[Propertalk] Gospel sermon bits for October 17 - Part 4

[Joe Parrish]

Constant prayer required unwavering faith. The content of the prayer petition reflected the quality of the faith. If the content was self-serving, the petitioner would place him/herself above God and treat the divine as a servant gift-giver. If God answered "Wait," would the selfish petitioner have the strength of faith to persist in prayer? This was Jesus' concern. [18:8b]

http://www.word-sunday.com/Files/c/29-c/A-29-c.html

Larry Broding 

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Jesus is trying to encourage His disciples to see beyond the short-term failures and lack of response from God. If, in the end, even the unjust judge caves in and gives justice - how much more can we trust that the God of Justice will see justice done for us.

http://www.wellsprings.org.uk/weekly_wellsprings/year_c/sunday_29.htm

Catherine McElhinney and Kathryn Turner
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We ourselves are the unjust judge who neither fear God or respect people. We are dominated by our egos and generally looking for what is in it for us. We are really stubborn in our self seeking. But God is persistent in love for us. God is the hound of heaven who wears us down, like the widow, by persistently pursuing us. Eventually, we wield and let God enter our lives and guide us to do the right thing. In this interpretation we see God as persistent in trying to break down our defenses. We see prayer as allowing this pursuing God to enter our lives and challenge us to change our self destructive behavior. 
http://www.bibleclaret.org/liturgy/daily/sundays_pierse/cycleC/C_29thSunOT.htm

Gerry Pierse
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The word about prayer is not that God, like the judge, can be
manipulated and that, therefore, one should pray day and night. This is not a prescriptive word, or
even good advice. Rather, it is a descriptive statement about God and prayer. The good of prayer
is not dependent upon the outcome. Prayer does not necessarily change things, but one continues
to pray and in the act of prayer itself something is given to the one who prays. Prayer itself is
vindicated.

http://www2.luthersem.edu/word&world/Archives/6-4_Romans/6-4_Kreider.pdf

Eugene C. Kreider, 1986
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A word of caution about the first little story: let's not batter so much on God's door that we don't hear God's gentle knocking on our own! The Orthodox insistence on the life of inner prayer is a useful counter to any let's bash God's door down approach we may be tempted to take, or encourage others to! 

http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/laterallyluke/LLK18114PENT20.html

Brian McGowan
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We see immediately that the Jesus is saying: be persistent but know that God is going to care for you far more than the unjust judge.

Are you really wrestling with God? Are we engaging in prayer with God which is like fisticuffs? I mean we are encouraged by Jesus to have a relationship with God that is like this woman's with the judge. We must like Jacob wrestle in the desert. 

http://hitchhikersguidetoluke.blogspot.com/2010/10/proper-24-ordinary-time-year-c_15.html

Andy Doyle, 2010
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Prayer is a continual and convenient conversation with God. At times it can seem as an inconvenient nagging voice, practice, or routine, yet it confirms our own sense of self-worth in the world as God's beloved children. It reminds us that we are loved for who we are or where we are on life's journey-because we matter and we are worthy of God's closeness. 
Prayer is accepting our own self and the reassuring yet indescribable sense of God's presence in the most unexpected ways of God within. It is God living through us and those around us that allows us to be who we are called to be, regardless of society's expectations.

"Prayer ," Luis Ferndando Garcia-Viana writes, "does not remove us from the world but rather it directs us toward it to transform it according to the criteria and values of the kin-dom* proclaimed by Jesus" (Comentario al Nuevo Testamento).

Prayer is a tool to get us through and throughout the seemingly endless days of lack of recognition or rewarding work, through life's efforts and stresses. It is for those in our midst with well-intended wishes and facing life-threatening realities.

http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/october-17-2010.html

Lizette Merchán Pinilla
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