Purpose of Prayer
Wow.
I was struck by the purpose of Jesus’ teaching for this opening story in
Luke 18. The purpose of the story is to
teach the importance of prayer in opposition to “losing motivation.” (Some translations say “fainting” or “losing heart.”) In either case, what a wonderful perspective
on prayer! So often we think of prayer
in terms of purpose: “God, please give to me.”
Or even more appropriately: “God, you are great.” But here Jesus reminds us that the effect of
prayer is to counter lethargy in our spirituality. We pray so that we might not lose steam as we
go through life!
This really turns this story on its
head. Initially we see this story as one
where the widow gets what she wants because she is persistent. But to take this approach implies getting
something out of the teaching that is not Jesus’ primary reason for teaching it
(although it is not necessarily wrong; just secondary). This story is about the persistence of the
widow, not her victory. Prayer is about
persisting in life, not necessarily being victorious over it. After all, how many of us can truly say that
our spirituality is always victorious over the world around us? No, we would be more correct to say that our
spirituality persists in spite of the efforts of the world around us. And that is the point of prayer. Lord, allow my spirituality to persist this
day and tomorrow regardless of how the world would desire to influence me.
Justification and Inward Behavior
Now we move to the story about the
Pharisees and the tax collector. We
again learn that prayer is not about satisfying my needs but in asking God to
allow us to persist. The Pharisee’s
prayer is self-righteous and self-centered (self-mongerism at its best!). The Pharisee is not concerned about
persisting in this world because in his vain opinion he believes that he has
conquered the world and proven himself righteous. The tax collector, on the other hand, knows
his error and confesses it. He knows
that he doesn’t deserve grace. The tax
collector asks God to allow him to continue and to persist in the midst of the
world even though he knows that he doesn’t deserve it. His prayer is not self-righteous; it is
honest and humbling. The tax collector
goes home justified because he has laid his sin before God in humble confession
and entrusted his fate to God. The
Pharisee goes home unjustified because he sees no reason to think that God
wouldn’t allow him to continue because he believes that he deserves it.
As long as we’re comparing the so-called-righteous
with the admittedly-unrighteous, let’s turn to the rich young ruler and
Peter. The rich young ruler comes to
Jesus seeking justification. He’s been a
good Jewish boy, and by human understanding of the law he deserves praise. It seems to him that he has kept all the
commandments. Yet, in his heart there is
proof that he has done nothing of the sort.
Outwardly he has obeyed the law, but inwardly he has done so for the
point of his own advantage. He has come
into great wealth and prestige. And when
Jesus reminds him that the true follower of God gives up everything to follow
God, the rich young ruler is shown just how little his heart inclines to
God. He is a follower in outward
behavior, but there is no following God in his heart. His heart yearns for the things of the world.
Sacrifice in Discipleship
On the other hand, look at Peter’s
confession. He – and the disciples with
him – has literally given up everything.
They have walked away from occupation.
They have walked away from closeness with their families. They have walked away from stability in
life. And Jesus praises them for
it! Let it be declared quite simply: The
disciple of Christ is not the one who preaches from the middle of his secure
kingdom. The disciple is the one who is
willing to sacrifice everything within his kingdom in order to find fellowship
with Jesus.
In this we see the reason that Jesus
declares that with man nothing is possible but with God everything is
possible. What human in their right mind
gives up their kingdom? No, we store up
treasures. We make choices that are best
for us rather than choices that could help others. We don’t mind being Christian so long as we
are “safe.” Ha! We are the rich young ruler after all! Those who are truly with God will follow the
footsteps of Jesus’ true disciples. They
will give up whatever they need to in order to find Christ. Nothing in this world will prevent them from
being found by Jesus! That is a line of
thinking that is not natural within mankind but rather it is a gift from God to
His disciples.
Is this true of me? Is it true of you? Do we make room for our spirituality only when
we have time and can be “safe” about it?
Or do we give up things in our life for the purpose of finding
Christ? What do we really sacrifice so
that we might be in the presence of God?
Have we really sacrificed anything at all?
Death and Healing
So then Jesus predicts His death and
moves on with a healing. The healing in
this passage illustrates a good bit of what Jesus was just saying about risking
everything to be found by Jesus. The
blind man shouts out and is rebuked. The
people around him tell him to be quiet.
It is likely that these people around him are the ones he relied upon to
put money in his cup for begging. It is
likely that this blind man may have relied on these same people to get to and
from home every day. By irritating the
people around him, he was potentially cutting off his support! As he calls out, he is risking whatever
little amount of kingdom to which he might have access!
Yet what does this blind man do? He calls out for the Lord. He calls out so that the Lord may find
him. He is willing to alienate the
people around him – or at the least make them angry – so that he might be found
by Jesus. Now there’s a powerful
testimony. Are we willing to find
ourselves alienated from the world around us if it means that we would be found
by Jesus? Or do we say we are willing
but when push comes to shove we go back to the world’s ways and the people
around us so that we don’t alienate them?
In the end, the blind man – as well as
Peter, the rest of the disciples, and those who truly follow Christ – risks
everything and becomes eternally rich in Christ. The rich young man – and those who don’t
really seek God in their heart – risks nothing and becomes eternally poor. Which one am I? Which one are you? Which one does my/your heart say I/you should
be? Which one do my/your actions
indicate I am/you are?
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