Sermon: Not Like Us

Delivered at Bethel United Methodist Church on October 17, 2010.
I share these thoughts, hoping they are of help to someone else.

Not Like Us

Scripture:

Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, 'Grant me justice against my opponent.' For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, 'Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'" And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to His chosen ones who cry to Him day and night? Will He delay long in helping them? I tell you, He will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?"

Luke 18:1-8

I am full of Earth
You are Heaven’s worth
I am stained with dirt
Prone to depravity
You are everything
That is bright and clean
The antonym of me
You are divinity

From "Wholly Yours" by The David Crowder Band

During the 90s there was a popular television sitcom called Family Matters. This series centered around the Winslows, a middle-class African-American family living in the Windy City. One of the show's recurring themes was the relationship between the Winslows' daughter Laura and their neighbor Steve Urkel. Steve was smitten with Laura, but he was not the type of boy that Laura and most girls would consider the ideal boyfriend. Though he was honest, intelligent, and kind, he was also annoying, clumsy, and flamboyantly nerdy. Steve spoke in a high, nasally voice, wore suspenders that pulled his pants up way too high, and snorted every time he laughed. His interests included science, polka music, the accordion, and cheese.

Steve pursued a romantic relationship with Laura persistently for many years, but he was always met with rejection. Nevertheless, the two were always good friends who looked out for each other. Sometimes, when Steve would see a glimmer of hope for a future with Laura or some sign of fondness on her part, he would say to her, "I'm wearing you down, baby. I'm wearing you dowwwn!" Eventually Steve's persistence paid off. At the end of the series' nine-year run, the two were engaged to be married.

Jesus tells a story about another person who sought to wear somebody down. In this story, there is a judge, most likely a Roman magistrate. It was the job of the magistrates to arbitrate between disputing parties, much in the same way that modern judges settle lawsuits. Roman magistrates were notorious for corruption: justice was a commodity that was bought and sold.¹ Jesus describes this particular judge as having neither respect for God nor compassion for his fellow human beings. This man who is meant to be an agent of justice does not even know the meaning of the word "justice." Instead, he does what is best for himself: he looks out only for "number one."

In this story there is also a nameless woman. We know nothing about her except that she has been widowed, that she is most likely poor, and that she has suffered some sort of injustice. One day she approaches the judge, begging him to hear her case. He shrugs her off. After all, what is a poor widow like her to a man of power and importance like him? This judge might not know the meaning of the word "justice," but this woman does not know the meaning of the word "no." The woman does not give up but continues to appeal to the judge over and over and over and over again, crying out for justice. Time and time again, the judge continues to brush her off, refusing to hear her case.

Eventually, the judge realizes that this woman is never going to leave him alone. He thinks to himself, "Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming." To call this woman persistent is an understatement: the Greek words translated as "wear me out" are better understood "give me a black eye." The judge realizes that this woman will either make him look bad, resort to physical violence, or beat him down emotionally with her constant nagging.² To spare himself the trouble, he agrees to help the poor widow. The widow has effectively worn down the unjust judge with her persistence.

In this theatre called life, I feel as though I have played the part of this widow.

In the summer of 2007, I was working part-time at my Alma Mater, having just graduated with a bachelors degree in computer science. One day, I received a call from a woman trying to fill a software engineering position at a small local company. The woman warned me that the company was in the gambling industry and asked me if I had any problem with that. I said that I did not. Weeks later, I was contacted by the company's chief operations officer, and, after two interviews, I was offered the position. On the one hand, I was not crazy about the idea of working in the gambling industry, and the interviews had left me with an uneasy feeling. On the other hand, I was afraid that, with no prior job experience and with more and more technology-related jobs moving overseas, I would not be able to find another job. I accepted the job offer.

I always hated telling people what kind of work I did. I always feared what people might think of me for working in an industry that provides people with nothing but the means to waste their hard-earned money. Even so, I tried to be straightforward about it. When I told people where I worked or what I did, I always followed up with a statement that I did not want to do this job my entire life. On at least one occasion, I felt the need to provide an unwarranted justification for my working in the gambling industry, though now I think I was probably just trying to convince myself that my choices were justified. Though I was ashamed of my job, I had to admit that the money was good. I was up to my neck in debt because of student loans, and my salary gave me a good reason to stick with this job. At first, I planned to stay with the job for two years and then move on to something else. After my probation period ended, I was given a pay raise, and I thought that I would perhaps stay with the job for three years.

