Stories
of Persistence, Arrogance and Humility
[Luke
chapter 18, verses 1-14]
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Last
week when we finished up the 17th
chapter of the gospel of Luke, Jesus had explained to the apostles
some of the things that would happen at the time of the Rapture of
the church. “Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it”, Jesus
explained to his apostles, “and whoever loses his life will
preserve it.” So whoever lives only for themselves will be dead for
eternity and eternally condemned, while those who live for and
dedicate their lives to following Jesus Christ and his teachings will
achieve immortality in the presence of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
These two ultimate fates of humankind are polar opposites of one
another! This week as we move on to chapter 18, Jesus is exhorting
his apostles to enrich their prayer life, and then gives them an
illustration of how this can be done. So let's go to the first verse
of Luke chapter 18 as we continue from last week.
“Then
Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them they should always
pray and not give up. He said: 'In a certain town there was a judge
who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in
that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice
against my adversary.' For some time he refused. But finally he said
to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet
because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets
justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!'
And the Lord said, 'Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will
God not bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him
day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see
that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man
comes, will he find faith on the earth?'” (Luke 18, verses 1-8)
As
you can see, this is a continuation of Jesus' train of thought
through the eyes and ears of the apostle Luke. Previously he had told
the Twelve near the end of chapter 17, “Whoever tries to keep his
life will lose it”. To be a follower of Jesus, we must live for him
like adopting an entirely new lifestyle. A modern equivalent would be
something like becoming vegan, to use one example. Our faith and our
prayers must be like that of the persistent old widow. In the violent
world in which we live, living out our Christian faith is becoming
ever more difficult in the face of so much godless behavior. On
second thought, I can think of at least one bogus god here in modern
times, and that is money and the pursuit of profit and materialism.
The USA has another bogus god that it has yet to deal with, let alone
repent of – militarism. But that will be the topic of another
weekly bible study or commentary some other time.
“In
a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared
about men.”
I will voluntarily make a little confession right here concerning
this. Decades ago, when I was a much younger man, I was similar to
the judge in Jesus' story. I was in sales back in the days before the
internet, from the mid-1970's to the early '80s. Since I grew up in
foster care I had no family ties, so staying on the road selling and
making money was all I lived for. I had no wife and didn't want one.
I didn't own any property, but I always drove a luxury car,
Cadillac's and Oldsmobile's were my favorites. And I always had
plenty of cash and nearly always carried a loaded gun, though I
thankfully (in retrospect) never got the chance to use it. Sadly,
today there are more of these kinds of people than ever before.
Although I have long since repented of this behavior and surrendered
control of my life to Christ, I find myself very much in the minority
today as I look around me. The ugly truth is that so many people have
stopped caring – excluding themselves – that the world has begun
to devolve into chaos. When that happens it will be every man/woman
to themselves, and pandemonium will ensue. That's why I started
stockpiling nonperishable food and fresh water in my apartment quite
a while back, or at least as much as I can fit in here. The exact
amount is classified info. Those who are not already doing so should
consider the same.
“...there
was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant
me justice against my adversary...”
The one true God Almighty, the author of his Word that we study
weekly as a group, stands for justice and fairness (see Exodus 21 and
22). For any of us to be anything less, or to otherwise mistreat,
assault or steal from others, is ungodly behavior, or more accurately
Satanic behavior. Like the old song goes, “You Have to Serve
Somebody” (Bob Dylan, circa mid-1970's). In the end it will be good
or evil, the light or the darkness. There are no other choices, and
anyone who says otherwise is trying to deceive or mislead you! Put
those people out of your life permanently! But if we seek God
continuously, which can only be done through his Son Jesus Christ,
our prayers will be answered and our needs met. So, we are to remain
in a constant state of prayer inasmuch as it is possible. The main
caveat here is that God may not always give us what we want, but he
always supplies our needs. Food to eat, a home to live in, health and
well-being are the basics of life. God will provide us all those
things provided we live our lives for him rather than for ourselves.
After those necessities I would add education, communication and
transportation, all of which are self-explanatory. Anything more than
this may or may not be granted in prayer, it depends. God does not
grant every wish all of the time!
“And
will God not bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to
him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will
see that they get justice, and quickly.”
If the unjust judge granted the widow her wish after her repeated
pleadings, how much more will God grant our requests that are made
through persistent prayer? This is why prayers are so vitally
important! We can't have a relationship with Jesus without
communication, and prayers are the way we communicate. But today
there are many people who don't do this, or who have stopped, and I
think Jesus already knew that. Otherwise, why would he have asked,
“However, when
the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
When Jesus does return, will there be anyone left to greet him? So
help me and by the grace of God, I will be there if I am still
living, so there's one. Would anybody else like to be there besides
myself? You know, if we were only to lift up one another in prayer
nearly continuously, there's no telling how much we could accomplish
as a united people! And God created us to live in unity with each
other, not to be in competition with one another. On that thought,
let's move on to part 2 of today's biblical study starting at verse
9.
“To
some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on
everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 'Two men went up to the
Temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The
Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I
am not like other men – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even
like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all
I get.' But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even
look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on
me, a sinner.' I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went
home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be
humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.'” (Luke 18,
verses 9-14)
To
those people who thought they didn't need God or other people and who
felt no need for repentance from their sins, this latest parable was
directed at them. There were some in the crowd that surrounded Jesus
and the Twelve everywhere they went just like there are today, except
that today there are far more of them, those who love evil more than
good. Their end will be the fires of hell, and sadly they either
don't or won't believe it. No amount of preaching or reasoning will
persuade them to alter their course. In some churches we find the
exact opposite – people who are so far up in the clouds from a
Spiritual standpoint that they can't do any earthly good. Those are
the modern-day Pharisees, except today we call them
'holier-than-thou's' and 'religious conservatives', among other
things I can't print here. “But
the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to
heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a
sinner.”
We cannot have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ unless we
first acknowledge our sinful nature. In much the same way as people
in treatment for addictions need to admit they have a problem before
they can be helped, so it is with coming to the cross of Christ. Have
mercy on us, Lord Jesus. We are all sinners. Questions of degree, or
if any one sin is greater than another, are completely besides the
point. We're all very sorry for what we've done, Lord, no matter what
it is.
“I
tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified
before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he
who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Notice that the Pharisee tithed 10%, just like the Bible says in what
we now call the Old Testament. In modern times this has been
incorporated into our church services, particularly where the
“prosperity gospel” is concerned. I stopped watching 'television
evangelists' after the 4th
Blood Moon and the Shemitah year came and went without incident back
in 2015. Instead of getting wrapped up in all that, let us humble
ourselves and curtail our high and mighty attitudes. David the
psalmist wrote, “Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and he
will lift you up.” So Jesus, through this parable, was echoing the
words of his ancestor, King David of Jerusalem. It is vitally
important that we maintain this attitude of humility in our
relationships, first with Christ and 2nd
with everyone else. Let's all spend the next week working on that as
a way to become more humble and compassionate people before God. And
next week we'll be analyzing part 2 of Luke chapter 18.
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