Musings: Persistence and Faith

St. Paul’s words of farewell to Timothy (2 Timothy 3 & 4) call for persistence in proclamation and teaching: “continue in what you have learned”

             “Proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time if favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage …”

These words, along with Paul’s reflection on his own ministry, fit well with the gospel lession for October 19 (Luke 18:1-8), in which Jesus encourages persistence in prayer. Put together with the story of Jacob wrestling at the Jabbok (Genesis 32:22-31), we seem to have a consistent theme: persistence in prayer will get results.

But I find this theme to be problematic, especially when I hold it up to Jeremiah 14. There we read Jeremiah’s pleas on behalf of the people for God to relent from punishing them. Jeremiah wrestles with God’s promise of destruction and doom seemingly to no avail; for we know that God continued with the punishment, Jerusalem was destroyed, and many were carried off into exile.

The struggle for me, when I put all these readings together, is to find a proper theme that runs through the next two weeks. Taken alone, each Sunday’s texts provide a clear path for preaching, albeit one that cannot be taken too simply. Together, however, they stir up some difficulties.

And we cannot ignore this problem. The parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector immediately follows the parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge. It would see that in Luke’s mind, these stories have some relationship to one another. I imagine they are more than simple instructions to disciples and hypocrites.

After Jesus concludes the parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge, he speaks this line: “And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” I’m drawn to this question, particularly as it raises another: What is faith and what does faith do?

Looking back at the parable, I wonder what role faith plays. Is it the widow’s faith in her own persistence to get results? Is it her faith that the judge will eventually do the right thing? Is faith the expectation that God will give us what we ask in prayer, so long as we ask long and hard enough?

Or is faith more like what we see in the Tax Collector, who humbles himself before God, asking for mercy to receive what is undeserved? Does faith acknowledge that we have no real power over ourselves or anyone else? Is this what Jesus means when he says, “all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted”?