After my first major crunch period, I decided that I needed to get out of that job right away. I was surrounded by workaholics and demanding bosses, but I just could not - or rather would not - dedicate myself to that industry to the extent that they had. To me, a good salary was not worth late nights at the office and lost weekends. Because of my shame, I had tried to compartmentalize my life, completely divorcing my life at work from my life outside of work, and I started feeling that my job was breaking the boundaries I had placed on it. I became miserable and constantly stressed, fearing that an industry that I was hating more and more was going to take over my life as it had the lives of my coworkers.

I wanted out, but I could not simply quit. If I did, no other company would hire me. I considered another job, but I was not even sure that I wanted to work with computers any longer. Pursuing another job seemed like changing horses mid-stream. I felt like my back was up against the wall. I regretted majoring in computer science, and I lamented the lack of direction in life that had led me to this predicament. I once told some people that I felt like a jellyfish that did nothing but float its way through life until it was stranded on the beach by the tide, left with no option but to perish under the sun.³

With seemingly no options, I decided to pray. Every morning before work, I would join hands with my mother and pray for God to call me away from my job. The months went by, but, workday after workday, I prayed to God for a solution to my problem. About nine months later, the decision was taken out of my hands. The company announced that it was consolidating its offices and moving its operations out of state. I finally had a valid reason to leave the company. With no intent of following the company out of state, I was laid off twenty-three months after I accepted the job. I was finally free, free from debt and free from the job I hated, but I still needed to find another job.

Throughout my time at my previous job, one particular place had lodged itself into the back of my mind. When I started looking for work, I decided to look at this place's website to see if there were any job openings. By some miracle, there was indeed a job opening, and I met the qualifications for it. I submitted an application, and two interviews and two and a half months later, I became a computer programmer at Greenville Technical College.

I prayed persistently that God would call me away from the job I hated, and, months later, God finally answered my prayers. Was I like the widow in Jesus' parable, appealing to my Judge over and over and over and over again until He finally agreed to hear my case? Did I wear God down with my constant praying?

A number of Jesus' parables are meant to tell us what God is like. From these parables, we learn that God is like a gracious father who is so overjoyed to see His wayward children return to Him, that He forgets all the wrong they have done and welcomes them home. We learn that God is like a good shepherd who does not consider one missing sheep an acceptable loss and will go out of His way to find those in His flock who go astray. We learn that God is like a gardener who refuses to cut down a tree until He has given it every possible chance to grow and to bear fruit. With all of these powerful, loving images of God in mind, what are we to do with this story of an unjust judge? Unlike other parables, this story is not meant to show us what God is like but to show us what God is not like.

The judge in Jesus' parable is more representative of a broken humanity. Though the judge was called to be an agent of justice in the world, he instead used his position for his own personal gain. He cared not about the laws of the world nor the laws of God. Instead he did only what was beneficial for himself. He would not hear the widow's case because it was of no benefit to himself to do so. Likewise, we, as humans, are prone to selfishness. We are called to serve God and to do good in this world, but we often go our own way, seeking to serve ourselves.

God is not like us.

God reveals, through the prophet Isaiah, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways... For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts."⁴ Humanity is broken, but God is perfect. God's wisdom is infinitely greater than ours: God knows what is best for each of us. His will for us is justice and mercy, and His motive in all of His interactions with us is His intense love for us.

Even though people have a tendency to be self-serving, humanity still has a basic understanding of what is right and what is wrong. C. S. Lewis called this concept the "Law of Human Nature." This sense of what is just is written into our very nature as human beings. Even though we do not always do what is right, we do, in general, know what is right.⁵ Sometimes, despite our own brokenness, we humans actually do what is right, as shown by the actions of the unjust judge. His decision, "I will grant her justice," shows that he knew all along that helping the widow was the right thing to do, and, in the end, he actually decided to do what was right.

