Pray, Constantly and Always
Readings: Exodus 17:8-13; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2; Luke 11: 1-13
Well, we don't have to look very hard to find the theme of today's gospel, do we? Luke emphatically blurts it out at the very beginning of today’s gospel passage. It’s the only time, at least that I can recall, that any of the four evangelists explains a parable even before the parable is given. Apparently, the message of the parable was something Luke didn’t want his readers to miss. And so, he tells us: "Jesus told his disciples a parable on the necessity of praying always without becoming weary." Prayer is one of Luke’s favorite gospel themes. Luke, more than other gospel writers, emphasizes the importance of prayer. He portrays Jesus as a man of prayer and underscores the necessity of prayer for those who would choose to follow Jesus
Prayer is asking, prayer is wondering, prayer is bringing to God all of the feelings from the depths of our souls, so that we might lay them before his throne. So that we might cry out from the very inner longings of our soul all the concerns, all the problems, all the things that make us who we are, and what we are.
Prayer is a struggle, a tug of war between parts of our self, between our self and God, between our self and others.
But not only do we struggle to bring from the depths of our souls, our longings, our searchings, our inner feelings to God, not only do we struggle to lay bear before the throne of God our very self, but in prayer, we come in contact with God. Prayer is indeed an encounter with God, and encounter between our spirit and the spirit of God. God's spirit comes to us and mingles with our spirit so that we might be encouraged, so that we might be enabled, so that we might be strengthen to bring from the depth of our souls all those needs, doubts, struggles, joys, thanksgivings, celebrations, all those events of life into the realm of God.
But as wonderful as all that sounds, prayer is a problem for many people. If it wasn't a problem, then why are there so few people who seem to take prayer seriously? If it isn't a problem for us then why do we find it so hard to set time aside everyday to spend with God in prayer? If we took prayer seriously then we wouldn't hesitate to be persistent and consistent in the time we spend in conversation with God. And if you think that this is a particularly new problem, think again. Why would Jesus have told this parable and quite a number of others about prayer to his disciples? Why would he have given us the Lord's Prayer as a model prayer if everybody back then had perfect prayer lives? Prayer is a problem for anyone who desires a relationship with the all-present, yet unseen God.
But if we really believed in the power of prayer, if we really believed that prayer can effect world peace, if we were truly convinced that prayer changes things, changes us, heals broken lives and restores severed relationships, then we would be praying constantly. You couldn't keep us from praying. So what stops us? More often than not, we simply lose heart.
Yet clearly, the example of the widow in this morning’s gospel teaches us that what God requires is faithful perseverance, even when things seem hopeless. Luke tells us to pray persistently like the widow who nagged the dishonest judge "who neither feared God nor respected any human being." Persistence to get the just decision she wanted was her only strategy. Knowing she would not relent, the judge finally gave in.
We don’t know why life is cruel, but it is. We don’t know why some of our prayers seem to be answered so dramatically while others seem to fall on silent ears. But one thing is true. In today’s gospel, Jesus teaches us to pray constantly and always, and never give up offering our prayers to our Heavenly Father. Because when we pray, something happens - not only to what we want done in the prayer, but more importantly, something happens to us! Prayer is not so much getting God to do what we want done as it is drawing closer to God. As we pray constantly and always, we move closer to God, and something of God’s heart becomes ours.
Pray constantly and always! That’s sound advice. Even when things go wrong, even when we don’t seem to get any results, even when our world falls down upon us, pray, Jesus says, constantly and always. Because when we pray like that, our thoughts, our minds, our hearts are drawn closer to God. In prayer, we pour out our hearts to a loving God, to the God of all compassion and justice. In the gospel, Jesus contrasts God with the hard-hearted, unscrupulous, uncaring judge. If God were like that judge, who’d bother to pray at all? Who’d want to worship a tyrant like that? Rather, Jesus says, pray trusting in the goodness of God.
I don't know what you’ve been praying for. It might have been something as big or something small. It might have been world peace or peace in your family. It might have been food for the hungry or the health to eat what you have. It might have been for whole nations to find Christ or for one person to be saved. Whatever it is; keep praying, constantly and always. Don’t give up. Pray with faith that your prayers are heard. Pray with trust that God is loving. And let your prayers draw you closer to God. For often that nearness to God is the answer we seek and the blessing God has for us.
