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Sermon: The Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost Year C - 17th October 2010
St Aidan's Anglican Church West Epping 8:30am
Readings: Jeremiah 31:27-34; Psalm 119:97-104; 2 Timothy 3:10-4:5; Luke 18:1-14
Later today Mary Mackillop will be canonized by the Pope. She will be known as St.Mary of the Cross. There is much excitement about this first Australian to become a saint, and also a certain amount of cynicism.
I must admit that I have mixed feelings. Certainly I am pleased to honour a woman who was a true follower of Jesus: someone who worked hard for the poor, in particular our indigenous people; a person who cared for the strugglers, and suffered because she stood up against sexual abuse in the church. She is a wonderful example of Christian faith and faithfulness, and loving service. And so I believe it is right to celebrate and honour her, and to allow her example to encourage and challenge us. That’s all good.
And yet I am also concerned about much that is associated with this process. I don’t believe that it is helpful to try to prove what is or is not a miracle: in scripture, miracles are wonderful acts of God. The question is not whether there is some alternative explanation to an event, but simply whether God is at work in a wonderful way. Not surprisingly, so much discussion of Mary in the media has been sidetracked into an irrelevant debate on whether miracles happen, and cynical comments on faith and superstition.
I am also concerned that some spokespeople seem to be saying that the claimed miracles prove that Mary is in heaven. In the New Testament, a saint is simply a Christian believer, a follower of Jesus. We are saints, not because of our outstanding Christian service, but simply because we trust in Jesus who died for us, and who brings us forgiveness and reconciliation with God. Mary is in heaven simply because God loves her, because Jesus died for her, and she trusted and followed him. Mary may be an outstanding saint, but she was a saint from the time she first trusted and followed Christ!
But there is another concern I have about all this, and that is the encouragement to pray to Mary for miracles. I find no suggestion in scripture that we need to pray to anyone except the God who loves us and understands us and welcomes us into his presence through one mediator, Jesus Christ. The idea that Mary can use her influence in heaven to wring a miracle out of a God who would not otherwise act is contrary to so much that I understand of the God of the Bible
And so I would say, honour the excellent example of Mary and other outstanding followers of Christ. But keep trusting and praying to the one who is our Creator and Saviour: let’s not allow ideas about saints to get in the way of our direct relationship with him.
Our Gospel readings present to us two parables of Jesus about people in prayer. The second parable, about the two men in the temple, reminds us of the attitude we need to have as we pray. We are to come to God humbly as people in need of his grace, as sinners who fall short and need his forgiveness. God is not in our debt: we are in his. But Jesus was not just talking about the act of prayer: he was talking about the whole basis of our relationship with him. We don’t depend on how good we are, and there is nothing we can boast about in God’s presence. The sinful tax-collector went home justified simply because he humbly sought God’s mercy: there was no pride, no pretence. And God gave him what he sought, what he needed.
But the arrogant Pharisee paraded his goodness before God: he thought he needed nothing from God – he had made it on his own. Of course he was wrong. But God gave him everything he asked for too: nothing.
He was not right with God before: he was still not right with God after his prayer, or perhaps we should say, his speech. Jesus shows us the need to come to God in prayer with humility and reality. Is that the way we pray?
But what about that first parable, about the persistent widow, that woman who was such an irritation to the judge? In Jesus’ time, a widow was a pretty powerless person. No husband to provide for her. A person who could easily be taken advantage of. And that’s what was happening.
There was someone who persisted in doing the wrong thing by her. She couldn’t overcome him by herself, so she sought help from the local judge. Unfortunately the judge was the sort of person who should not have been a judge at all. He had no interest in pleasing God in the way he carried out his work. Nor did he even care what people thought of him. Justice in his courts went to the highest bidder. Slip him the right amount of money, and you’d win the case, no matter what the legalities.
Of course, the widow didn’t have the means to offer him a bribe. But she knew right was on her side. And the problem wasn’t going away. So she used what she did have: her determination and her tenacity.
She turned up at court every day demanding to be heard, but she never got the call. She wrote letters, and waited in the street, pleading for help. And the judge got sick and tired of her. So sick and tired that he gave in to her badgering and granted her the justice she kept demanding. The judge responded to her persistence, although he cared nothing about her need.
What point is Jesus making in this parable? He asks: if an unrighteous judge will respond to a persistent request, how is a righteous and loving God going to respond to our persistent prayers? Is he going to be harder or more unreasonable than that judge? Of course not! And so Jesus tells us: “Pray! And if the answer doesn’t come straight away, keep praying.”
Of course, our problem in praying is that we don’t always know what is best in a particular situation. What we believe is right in the short term may not be best in the big scheme of things. What we want may not be best for us, or for someone else. Perhaps what we think of as urgent may be better left undone for the time being. God’s answers to our prayers may be “Yes”, or “No”, or “Not now”. God’s sense of timing will not always be the same as ours.
A man asked God how long a million years was to him. God replied, “It’s just like a second, my child.” The man asked: “What about a million dollars?” The Lord replied, “To me, it’s just like a single cent.” The man gathered himself up and said, “Well, Lord, could I just have one of your cents?” God said, “Certainly my child. Just a second.” God’s timing may not always fit in with our expectations. A famous Christian once said, “Delay in answering prayer may be the result of love taking counsel with wisdom.”
So we may well make mistakes in our prayers. But we don’t have to worry, even though we only see a very small part of the picture. We don’t understand all the ways of God in a world where the people whom he has given free will have used it to resist God’s will. But even if we get the request wrong, God will get the answer right.
And if the answer is different from what we expected or sought, we can be sure that the reason is not God’s inadequacy or ignorance or his lack of love. He loves us. He understands us. He knows all things. And there is no limit to his power.
If the answers don’t come as quickly as we want, let’s keep praying, as long as we believe that we are seeking the right thing. Keep on asking. Keep on seeking. Keep on knocking. Jesus asks whether God will delay long in helping his people who cry to him day and night. “No”, he says. “He will quickly grant justice to them.” Of course, quickly may not mean as soon as we would like. Rather it means that God will do it at the right time.
Of course there are many questions about prayer, not least those which come from sceptics such as those in the media this week. I can’t give you a neat watertight argument to prove beyond all doubt that prayer actually makes a difference to the way things work out. But I can point you to the teaching of Jesus, and to the great promises of God, and to the experiences of God’s people throughout the ages. Somehow our prayers tap into the purposes and works of God, and that is worth doing. And talking to the God on whom we depend is certainly going to benefit our relationship with him.
So let’s be people who pray. Let’s pray day by day in a quiet place where we and God can quietly get together. Let’s pray with others, uniting in our Christian faith and fellowship – the saints are certainly encouraged to support each other in prayer. Let’s pray when we think of a need - our own or someone else’s – as we go through life. And let’s remember to give God thanks when we see his answers to our prayers.
Jesus ends his story with a stinging comment. Having assured his listeners of God’s responsiveness to our prayers, he then asks: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Not much, he knows. But will he find it in us? Will we keep going in faith? Will we keep praying? May we keep drawing near in prayer to the God who knows us, helps us, and loves us: the God who promises to hear and answer our prayers in the way that is best. Amen.
Paul Weaver