Jesus elaborates on His parable, saying, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to His chosen ones who cry to Him day and night? Will He delay long in helping them? I tell you, He will quickly grant justice to them." I think that the point that Jesus is making with this parable is that, if this extremely corrupt judge would do what is right for the poor widow under coercion, then God, whose ways are higher than humanity's, will do what is right for us because it is His will to do so. If human beings in their brokenness are capable of doing what is right at least some of the time, then God in His holiness will do what is right for us all of the time.

On another occasion, Jesus poses the question, "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?"⁶ If you think that this question sounds absurd, then you are probably reacting in the way that Jesus intended. Only someone truly depraved would give his or her children snakes or scorpions when their children are hungry. It is the natural instinct of parents to want to provide for their children's needs. Jesus knows this, so He follows up His bizarre question by saying, "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"⁷

Often we speak of God's loving nature, saying things like "God is Love." As children, we learned to sing "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." Still, somehow many of us get it into our heads that God likes to throw snakes and scorpions at us when we are already suffering from the pangs of hunger. How many times have we thought to ourselves that God hates us, that He is out to get us, or that He likes to make life miserable for us? We need to banish this bad theology from our lives. We need to abandon these negative perceptions of God, because nothing could be further from the truth.

Think about the people you love the most, perhaps your children, your spouse, your parents, or your friends. If we humans are capable of loving someone unconditionally and unselfishly, then the God whose thoughts are higher than our thoughts and whose ways are higher than our ways must love us, His children, more than we can even imagine!⁸

To answer my own question, no, I did not wear God down with my constant petitions to Him for help. God, in His wisdom, knew that the job I had accepted was not what was right for me. Not only did He provide me a way out of my predicament, He also provided me with an opportunity to use my computer skills for the benefit of others, not to mention the fact that He also provided me with a tough lesson in taking some ownership of my life. These were things that God knew I truly needed. I cannot explain the entire chain of events except for God's love and providence.

The judge in Jesus' story did not care about hearing the problems of others unless they had something to offer him in return. In the end, he only helped the widow because she would not leave him alone. By contrast, our God is "merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness."⁹ Throughout the Scriptures, we are constantly invited to pray, seeking help from God. St. Peter writes, "Cast all your anxiety on [God], because He cares for you."¹⁰ St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians writes, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."¹¹ In another letter Paul encourages us to "pray without ceasing."¹² Christ himself says, "Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you."¹³ With all of these invitations to go to God in prayer, I can come to no other conclusion but that God wants to hear our prayers.

Theologian William Barclay offers six of guidelines for praying. First, pray with the knowledge that God knows better than we do what is best for us. God may not give us what we want, but He will give us what we need. Second pray with the knowledge that, while we have a limited understanding of things, God sees the bigger picture. Third, pray sincerely. The widow in Jesus' story would not have kept going back to the judge over and over again if she were not sincere in her request. Fourth, be definite in your prayers. Tell God exactly what is on your heart. Fifth, pray with a willingness to give God your cooperation. If we are going to ask God for help, we must be willing to do our part. Finally, pray for God's will to be done.¹⁴ When we do so, we open ourselves up to God's transforming power in our lives.¹⁵

Whatever is on your mind, whatever you are feeling, whatever is troubling your heart, pray! Pray, knowing that you can go to God with anything. Pray, knowing that God wants to hear your prayers. Pray, knowing that God wants to give you what is best for you. Pray, knowing that God loves you more than you can even imagine.

Amen.


Notes:
1 - William Barclay. The Parables of Jesus. 1999, Westminster John Knox Press. p. 114
2 - Barclay, p. 115
3 - See my introspection “Jellyfish and Currents”
4 - Isaiah 55:8
5 - C.S. Lewis. Mere Christianity. Book I, Chapter 1.
6 - Luke 11:11-12
7 - Luke 11:13
8 - John Burke. No Perfect People Allowed. 2005, Zondervan. p. 213
9 - Exodus 34:6
10 - 1 Peter 5:7 (emphasis added)
11 - Philippians 4:6
12 - 1 Thessalonians 5:17
13 - Luke 11:9
14 - Barclay, p. 117-119
15 - Rob Bell. Nooma 019 | Open. 2008, Flannel / Zondervan.


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