Loving God, you have persistently brought back your people from all the places to which they have been scattered and have drawn them into community with you and with one another.  By the power of your Holy Spirit, continue to draw us into your community; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    There seems to be a lot of persistence in the readings that we have heard today.  The widow, obviously, is very persistent as she keeps going back to the judge again and again until he gives her justice.  Paul, also, in his letter to Timothy is telling him to be persistent in telling people all about Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.  And in the first reading that we heard from Jeremiah, it is God who is being persistent – unwilling to give up on the people who have repeatedly broken his covenant with them.

    All of this persistence leads me to wonder what the things are that we are most persistent about.  What are the things in your life in which you are persistent?  Can you think of any examples of things where you just keep on trying and keep on going back to the same thing over and over again? [possibilities: praying for healing, inviting people to church, praying for family members, competing, sales calls]

    So what is it about these things that causes you to be persistent?  Why do you keep at it and keep trying? [probably because it’s important to you] You wouldn’t be persistent if it didn’t matter to you.  When we’re desperate, we are persistent, and when something is really, really important to us, we are persistent.

    You may have heard this week about a protest in New Brunswick that turned violent and led to quite a few arrests.  Some of the aboriginal people who live there, as well as others who supported them, were protesting exploration on their territory that could lead to fracking.  Having seen Gasland, and having heard quite a bit about the contamination of ground water from fracking, I totally understand why they were protesting this.  From the aboriginal perspective, their land claims and treaty rights have been consistently ignored, and so they have remained quite persistent in trying to get the government’s attention.

    However, some of you might be more annoyed than understanding in this case.  Some of you might totally understand where the judge was coming from in Jesus’ parable, who was simply tired of the widow’s constant requests for justice.  There are probably times for all of us when we are on both sides of the fence.  There are times when we are the ones who are persistent in seeking what is important to us, and there are times when we are quite simply annoyed by the persistence of others.

    I’m wondering how many of you have encountered others who are persistently concerned about your salvation and the state of your soul.  Some of these people come to your door, always in pairs, ready to talk to you about God and religion.  Some of these people phone you, particularly if you live in apartment buildings where they can’t come to your door.  Some people will walk up to you on the street and ask you if you have been saved.  And some of you might even have family or friends who are always trying to convince you to come to church!  So how do you respond when you are approached?  What is your reaction? [responses]

    Just to consider the other side of things for a moment, why are these people so persistent?  Are they simply trying to annoy you? [perhaps they’re persistent because it’s important to them!  Perhaps some are forced to be persistent by the group to which they belong.] Still, it can be helpful for us to try to look at things from both sides and to understand the other person’s motivation, even when we might find ourselves annoyed.

    As well, consider for just a moment why Paul was telling Timothy to be persistent in telling people about Jesus (2 Tim. 4:2).  Paul believed that it was absolutely a matter of life and death and that the time was very short until judgment day.  He also believed that Jesus Christ was the one who had been sent by God to bring healing and salvation to all people, and Paul’s one mission in life was to tell as many people as possible about Jesus.  To him, having new life in Christ and the promise of resurrection from the dead was far more valuable than anything else in heaven or on earth.  And so, he was persistent, and he wanted Timothy and others to be persistent, too.

    I mentioned earlier about trying to see things from both sides, and to understand why you would be persistent and why others would be as well.  Well, now I’m going to ask you to try and grasp God’s persistence toward us.  In many ways, the entire Bible is the story of God’s persistence in spite of human self-absorption and disinterest.  The passage that we heard today from Jeremiah compared God’s relationship with the people of Israel to a marriage covenant in which one spouse has been unfaithful (Jer. 31:32).  However, God’s word to the people is not that he’s going to dump them and never have anything to do with them again.  Instead, God reveals a new covenant that he will make with the people that will be written on their hearts instead of on tablets of stone.

    And then this passage from Jeremiah finishes with an amazing thing: God “will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more” (Jer. 31:34).  Consider for just a moment how you would respond if somebody had hurt you and had been unfaithful to you and had utterly ignored you in spite of your love for them.  How likely would you be to forgive them – to wipe the slate clean – and to say, “you know, I’ve already forgotten all of the ways in which you hurt me”?  How easy is that to do? [not very...]

    And yet, this is God’s attitude, not only toward the people of Israel, but toward us.  God’s desire to be reconciled to us is so great that God persistently keeps coming and seeking us out.  And so, God has enacted this new covenant – this new treaty – this new agreement – through Jesus, in order that all might know him.

    This is the God to whom we come in worship today, who adopts us as his own children in baptism, and who feeds us with his gifts of grace at the Lord’s Supper.  This is also the God to whom we come in prayer – sometimes in persistent prayer – for all that is needed.  Certainly there are times for all of us when it may seem as though our prayers are not being heard.  However, Jesus repeatedly taught about God’s trustworthiness, and God’s readiness to grant justice, and God’s wisdom in giving good gifts to God’s children.

    At least part of the point of the parable that we heard today is that God is nothing like this unjust judge who is annoyed by the widow’s constant pleas for justice.  Instead, God welcomes our prayers and wants us to come to him for all that is needed.  And so, today we are invited to continue to pray, and to trust in God’s wisdom, and to walk daily with the one who has loved us with an everlasting love, for God persists in being at work in this world, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Lectionary 29(C)                                Jeremiah 31:27-34
October 20, 2013                                2 Timothy 3:14 - 4:5
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church                        Luke 18:1-8
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2013 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved