Pentecost 21 - Constant, Confident Prayer – Luke 18:1-8

Pentecost 21 - Constant, Confident Prayer – Luke 18:1-8
Vicar Darren Harbaugh

Imagine you’re the parent of a 2 or 3 year old child, (this may be easier for some to imagine than others). How would you feel if that child did not communicate with you for a week? Not only that, but imagine that the child tries to do everything for himself: tries to make all his own meals, wash his own clothes, clip his own finger nails, do his own grocery shopping. This behavior would vary from humorous to downright dangerous.
It’s because small children are helpless. We all know this. It may be hard to believe, but everyone in here was a small child once. When we were children, we relied on our parents for everything. If left by ourselves, we would not have survived. When we needed something, we cried out and our parent took care of us. Our parents knew what we needed even more than we did.
Though we have grown up, we are still helpless little children. We are God’s children and are as dependant upon God for every need now as we were dependant upon our parents so long ago. But instead of calling out to our Father and receiving from Him, we often go a long time without even communicating with Him. We do not pray. And as absurd as it may be, we try to do everything for ourselves.
Why don’t we pray?
As we journey through life, we are like the kids in the back seat who constantly ask, “Are we there yet?” We don’t like God’s time schedule. We’re impatient. We’d like to be the one who’s driving, even though our feet can’t even reach the petals.
When you’re a kid in the backseat, it’s hard to see where you are going and it’s difficult to realize that any progress is being made in the journey. It is also hard to see the effect of prayer. Our prayers may not get answered in the way we would like them to be. We don’t understand. Sometimes God may appear to be indifferent, unresponsive, and unhelpful, like those parents in the front seat appear to be.
Sometimes we don’t acknowledge that we are simply helpless children. We live our lives like practical atheists, who sit in a pew on Sunday, but behave the rest of the week as if God did not exist. Other things take precedent over God.
All this can produce guilt for not praying, causing us to lose heart. Praying can feel like a chore, something to check off the to-do list. If we forget to pray, we may feel guilty and see God as a cruel judge out to punish us, rather than seeing God as our Father and ourselves as his children.
We are children, dysfunctional children, but children nonetheless. Imagine being a child again (again this may be easier for some to imagine than others). Sometimes I think it might not be half bad: no work, a free place to stay, someone cooks all your meals, does all your laundry. Kids have a good setup. Why? Because they can’t take care of themselves. They are helpless. Their parents take care of them. In the same way, Our Father takes care of us.
It’s good to see yourself as a child, in fact, Jesus said “whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." We are helpless. We need our Father’s provision and guidance.
In our Gospel reading for today, Jesus told his disciples a parable about a helpless widow. She was alone with no one to provide for her and had an adversary bringing suit against her. But she recognized that she was helpless and knew where to turn for help. Day and night she pleaded to an unrighteous judge, pestering him until he showed her justice against her adversary. Jesus points out that if this is what an unrighteous judge does, how much more will God give justice to his elect who cry out to him day and night?
We Christians are helpless, like children, like this widow, but we too know where to turn for help. Our Father in heaven is not an unrighteous judge. How much more will He protect and defend us, his Children?
The courtroom imagery Jesus uses works for our situation as well. The helpless widow had an adversary, bringing suit against her. We too have an adversary, the devil, who is like a roaring lion, walking around seeing who He can devour. Satan acts as the prosecution against us, accusing us before God. He reminds us of our sin. He loads us down with guilt for all our failures, like our failure to pray and not lose heart.
If we were alone in pleading our case, we’d be sunk. In fact, we have no case. We are indeed guilty as sin. We, like the widow, are helpless. Our sin confronts us and Satan accuses us. We have nothing to do but confess and repent, falling on the mercy of the court. Because of our sin, the verdict is that we are condemned sinners.
But it’s not case closed. We, like the widow, know where to turn for help. We have a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He has more forgiveness than we have sin. And we have an amazing defense attorney, an advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ, the righteous one.
Jesus says that God will give justice speedily to us, the elect and chosen children of God. Our justice comes through Jesus, our advocate, who offers a guilty plea in our place for our crimes against God. He gives us his innocence, his righteousness and takes our death sentence upon himself by his sacrifice on the cross.
Because of Christ, we have every reason for confidence and hope. Because of Jesus, we strive to always pray and not lose heart, as he encourages us in our Gospel reading.
Always pray? How is that possible? “Always pray” does not mean you must do nothing in life except pray every minute. It means to pray consistently and regularly, like sitting down and having a chat with your family at the dinner table. Dinner time conversation is a routine that families have. It is the same with us and our Heavenly Father. We pray consistently and confidently, day and night by developing holy habits and routines.
We all have good habits and routines in our lives like brushing our teeth and washing our face. How did you develop that habit? You did it day after day. It became a routine. It is the same with prayer. Daily prayer is like the rhythm of life. It is like breathing. It is like waking up and going to bed. It is like eating a meal.
The Bible mentions that Jesus set aside time for prayer in the morning and evening and at meals. That is a good routine for us to develop as well. The disciples recognized Jesus’ holy habit of prayer and said to Him, “Teach us how to pray.” Jesus gave them the words to say; what we call the Lord’s Prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is not an obligation, but an invitation to join Jesus in prayer to ‘Our’ Father.
We are invited to join in the pattern of Christ. In the morning, just after you wake up, join in prayer with our Savior to Our Father. In the evening, just before you go to bed, join in prayer. When you sit down for a meal, join in prayer.
If you don’t have a copy of Portals of Prayer (hold up), pick one up as you leave. They are in the back and are provided by your church to aid in your prayer and devotional life. It gives you words to say: Luther’s Morning and Evening and Table Prayers, the Lord’s Prayer, a prayer for the beginning and end of each day.
This is one of many tools you may use to help develop a prayer routine. But remember, there is no law or obligation in how you pray. Prayer is a gift, not a burden. In prayer, we receive from God, we do not perform a work for Him. No need to beat yourself up over how little you pray, or be weighed down by guilt because you don’t pray as much as you’d like. If you forget to pray, You are forgiven! Repent, turn to God in prayer and receive from Him. Nobody prays enough, nobody does anything enough. Except Jesus.
In every circumstance of life, Jesus prayed. In the book of Luke, we are told that Jesus prayed at his baptism and before he went out to preach. Jesus prayed before he chose his 12 apostles and before his transfiguration. Jesus prayed in lonely places by himself and in private with his disciples. Jesus prayed before he fed the 5,000, before the Last Supper, and before his meal in Emmaus. Jesus prayed for the Father’s will to be done, in the garden before his crucifixion. Jesus prayed for the Father to forgive those who crucified him, as he hung on the cross. Jesus prayed to commit his Spirit to his Father as He died.
Right now, Jesus is still praying and he invites us to join Him. Through Jesus’ intercession we are able to confidently approach God’s throne of grace. We pray as if it means something, because it does. We pray as if we are talking to God, because we are. We pray as if the one we are talking to has redeemed the entire world and us, because He has. We pray as if our life depends on it, because it does. We pray like the helpless children that we are, relying entirely upon our Father, constantly approaching him day and night, confident that He will hear us on account of Christ our Lord.