November 12, 2021
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Reading along with us in Luke? Here’s today’s reading:
Luke 18 (NIV)
The Parable of the Persistent Widow
1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’.......Continue Reading
This chapter made me think of two things first the state in which we come to God…again He is looking for humility, repentance, and surrender. It isn’t about what we have done like the Pharisee thinks but what He has done for us which the tax collector seemed to understand.
The other thing is how often we come to God. Not just for any one request (while I do think that our repeated asking and God’s timing are not always the same so a single request could happen for years) but just a constant falling at His feet in everything. It spoke to me about devotion and discipline in our relationship with Christ and how important it is to constantly seek Him in everything we say and do.
Luke 18
“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.”
Luke 18:1 NIV
https://luke.bible/luke-18-1
The power of prayer is so great! Thank you, Father, for this gift.
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What a gift prayer is, to be able to have a conversation with God, and to think God welcomes and rewards our persistence in it, shows His investment in it as well. If we don’t persist in prayer, it is fitting for God to ask us, do you really want/need the thing you are praying for? But God certainly doesn’t want us coming to Him with pride, thinking we are better than others and thanking God we are not like others. That would show a misunderstanding of what the basis of comparison would be in prayer (not that we should compare ourselves to others at any time). It is not wether we are better than others, but wether we are better than the God we are praying to. Since that is not the case, humility is always the correct and accurate perspective to have in prayer. And the innocent, trusting and usually humble perspective and approach of a chid is a good reference point. So of course children can be brought to Jesus because they are the model of what everyone should be before God.
The rich younger ruler is not a good model. It is right that he came to Jesus to ask “what must I do to inherit eternal life.” But to think that salvation could be based in what he could do was misplaced. But he was probably secure in the fact that his wealth was a sign that God’s hand was upon him and that his obedience had put him in a good place to ask the question. He was probably pretty happy when Jesus gives the first response, follow the commands. But then Jesus knows his wealth is a barrier to true faith in God, so if you want to make it about works, here is the work you would need to do, sell all you have, give to the poor and then follow me. But what Jesus realizes is that that work would be the greatest expression of faith in God that the rich man could express. Give it away because you trust God to give you treasure in heaven and to believe that is more valuable? Those are the issues at play here for Jesus and why He asks him to do those things. Thank God that the way of salvation is clearer than that. The way of salvation is found in the death He will die, and yet when He tells His disciples what’s going down, they don’t understand.
And what a great account of this healing. In it, there is the lesson of persistent prayer. This man keeps calling out to Jesus even after others ask him to stop. Jesus even affirms God’s desire to hear what we want/need in the context of prayer by asking him what he wants Jesus to do. It appears pretty obvious, but Jesus asks anyways. And then Jesus affirms the necessity and power of faith and His humility as well. Just consider Jesus saying your faith has healed you. Well that’s just one side of the coin, right? The bigger side is the power of Jesus/the Father to bring sight to the blind. But that’s not the side that Jesus emphasizes to demonstrate the importance of faith rightly directed. Your faith has made you well but you were also wise to project that faith towards Me, Jesus would say…And in that we have the model of how humans always need to interact with God, whether you are a persistent widow, a rich younger ruler or a blind man: God brings the power and provision (the substance of what we need). and we bring the faith that takes what God says He will bring and applies it to our lives. And kids are the ones who do that all the time…and that’s why we need to be more like them….
The parable of the persistent widow to teach “that men always ought to pray and not lose heart”. I have been claiming this verse often in prayer for our nation. It seems that we have fallen into lawlessness and even our government entities in place to enforce the law are practicing lawlessness! “And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” Will He find faith on earth when He comes?
I think these parables in this chapter are lessons about trusting in God, following Jesus, and not trusting in oneself…for justice, for forgiveness, for salvation, for eternal life.
“Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous,…”
“I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
“But Jesus called them to Him and said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. 17 Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”
“So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
28 “Then Peter said, “See, we have left all and followed You.”
29 So He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” 43 And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.