[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 24C

[Joe Parrish]

Forwarded: 

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From: Judy <judy_boli at ecunet.org> 
Date:10/15/2016  10:06 PM  (GMT-05:00) 
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org> 
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 24C 

Dear Friends,

 

This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “Never Give Up” or “What’s Tattooed on Your Heart?” and deals with all the lessons.  Here it is:

 

Today we heard Jesus tell the story of a poor widow facing down a powerful judge.  As you know- in those days (as often in our own time), widows were usually among the poorest and most vulnerable people in town.  No matter how rich their husbands were, widows in the Jewish culture of Jesus’ day did not inherit property.  The common practice was for the widow to become the wife of the oldest brother of her husband.  If he would not have her or this was not possible, she would be taken in the household of her father or another male relative.  If no male would take her in, she could prostitute or steal or beg or sell herself and her children into slavery or starve to death.  Well- apparently someone owed this widow money, but the judge wouldn’t listen to her.  Perhaps he only heard cases of those who had a large enough bribe to make it worth his while.  We heard what the widow did.  Every day- cold or hot, wet or dry, she appeared and repeated her claim.  Finally he became so sick and tired of her nagging that he did the right thing and granted justice to her.  Let’s look at this parable to see what Jesus intends us to learn about how to live our lives successfully as his beloved children.

 

FIRST- NEVER GIVE UP ON YOURSELF.  Widows in that culture were frequently scorned and abused. People usually figured either the widow or her husband or both were responsible for the misfortune that had caused the husband’s death.  In fact, many religious leaders of the time taught that tragedies were the punishments from a righteous God and were proof that the sufferers were terrible sinners.  So you see, she could have believed all the negatives she had heard from the time she was born and just assumed she was a huge nothing, a zero.  Instead, she wrestled with that judge like Jacob wrestled with the angel; and as the angel blessed Jacob, so the judge blessed the widow.  The famous minister- the late Norman Vincent Peale (who wrote The Power of Positive Thinking) once traveled to Hong Kong. As he passed a local tattoo shop, he noticed some of the designs people could have tattooed on their bodies - a flag, a dagger, and various slogans. One slogan especially caught his eye: “Born to Lose.” He was curious and went inside to ask about it. “Do people really ask for that tattoo?” he asked. “Yes,” the owner replied.  Someone that very day had just asked for it, in fact. “Why in the world,” asked Dr. Peale, “would anyone want to be branded with a saying like that?”  The old man shrugged and said, “Before the tattoo is needled into the body, that tattoo is already branded on the mind.”  Use the widow as a role model, and don’t give up on yourself.

 

SECOND- DON’T GIVE UP ON OTHERS.  That widow could easily have given up on that judge, but her persistence paid off and he finally did do the right thing.  God could easily have given up on sneaky, lying Jacob, but God’s persistence with Jacob produced the father of the Israelites.  The Rev. Richard Donovan tells the story of another minister, the Rev. George Mueller who pastored in the last century.  Rev. Donovan says, “Early in his ministry, Mueller began to pray for five people by name.  He prayed for them every day without exception. Sick or well -- at home or abroad -- he prayed for them every day.  After eighteen months, one of the five became a Christian.  Eighteen months- that’s a long time.  Mueller kept praying.  Five years later, one more became a Christian.  Five years- that’s a long time.  Six more years passed, and a third became a Christian.  That means that Mueller had prayed every day for twelve years, and only three of the five became Christians.  Mueller kept praying for the other two, but then he died without seeing his prayers answered.  But then, more than fifty years after Mueller began his prayers, the other two finally became Christians.  Mueller did not live to see it, but his prayers were answered.”  As the widow didn’t give up on the judge, as God didn’t give up on Jacob, as Rev. Mueller didn’t give up on his people- don’t give up on others. 

 

THIRD- DON’T GIVE UP ON GOD.  When our hearts are breaking or our needs are great, this is sometimes the hardest of Jesus’ lessons.  At the end of the parable, we hear Jesus ask, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find anyone on earth with faith?”  Our culture teaches us to expect quick results.  You’ve got a headache?  Take a pill for instant relief.  Come home hungry?  Pop something in the microwave.  We’ve even got a name for restaurants that meet our need for instant relief from hunger- fast food!  Friends, God doesn’t work like that.  God’s ways are not our ways and his timing is certainly not our timing.  We sometimes act as if our prayers are like the dollar we put in the candy machine- send your prayer up to God and get your answer back right now.  Some people treat God like a super-genie: make your wish and rub the bottle, but this time our wish is a prayer and we get to skip rubbing the bottle.  All those wishes…all those prayers…what if they were all answered?  What if every team won?  What if no one got sick and died?  What if we never had to wait for something, struggle with something?  Remember, God is our coach.  His purpose for us is to shape and sharpen us up so we become more and more in the image of Christ.  The most important thing prayer changes is ourselves.  Our perspective changes.  We see life more and more through God’s eyes.  Often while God is in process of changing us, he’s using us to change the world.  Dr. Tony Evans (of the Urban Alternatives Ministry) says, “It’s worth it to wait on God, because when He moves, He moves well.”  I’m going to close with an old story of how God moves in surprising ways.  “Once upon a time there was a good lady who lived next door to a bully. Everyday, when the lady prayed, the bully could hear her. He thought to himself, ‘She sure is crazy, praying all the time like that. Doesn't she know God’s not going to pay attention to the likes of her?’ Many times while she was praying, he would go to her house and harass her, saying, ‘Lady, why do you pray all the time? Don't you know God’s not going to pay attention to a nothing person like you?’ But she kept on praying.  One day, she had a really serious situation, because she ran out of groceries. As usual, she was praying to the Lord explaining her situation and thanking Him for what He was going to do. As usual, the bully heard her praying and thought to himself, ‘Humph...I'll fix her!’  He went to the grocery store, bought a whole bunch of groceries, took them to her house, dropped them off on the front porch, rang the door bell and then hid in the bushes to see what she would do. When she opened the door and saw the groceries, she began to praise the Lord with all her heart, jumping, singing, and shouting everywhere!  The bully then jumped out of the bushes and told her, ‘You crazy old lady. God didn't buy you those groceries, I bought those groceries!’ Well, she broke out and started running down the street, shouting and praising the Lord even more. When he finally caught her, he asked what her problem was. She said ‘I knew the Lord would provide me with some groceries, but I never guessed he’d make the devil himself get them for me.’”

 

Don’t give up on yourself.  Don’t give up on others.  And, most important- don’t give up on God.  Amen.

 

For anyone who is interested, this sermon and updated African-American wisdom statements are posted on our parish’s web site under “Sermons & Stuff”. The address is: http://www.stpaulsepisag.org .

 

Blessed preaching,

Judy Boli

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Saginaw, Michigan

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