October 21, 2007, 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Exodus 17:8-13 II Timothy 3:14-4:2 Luke 18:1-8
To the church in the diaspora[1]
& to the church of the unchurched[2]
Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke.
Glory to you, Lord.
Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always and not lose heart. He said, "There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being. And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, 'Render a just decision for me against my adversary. For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, 'While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her; or else she will keep on coming and wear me out!” Then the Lord said, "Notice how this dishonest judge behaved. Will not God then, patient as he is, see that justice is done to his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. But when I, the Son of Man, come, how many will I find who have faith and are praying?”
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ
Introduction
A parable about not losing heart in prayer
On the 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time (July 29, 2007) Jesus told us a parable about praying and not losing heart, as we earnestly beg God for some request. At one time or other, sooner or later, we all find ourselves standing before God earnestly begging for something. This is true whether we are strong believers, weak believers, and yes, even no believers at all. (There are no atheists in foxholes.)
The parable that Sunday used the quaint and amusing imagery of God as a father in bed with his kids. The door has already been bolted for the night, and all are snuggly tucked under a nice warm quilt. Suddenly a neighbor is persistently knocking at his door. He needs three loaves of bread because a visitor has suddenly come upon him, and as a good host he wants to offer him the hospitality of food. His persistent knocking pays off. It wears the poor man down. He gets up, unlocks the door and hands the neighbor his three loaves. He does so not so much out of friendship but simply to get rid of the man and get back to sleep.
The parable ends with Jesus’ exhortation, “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Jesus backs up his exhortation with a reminder of how earthly fathers act. “What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good things to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Luke 11:1-13)?
Another parable about not losing heart in prayer
On this 29th Sunday of Ordinary time (October 21, 2007) Jesus tells us another parable about not losing heart, as we earnestly beg God for something. This parable does not use quaint but bold imagery. It compares God with a bad judge in town who fears neither God nor man. A tough little lady, who won’t take no for an answer, wants the judge to plead her case. Her constant knocking at his door pays off. It wears him down. He agrees to take on her case if for no other reason than to shut her up. The parable ends with a bottom line: If the corrupt judge can be worn down by a persistent little old lady asking for justice, “how much more will God, patient as he is, hear the plea of those who beseech him day and night” (Lk 18:1-8).
The four kinds of prayers
The catechism lines up four kinds of prayer. There is the Prayer of Adoration -- the prayer of one who feels the mystery of God and gives God silent adoration. Then there is the Prayer of Thanksgiving -- the prayer of one who feels grateful for his many blessings and gives God heartfelt gratitude. There is the Prayer of Forgiveness -- the prayer of one who feels his waywardness and gives God painful but joyful repentance. But then there is the Prayer of Petition. It’s the prayer of one who gives God nothing but needs something from God. It’s the prayer of one who suddenly needs three loaves of bread from a neighbor or who sorely needs justice from a corrupt judge.
The problematic Prayer of Petition
The Prayers of Adoration, Thanksgiving and Forgiveness which give God something present no problem; they are simply what they are. The Prayer of Petition, however, which asks for something from God, is problematic. Sooner or later we all find ourselves earnestly begging God for something, and our prayer doesn’t seem to be heard despite Jesus’ words, “Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and the door shall be opened to you.” We pray that a mountainous burden be lifted from our backs and cast into the sea, but we’re still heavily laden. We pray for the cure of a loved one. Oh how many of us prayed earnestly for the promising and compassionate Dr. Colette Cameron, but she died! We remember and can never forget that six million Jews prayed that God would deliver them from the concentration camps of Auschwitz, Dachau and Buchenwald, and their prayers went up in the smoke of the crematoria! Most of the time we are simply too pious to deal frankly with the problematic Prayer of Petition.
Sometime, however, we do deal with it frankly. Not long ago a friend with his wife and daughter together with others dropped in the day before he was going to undergo quintuple bypass heart surgery. They brought their (and my) lunch along. The food helped to lighten up the somber occasion. The day before heart surgery always needs some lightening up. But the gravitas of such a moment inevitably broke through the small talk, and soon we found ourselves not very pious at all and dealing rather frankly with the problem of prayer. Soon we found ourselves wondering out loud whether asking God for a happy outcome to an imminent heart surgery can actually influence God to change his immutable mind. It was a frank discussion about prayer.
Good things or the Holy Spirit?
Luke’s parable about the neighbor who late at night knocks persistently at the door of the father in bed with his kids and asks for three loaves of bread ends with a bottom line: “If you fathers, who are wicked, know how to give good things to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” That always puzzles me. I always wonder where in the world did the Holy Spirit come from in the first place. One has asked for a fish or a loaf or an egg but not for the Holy Spirit (Lk 11:13)!
At the present moment I am forced to leave the house which has been my comfortable home for twenty-eight years and seek a safer location and a more benign atmosphere in which to live out my last years. In my prayer these past few months I have been asking the Father in heaven for this good thing: a clean and comfortable apartment on the first floor, two bedrooms, a workroom, garage, washer and dryer, safe surroundings, location close to the Lake (if possible) and, above all, room for my cat and dog. I have been asking the heavenly Father for this good thing because Matthew tells me that He, just like all earthly fathers, gives good things to His children who ask for them. (Mt 7:11). If at this moment I should not get the good thing I ask for but just the Holy Spirit, I know I shall be quite disappointed!
The parallel passage from Matthew is not so puzzling. It reads a bit differently and more the way we might expect it to read: “If you fathers, who are wicked, know how to give good things [like a fish or a loaf or an egg] to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him” (Mt 7:11). In our Prayer of Petition do we get the good things we prayed for, or do we get the Holy Spirit?
Conclusion
Keep on knocking
At the end of the day, whatever might be our theology of prayer, we keep on knocking at the door of God as the man in need of three loaves kept knocking at his neighbor’s door, or as the little old lady in need of justice kept knocking at the door of the corrupt judge. We keep on knocking because Jesus says we should. "Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you." And if, when the door is opened, we are, indeed, given the thing we asked for, i.e., the loaves or the justice or the relocation we seek, that's fine. Praised be God! If, however, when the door is opened, we are not given the thing we asked for but are given the Holy Spirit, that is to say, we are given power from on high (Lk 24:49), that perhaps is better yet. With the Holy Spirit we then have the power not to get the things we want but to want the things we get. With the Holy Spirit we even have the power to forgive God for not giving us the thing we asked for. That’s great power, indeed. It fits us for the arduous journey that lies up front.
[1] Diaspora is a Greek word meaning dispersion. Originally it referred to the settling of scattered colonies of Jews outside Palestine after the Babylonian exile. It’s now come to mean the migration or scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland or parish!
[2] By “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church but those whom the church has left!
