Covenant
United Methodist Church
Sunday School 9:45 Worship 8:30 & 10:45 am
Pentecost 12 Luke 18-1-7 Counting on God
There are things that you remember in life for a minister… being baptized, your call, your first church, your first sermon, the first wedding you perform and the first time you visit someone in the hospital…
When I was only about 18 years old a wonderful woman came to the church I was at. I was a new Christian, and thinking about being a minister when I met Eumelia. Eumelia was the wife of the pastor at the church I attended. She was sweet and talkative and bright. When she walked into a room the room lit up. She took me on as her project. The first time I met her she said come hear son… Then she said, “My husband is busy with his flock so I need my own personal pastor. I hear you are thinking of going into the ministry, so I am going to make you my little pastor.” After meeting, each Sunday morning she would find me and say, “What has been going on with my little pastor today.” I would tell her of my victories and defeats during the week, and then Eumelia would talk for what seemed like forever about some little thing she had done during the week like canning peaches or going to the grocery store. Then she would say, “I feel so much better little preacher. Now I can go about my day!”
The saddest thing happened during this time. The pastor and Eumelia both got sick about the same time and went into the hospital. The pastor had a urinary tract problem and ended up having surgery. He was in the hospital for about 6 weeks. Eumelia was even worse. She had cancer of the intestines. She eneded up having surgery and having most of her intestines removed. During this time I would go weekly and visit both of them. I would walk into the room with Eumelia and she would say. Come here little pastor and I would walk over to her bedside and she would say, How has your week been and I would tell her my victories and defeats during the week, and then she would tell me about how she felt and how she knew the Lord would heal her soon and she would be going home and back to the church soon. Then she would say, “Say a little prayer for me little preacher.” And I would pray my most heart felt prayer and leave, feeling wonderful about myself. One week when I came to visit Eumelia, after her surgery, I came to visit her and she had been very sick all day. I came and sat by her bedside and she began to cry. She looked up at me and said, “Little preacher I am going to die. Despite all my prayers to God I am going to die! I don’t understand why God is allowing this to happen to me. I don’t know why I am suffering so badly. I don’t feel close to God and God doesn’t seem to be answering my prayers. Say a little prayer for me please!” So I said a little prayer as she cried and left confused and hurt. Eumelia’s fears and hurts became my own. Why hadn’t God answered her prayers? Why didn’t God seem close to her. I left deciding that I wouldn’t visit again, and sure I wouldn’t be a minister… This brings us to an important question… What can we count on from God?
That is what our scripture tries to answer today. We are told from the very beginning what the parable is about. Jesus told the parable it says, “about the need to pray and not lose heart.” This parable is about the thing that all of us wonder about. It is about, “Can I count on God when I pray. Is God really listening? Will God really help? The parable of the unjust judge at first glance is a tough one. It looks like Jesus is saying Jesus is like the unjust judge. Instead Jesus is putting God and the unjust judge in contrast. It is one of those parables with an if and then. “if an unjust judge can help a widow who won’t give up… THEN HOW MUCH MORE can God help you and love you if you are persistent.” That is the point that our scripture is trying to make. God loves you and wants to take care of you! So remain persistent, don’t give up on God!
I remember being at the hospital with a mother and her child one time when the child was having surgery. The surgery was actually pretty simple, but the recovery time was going to be several days in the hospital. The mother bedded down in the little girl’s hospital room and spent several nights in that room. She looked pretty worn out when I came to visit her after two nights of sleeping at the hospital. I said to her, “The doctors have said that your daughter is doing fine. Why don’t you go home and get a little sleep.” She said to me, “Mike, do you hear what you are saying. That’s my little girl over there, and she’s been hurting for two days. My place is right here next to her.” Now my point is, if that is the way a human mother acts toward her child, don’t you think that God is just as loving and near to us when we hurt. Our scripture lesson wants us to know that God is like that mother. God cares for his children and listens to them…
Back to my Eumelia story. Eumelia gave me a call a couple of weeks later, and told me to come visit her at the hospital. Against my better judgement I went… When I got to her room she called out in a week voice, “Come here my little pastor.” I came to her bedside and sat down on the edge of her bed. She said to me, “Thanks for being with me in my hour of weakness. I am feeling better today and I wanted you to know, that I know God is with me. God has been answering my prayers. It is my time to go home and be with him. That is his answer! Have a little prayer with me little pastor, and thanks for your help.” I left confused about my future, but realizing that God is with us, and that God answers prayer, just not always the way we want. We could count on God…
So why is it that God doesn’t always answer prayer exactly the way we want if God listens to us and is with us?
James Moore tells the story of a little girl walking along a path with her grandfather. The little girl saw some beautiful roses that had not opened yet. She ran ahead of her grandfather and got to the rose bush and plucked off of the bush one of the premature roses. Then she proceeded to try and open the rose up. The harder she tried to open the closed rose up the bigger mess she made. Finally with the petals of the rose laying all around her and no rose left for her to play with she says to her grandfather, “grandpa, I don’t get it. When God opens a rose it looks so beautiful, but when I try to open it just falls apart.” The grandfather said, “ God is more patient than we are. He knows some things just take time and can’t be rushed.”
And that is the way it is with prayer. God knows exactly when is the right time to answer our prayer… our job is to trust in God’s good time our prayers will be answered. God loves us and does what is best for us at the very best time. We can count on God, because he loves us!