Proper 24C. Oct. 16, 2022. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz.
Jeremiah 31:27-24. I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be to them for a god and they will be to me for a people.
2 Timothy 3:13-4:5. Be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable.
Luke 18:1-8. Pray always and [do] not…lose heart.
O God of hope, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.
We have three challenging readings from scripture before us this morning; I would like to preach a full sermon on each of them. So much is going on here; it makes my head feel as if it might explode because I have so many things to say to you. I’m wondering, do you have a few hours? Probably not; besides, I want to get to Genevieve’s baptism, so I’ll summarize.
For our first reading we heard words from the prophet Jeremiah from the late-7th and early-6th centuries BCE, which are so intensely intimate and poignant. His message brings consolation and hopefulness to people in a terrible situation, who feel completely doomed by decisions made by previous generations. Jeremiah paints a picture of the Holy One longing for a day when folks won’t need to be taught how to live because the rule of steadfast love will be inscribed on their hearts. Judah and Israel will be scattered, sown like seed among all humans and animals, spread all over the place and mixed in. Children won’t suffer anymore from the impatience and impetuousness of their parents and their grandparents. The people’s teeth will not be dull, not be “one blade shy of a sharp edge” because their predecessors ate fruit before it was ripe. [1] In other words, the people will not be doomed by the premature, immature actions of generations before them. Even though being doomed might be considered justice in the common wisdom of the people, God is hoping for something better, according to Jeremiah. [2]
Jeremiah hears the Holy One saying, “Renewal is still possible.” A radical new future is being sown. The previous covenant agreements haven’t held up as well as had been hoped, so God is cutting a new deal for God’s people. Cut a new deal is what create a new covenant literally says in Hebrew. People won’t need to be taught the Word of God, because it will be written on their hearts; they won’t need to learn, because it will be in them. The closer and rougher translation of what this will mean, according to what Jeremiah hears the Divine Voice saying is, “And I will be to them for a god and they will be to me for a people.” According to Jeremiah, God is tenderly longing for that day, which is surely coming.
The epistle today is taken from the second letter to Timothy, a letter written from mentor to protégé, encouraging endurance and faithfulness in the midst of a lot of bad behavior. I wish the first part of Chapter 3 was included in our reading for today. I’m going to tell you what it says because I think, “How did the writer in the first century of the Common Era know how it would be for us?”
Here’s what the writer of 2 Timothy says:
You must understand this, that distressing times will come. For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power….among them are those who make their way into households and captivate silly women…but they will not make much progress because…their folly will become plain to everyone…; but as for you, [that’s where our reading for today picks up] proclaim the love of God whether the time is favorable or unfavorable, convenient or inconvenient. Convince, admonish, and encourage with the utmost patience and teaching [not patience in teaching: patience and teaching].
That is good advice, hard to follow, but good advice.
Then in the Gospel of Luke we have the parable of the unjust judge or, if you prefer, the parable of the nagging widow. It’s one of my favorites because I can nag; I use this as one of my most-supportive proof texts! On the surface, this parable seems to be saying, “Pray always and don’t lose heart; be just like the widow, who kept coming to the unjust judge until he just couldn’t take it anymore and granted her justice just because she was bothering him.” The leap that happens next is, according to Luke, since God is much better than that unjust judge, if you are unjustly treated, just cry out louder and longer to God, who will not delay in helping you. If you are experiencing a delay, perhaps you don’t understand justice. Let’s not take that leap, because that is a terrible (and unjust) conclusion to draw from this story. An even worse conclusion would be, if you are needing justice and crying out loudly and for a long time with no response, perhaps you are not among God’s chosen ones, and your suffering is evidence of that. Yikes! While on the subject of terrible theological leaps, I might as well name the one that concludes: when the Son of Man comes and finds insufficient faith on earth, then we’re going to see what’s what; so you’d better get it together, because faith is far more important than justice. Let’s all back away from those cliffs.
First of all, Jesus has recently taught the disciples that even an imperceptibly small amount of faith is plenty, that forgiveness is what is needed most. Second, his whole life story is about alleviating suffering and injustice for others while enduring it himself; and in the end, according to his followers, the power of love was stronger than the power of death. As inevitable as death is, Love is more inevitable.
Here’s what I think may be going on in this story. I think that God is like the widow, and people are like the unjust judge, who neither fear God (in other words, are not in awe of God) nor have respect for anyone. In Biblical terms, one who isn’t in awe of the Holy One and who has no respect for others is immoral and unwise, because awe of God is the beginning of wisdom. So, in a certain city (Boston, D.C., or another city: your choice). In a certain city, there was a person in a position of power and privilege, who neither was in awe of God nor had respect for people. So God, in the form of a disenfranchised person, a widow, kept coming to him and pleading, “Grant me justice in the face of my adversaries.” For a while, the powerful person in the certain city refused, but later he said to himself, “Though I have no awe of God nor respect for anyone, because this woman keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, lest she wear me out.”
I wonder, are we not like this person in a certain city, and is God not pleading with us day in and day out for justice, which is the enactment and right distribution of love? Have you ever been pestered by the still small voice of God (or Love) to do the right thing with regard to the distribution of resources, material and spiritual? I have; she will not stop. Covering my ears, closing my eyes, or turning my back will not help, because Her law is written on my heart, and I know it. It’s written on your hearts, too. Examine your hearts; you will find the law of Love written there; it was inscribed there before you were born.
Finally, I want to say something about chosenness and offer a way to understand it for those of you who blanch at the exclusivity of a term like chosen (or elect), when it comes to God’s relationship with people. There is an interpretive key for us is in the alternative First Testament reading from Genesis (which I didn’t choose in time for this sermon). It’s an important story in which Jacob, wrestling with the angel of the Lord, will not let go without a blessing. Some of you know that this is the story of how Jacob came to be called Israel. Israel literally means god-wrestler or god-struggler. Jacob was the one who wouldn’t stop struggling with God until he claimed his blessing. It was Jacob (Israel) who did the choosing, choosing not to let go in the struggle without a blessing. Jacob was wounded in the struggle and forever after walked with a limp, but he got the blessing.
It’s so interesting to me to think that the name of the people becomes not faithful or beloved, not blessed or saved, but struggler with God. In our Biblical narrative, anyone who chooses to struggle with the Holy One can be described as chosen. We are all Israel, as Rabbi Berman used to remind us at Emmanuel Church. Here, being chosen is not about who is getting into heaven or whom God prefers; it’s not about who is in and who is out, or who is beloved and who is not. It’s about who is struggling, who is refusing to let go until a blessing is realized, however long it takes. This scriptural painting is a picture of the chosen-ness found among those who wrestle, struggle, shake their fists, hurt their hips by refusing to stop, (foolishly, perhaps) insisting on a blessing, whether the timing is convenient or inconvenient, which is what Jacob does and what God does. Choose to hold on individually, sure, as you are able. When you can’t or you need a rest, remember that, if we as a community choose to hold on, together we can insist on blessing for all.
Dear Genevieve, a radical new future is being sown, and you are a part of it. It is already written on your heart. Proclaim the love of God for us, with your smiles and your tears, with your sorrows and your joys. Welcome to the struggle, and welcome to the blessing of life in Christian community. We are so glad you’re here!
- Thanks to the late Nanci Griffith for this song lyric!
- Rodney R. Hutton, “Are the parents still eating sour grapes? Jeremiah’s use of the Māšāl in contrast to Ezekiel,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 71(2): April 2009, pp. 275-285.