To find ourselves
entertained, captivated, and forever affected by the really powerful and
compelling stories of the human experience are one of the great pleasures in
life.
I, like many of you,
love to read. I enjoy the rich study of the human endeavor though fiction,
mystery, adventure, and comedy as it mirrors real life. Movies and theatre do
this equally well. And music, well, music moves the soul and the body in ways
that often surprise us.
One memorable movie for me is, “The Last
Samurai.” It was based on a story by John Logan. While there is extreme violence and even death
to contend with, there is contrasted an equally extreme sensitivity to living
life richly, peacefully, while surrounded by exquisite beauty.
As is usually the
case, there were several scenes and bits of dialogue that stuck with me. One of
my favorites is the line, “Tell me how he died and I will tell you how he
lived.”
Paying such close
attention to the telling of this morning’s gospel story and being open to the
Holy Spirit’s gentle nudging, we might rightly ask, which scenes and bits of
dialogue stuck with you? Was there a particular word or phrase that caught you
and caused you to hear something new or to sense something powerful at play?
Was it during the
reading of the Lord’s prayer perhaps? “Father, hallowed be your name. Your
kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we
ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of
trial.”
Or, might you have
been surprised by the behavior of the one fellow there at his friends’ door
asking for bread at midnight? “Friend, lend
me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived.” he says. Only to
hear, “Do not bother me, the door has already been locked, and my children are
with me in bed.”
Or, were you taken by
the promises made that seem impossible? “Ask, and it will be given to you;
search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you.”
Or perhaps your spirit
was shaken by those crazy questions? “Is there anyone among you who if your
child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish?” Or, “if the child
asks for an egg, will give a scorpion.”
For me, it is the friend
at midnight. I realize it is my introverted nature that forms my opinion. If I
had the gumption to go to a friend at midnight and they sent me away, I would
not stand there insisting.
In the first place, I
would probably be whispering, trying not to wake the whole house, trying not to
offend my friend. I would just as likely change my mind before I got there and
not even go to ask for anything in the middle of the night.
The story does bring
to mind how desperate we must be before we ask for help? We gather our courage,
for we are desperate, and then it seems we become apologetic. Please, dear
friend, forgive my desperation.
It is as if we want
to ask for help, but are afraid. For we have known rejection and have lost
heart and stopped asking. We have felt dejected and unloved.
But, there is something
powerful at play this morning if we will hear the message of hope that Jesus
has for us. If we will but see life through a new lense.
“I tell you, even
though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at
least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he
needs.”
Because of his
persistence he will get up. Jesus teaches us what we do not see. We must first
pray and then remember, the most important quality of prayer is persistence, the
grace just to keep at it.
Of course, keeping at
it in most things is easier said than done. In the face of seemingly impossible
odds, life’s stressors, standing at midnight knocking where we least want to
be, when prayer comes, how often does it seem those prayers are not answered.
Or answered in ways we did not want them answered.
Knowing this, Jesus says
to us this morning, just keep at it! We are to persist, to keep at it, because
we often do not properly understand our place in life and our relationship with
God. Actually, this truth should not be surprising to us.
We expect that with
free will and by our own wits and strength of purpose we can conquer the world
and overcome all adversity. Guess what, it will not happen. We are not created
to change the world. We are not given the power to affect the outcome of our
lives or even the lives of those we love. As badly as we want too, it will not
happen.
Changing the world and
controlling our lives is God’s business. Oh, sure, God uses us for God’s glory,
but our proper business is to love one another. Our proper business is to
practice charity, do works of compassion, not worry too much about the ultimate
good that we try to do, the ultimate outcome we desire, or even the results of our
intentions. That is all God’s business.
Our business is to do
what we can, when we can, no matter how grand or how small. We are to witness
that God’s Kingdom, our “With-God life,” is coming, bit by bit, step by step,
even in and through sin filled folk like us.
There is a clear “take
it one step at a time” mentality in this morning’s scripture. Be trusting,
faithful, obedient, and persistent. Take one step at a time and do not worry
about tomorrow.
But we are not
naive! Taking care of ourselves and our
family and friends takes more than we can muster some days. Looking beyond
ourselves to think about solving the problems of our extended families, our
neighbors, our fellow church members, our community, our world, just overwhelms
us. And it should.
Our job is to do what
we can, when we can, however we can, where we are and to just keep at it. Jesus
says to us. “in as much as you have done it unto the least of these, in the
least of ways, you have done it unto me.”
Our job is to do what
we can to all of these. Love the poor as Jesus has loved us. Do for them as
Jesus has done for us. Keep at it. Be persistent in God’s work, even when we are
tired and do not see results, even when it is hard. Because God has set the
example. God has been persistent in working with each of us and loving each of
us. Persistent and infinitely patient.
Tom Long, a
Presbyterian pastor and author tells a story about the time that his church in
Princeton, New Jersey became concerned about the problem of hunger.
Members from the
church had worked in an inner-city ministry there and made the rest of the
church aware of the endless problem of hunger in Trenton. The church decided to
reach out. Every Sunday during the service, as the hymn was sung, people were
invited to come and place an offering into the offering place. The money would
be used for those hungry in Trenton.
As the Sundays wore
on, and as they learned more about the problem, the congregation became
overwhelmed. The problem was growing and the offering could not keep up with
the need. Gradually, it dawned on the congregation that they did not have the
resources to solve the problem.
Then there came that
Sunday when, as they were receiving the offering for hunger, an older woman,
one of the town’s “bag ladies,” who had shown up that morning with everything
she owned in a shopping bag, dressed in an old hand-me-down coat, came forward
when the offering was received for those in need.
The congregation
watched her shuffle down to the front, many of them probably thinking that she
was going to take money out of the offering plate rather than put some in,
knowing that she had nothing to offer. When she got down front, the
congregation watched.
She put nothing in the
plate. She did not file past the plate, rather, she folded her hands, knelt
before the plate, and prayed.”
Long says that for him
that woman became an eloquent parable of Christian compassion. Despite our good
efforts, we are not going to solve the problem of hunger. That is God’s work. But
we do not lose heart. We give and we do what we can. Then we pray.
We ask God to take our
meager efforts and use them. We ask God to do for us that which we cannot fully
do for ourselves. Such labor is seen then as a prayer that God’s will be done
on earth as it is in heaven. By our shameless persistence, doing what we can,
when we can, where we are, God will hear us knocking on God’s door.
The great theologian,
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, when speaking about Christian persistence said; “Costly
grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must
be asked for, the door at which one must knock. Such grace is costly because it
calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs us our lives. It
is grace because it gives us the only true life.”
At least because of
our persistence, grace, when asked for again and again, as we knock despite our
hesitation, will be given to us by our God. Our God, who will get up and open
that door and give us whatever we need.
For by God’s grace, everyone who asks receives, and everyone
who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
Once opened, we give
all we can, and then we pray.
“Father, hallowed be
your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our
sins, for we ourselves forgive every one indebted to us. And do not bring us to
the time of trial.”
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen.
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