Sunday, October 19th 2025
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Series C (Proper 24C)
Text: Luke 18:1-8
Sermon Audio
As we gather… “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). We are often timid in prayer. We don’t want to bother God, and perhaps we think that we can be a nuisance. However, the parable Jesus tells us gives us a picture of God’s compassion for us. If an unrighteous judge would listen to the case of a persistent widow, if, for no other reason, that she leave him alone, how much more will the Lord listen to those who pray to Him? We need look no further than the compassion that the Lord shows us by sending His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die and rise for our sins. If He loves us so much by sending His Son, how will He not graciously give us all things? We cannot wear out God in prayer and we cannot dream big enough, so be bold in your prayers, confident that the Lord hears you on account of His Son, Jesus Christ!
If you look closely at food containers, you’ll find a hotline on almost every wrapper. Dial this number with questions or comments. Now how many of us have actually called that number or wrote a letter to the address on the box? Probably not many.
My friend in high school, his mom would write in or call in with complaints. She would say things like: “The cookies were stale.” “The candies are packaged inefficiently.” “One of the potato chips was mishappen and discolored.” Inevitably, the company’s solution was to just send her free stuff. It didn’t matter the candies were packaged inefficiently, she’d find a whole case of those inefficiently packaged candies on her doorstep within a month’s time. It pays to be persistent. The squeaky wheel gets the oil.
And so, we find that holds true even centuries earlier. Jesus tells the story of a persistent widow. “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’”
Of course, what’s at stake is not simply getting more free stuff. In this parable, Jesus is inviting us to a world of prayer. BECAUSE OUR COMPASSIONATE FATHER LISTENS, WE PRAY PERSISTENTLY.
First, I. We fear that our God is uncaring and distant. Let’s circle back to our analogy of customer service. I’m willing to bet that not many of you have reached out to customer service to complain. Especially not with things as trivial as the efficiency of packaging. Why not?
Well, because I’ll just be put on hold for hours and then they’ll listen to my case and then say too bad, so sad, and do nothing. Maybe we say we don’t want to be that kind of person who is a pain in the rear end who complains as the squeaky wheel. We don’t want to be seen as a cheapskate or someone who is trying to cheat the system.
Likewise, we all have our reasons to be complacent in prayer. “If God knows everything in advance, what different does it make if I pray?” “If the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groans deeper than words, I’ll just let Him do the praying so I can get back to my hobbies.” “There’s people with worse problems than me, isn’t it trivial to pray to God about a papercut or a sliver?”
At the heart of the matter is that we think that prayer doesn’t make that much of a difference. God’s not listening, and He’s not going to change His mind. Scripture gives us warnings against such apathy. The Lord speaks through the prophet Zephaniah warning the idle: “At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, ‘The LORD will not do good, nor will he do ill.’” Some people in Zephaniah’s day thought the Lord was asleep at the wheel, and what they did made no difference.
Look at the persistence of the widow! She knows the judge doesn’t care. She doesn’t know for sure whether the judge will answer her demands to receive justice. In fact, this shameless judge could have just as easily sent her to prison or punished her because he was annoyed. Yet he is beaten down, as it were, by her persistence and he grants the request if for no other reason than that he doesn’t want to keep on being bothered by her.
Jesus finishes this parable saying, “And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily.” If the unjust judge paid attention to the persistent widow and heard her request, how much more will our Lord hear our prayers!
II. Our Father shows compassion through His Son. They say it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. On one hand, it’s a special thing when the foreigner in customer service lowers his scepter and gives you a return or a refund. But on the other, when you know the store owner, it’s an entirely different thing.
A small business owner in our congregation is very generous to me and my family when we go to their business. She says, “Pastor, your money is no good here.” Talk about a discount! It doesn’t get much better than free.
Of course, those free goods and services just don’t fall down from heaven like manna. The small business owners just eat the cost and give me for free what they paid for.
Your hotline with the Father wasn’t free. The enemies of God attacked Jesus: sin, death, and the devil conspired to send Jesus into custody, to be tortured, crucified, and killed. Jesus kept on asking His Father for justice against His adversary. He prayed in the Garden that the cup pass from Him. He was in such agony that He sweat drops of blood. Even from the cross, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” “Into your hands, I commit my spirit.” “It is finished.” Did Jesus receive justice?
Indeed, He did. The Father vindicated Jesus, and His prayers were heard. Although the cup didn’t pass from Jesus, the Father strengthened Him to endure the sin, shame, and suffering. Easter morning is God’s verdict of not guilty. Easter morning with Jesus’ resurrection was the answer to Jesus’ prayer.
And so, we trust in Christ who did all of this for us. “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” Indeed, He is asking, when I return, will you be waiting for me and looking to hear from me?
Indeed, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Because of the compassion that the Father has shown through Jesus Christ His Son, we are bold to pray and know that He will listen.
III. We pray persistently knowing we’re heard. Martin Luther writes in the Large Catechism, “From this you see that we are not asking here for crumbs or for a temporal, perishable blessing, but for an eternal, priceless treasure and for everything that God himself possesses. It would be far too great for any human heart to dare to desire it if God himself had not commanded us to ask for it. But because he is God, [56] he also claims the honor of giving far more abundantly and liberally than anyone can comprehend—like an eternal, inexhaustible fountain, which, the more it gushes forth and overflows, the more it continues to give. He desires nothing more from us than that we ask many and great things of him. And, on the contrary, he is angered if we do not ask and demand with confidence.
[57] Imagine if the richest and most powerful emperor commanded a poor beggar to ask for whatever he might desire and was prepared to give lavish, royal gifts, and the fool asked only for a dish of beggar’s broth. He would rightly be considered a rogue and a scoundrel, who had made a mockery of the imperial majesty’s command and was unworthy to come into his presence. Just so, it is a great reproach and dishonor to God if we, to whom he offers and pledges so many inexpressible blessings, despise them or lack confidence that we shall receive them and scarcely venture to ask for a morsel of bread” (LC III §55–57).
So ask on, pray persistently. A pastor friend of mine would quote his late grandfather who said, “If you don’t ask, I can’t say, “Yes,” and the worst I can say is ‘No.’”
Think about how many modern triumphs were buoyed by the prayers of countless faithful Christians throughout the world: the end of slavery in the United States, the success of foreign missions in far flung corners of the world, the defeat of fascism in the 40s, the collapse of communism in the 90s, and many, many other such events.
“and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”” The Lord wants us to call upon Him, and how much more gracious and caring is He than an unjust judge, customer service, or even a friend who runs a small business? We cannot dream big enough, and we cannot wear Him out with our asking and praying. So be bold, pray with confidence because your Heavenly Father wants to hear from you.
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”