for her every day for almost 20 years. The reason I’m crying is because I came this close to giving up on her. At the 5-year mark I said, “Who needs this? God isn’t listening.” At the 10-year mark I said, “Why am I wasting my breath?” At the 15-year mark I said, “This is absurd.” At the 19-year mark I said, “I’m just a fool.” But I just kept trying, kept praying. Even with weak faith I kept praying. Then she gave her life to Christ, and she was baptized today. I will never doubt the power of prayer again.”

Life was never meant to be quick and easy.  Sometimes life is messy and unfair.  When it is just remember the Parable of the Widow and the Unrighteous Judge. Persistence. Patience and Prayer. Those three potent P’s worked for her and they can work for you, too.  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

October 20, 2013