Proper 24, Year C
Sunday, October 20, 2013
St. Mark’s, Bay City, TX
Jeremiah 31:27-34
Psalm 119:97-104
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Luke 18:1-8
“No longer shall
they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for
they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD;
for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.” These words from Jeremiah speak of a new
covenant which God was going to make with Israel. This was during the time of Israel’s
captivity and deportation, this terrible low point in Israel’s history, and God
was giving them words of restoration. “I
will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be
their God, and they shall be my people.”
God calls it a new
covenant, and yet it really seems like a renewal of the covenant they had with
God all along, “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” “I will put my law within them, and I will
write it on their hearts.” The sounds a
lot like Deuteronomy 6:4-6, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord
alone. You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your might. Keep
these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.” So, Jeremiah’s prophecy gives a hopeful
vision of restoration and renewal for Israel, a time when God’s covenant will
live within the people, within their hearts as God had always intended.
The words from
Jeremiah also to give a hopeful yes to Jesus’ question at the end of our Gospel
story this morning, “and yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on
earth?” I am always struck by this
rather stark and ominous question of Jesus.
After talking to his disciples about the need to pray always and not
lose heart, it almost sounds like Jesus is losing heart a bit, wondering rather
despondently if there will be faith on earth.
Will his disciples pray and not lose heart? Will his words and life be on his disciples
hearts? Is Jesus truly wondering,
hoping, and partially doubting that there will continue to be faith on the
earth? Perhaps.
Perhaps the
question is more for our benefit, to spur us to action. Hearing Jesus’ question, tends to leave a
feeling of personal responsibility in the heart of the listener. If Jesus is wondering whether or not there
will be faith on the earth, then we can’t leave it up to someone else to have
faith. We need to have faith ourselves,
to pray continually and not lose heart.
Perhaps Jesus is asking the if there will be faith on the earth to
underscore the need for his disciples to pray always and not lose heart, as if
to say, “if you don’t, then there may not be faith on the earth.”
Tying our passage
from Jeremiah to Jesus’ question, however, I can’t help but hear a hopeful
“yes” in answer to Jesus’ question.
“Yes, when the son of man comes there will be faith on the earth,
because
[God] will put [his] law within them, and [he] will
write it on their hearts; and [he] will be their God, and they shall be [his]
people. No longer shall they teach one
another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all
know [God], from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for [he]
will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
That hopeful vision is not only for
Israel during the time of their captivity, but for us as well and for all
time. Pray always and don’t lose heart,
for God will put his law within us and write it on our hearts; we will all know
God and he will forgive our iniquity and remember our sin no more. Yes, there will be faith on the earth when the
Son of Man comes, so pray always and don’t lose heart.
Notice also what Jesus says about
prayer, that God will quickly grant justice to his people who pray to him day
and night. Well, if it was really all
that quickly, would we have time to lose heart? Perhaps Jesus means that once God acts, that
God will grant justice quickly, but there seems to be some delay expected
before God acts, otherwise, why the encouragement not to lose heart?
I tend to like to figure things out
and to over think things, and this passage has been no exception. God will quickly grant justice. Don’t lose heart. I wanted to find some way of explaining that
so that it made nice logical sense. I
wanted to be able to explain how praying always works, but I could find no easy
answers. Often people pray for things,
and they pray a lot for those things, and the things for which they pray don’t
happen. Sometimes justice seems not to
happen, at least not as quickly as we’d like.
There’s no formula for how to get prayer to work. Sometimes we may feel like prayer isn’t
working.
All I can say in response is, “pray
always and don’t lose heart.” My
granddad told me on his death bed, weeks before he died, “don’t ever
underestimate the power of prayer.” He
sat me down and had me pray with him and memorize the collect for purity at the
beginning of the Eucharist. “Almighty
God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires, known, and from whom no
secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of
our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love
thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Notice in that prayer, that we
declare God already to know our desires, our secrets, and the innermost
thoughts and dreams of our hearts. We
are absolute open books, known cover to cover by God, and we are told by Jesus
to “pray always and not lose heart.” God
already knows us. God knows our needs
and desires before we ask, and yet God desires us to ask anyway. God knows us better than we know ourselves,
and yet we are told to make ourselves known to God in prayer.
Perhaps by praying always and not
losing heart, we are opening ourselves up to God, opening our hearts to God not
so much that God will know us, but so that we will know God. Perhaps by praying always and not losing
heart, we are doing more than making our requests known to God. Perhaps by praying always and not losing
heart, we are partnering with God, allowing him to write his law on our hearts
and allowing ourselves to know God. Perhaps
praying always and not losing heart helps fulfill Jeremiah’s prophecy. “No longer shall they teach one another, or
say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know me, from
the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their
iniquity, and remember their sin no more.”
Of course Jesus says rather than
God will grant justice to those who pray always and don’t lose heart. Jesus says God will be patient with us in our
pestering of him and God will quickly grant us justice. We may have to wait and not lose heart, but
God will quickly grant us justice.
Hmmm? I really don’t know how
that works. I can’t exactly explain that
one. All I can say is, “I believe
it.” I don’t know how exactly, but I
believe it. I’ll leave it to Jesus to
know how exactly that all fits together.
In the mean time, all I know is I find more peace when I pray always and
don’t lose heart. I find more joy when I
pray always and don’t lose heart. I
can’t say exactly why. I simply believe
Jesus’ words and find them to be true.
Pray always and don’t lose heart.
“I will put my law within them,” says the Lord, “and I will write it on
their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Amen.
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