You could be forgiven for thinking that last week's gospel reading, Luke 18: 1- 8, the parable of the unjust judge, implied that if you annoy God enough he will answer your prayer. After all, that is what the widow does. However, having thought about it a bit and, admittedly, consulted some commentaries, the parable is really about what God is not like. The rhetorical questions that Jesus asks confirms this.'Will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?" The rhetorical answer being 'yes'. 'Will he delay in helping them?" The rhetorical answer being 'no'. Jesus goes on to say that God 'will quickly grant justice to them'. Then Jesus follows this with another rhetorical question: 'And yet, when the Son of Man comes will he find faith on earth?' Jesus gives no answer, but my guess he hopes we will say 'yes'. The faith he is looking for is that we see God as generous, gracious and quick to grant justice; not the grumpy, stingy God of so many people's views.
Who is the God you pray to?
Chris
2 comments:
yes Chris, I also used to think that this parable was all about annoying God until he answered my prayer the way I wanted it! I wonder if this parable is 'hooked' up with the parable of the sower in Lk 8. I've seen so many of my Christian friends drift away because they have lost faith in prayers not being answered the way they would like, even though they have 'bothered'God for months and he has answered, often in a different way! Will God find faith on earth? Hmm, it's harder now in our 'name it and claim it' culture, our 'this is my order, please have it filled out in under 5 minutes' expectations.
Maybe, Paul, we - the church, that is - need to take some blame for the lack of faith found on earth. I think we have overlayed the christian faith with so many rules, including rules about how, where, and what to say in prayer, that people can't be bothered bothering God. Yet at the same time, many still pray in their own way.
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