Year C, Pentecost 22
In 1974, Muhammad Ali was set to
fight George Foreman, who at the time was known for more than just his George
Foreman Grill. He was the Heavy Weight
Champion of the World. Foreman was
younger and stronger. He was favored to
win, not only because he was the Heavy Weight Champion, but because of his
superior punching power. In the first 5
or 6 rounds of the match, it appeared that Ali was being pummeled. It looked so horrible, so painful, people
watching were afraid he would die in the ring.
Yet, by the end of round 5, it was clear that Foreman was tiring and Ali
was able to go on the offensive. In the
8th round, Ali knocked him out.
It is one of the most famous fights in the history of boxing and I
promise that if you keep listening, I’m going to make a connection to the
Gospel.
This Gospel reading is probably one
of the most well-known parables about prayer.
It has a lot of different interpretations, but the most popular is that
of the persistent widow, or as my mom likes to say, “the nagging woman.” There are a couple of things you need to
know about widows in ancient Israel.
They were the poorest of the poor.
If a woman did not have a husband to support her, she either had to
remarry of depend on another male relative.
If she was too old to marry, then she would depend on a son. If she did not have a son, then her only
option was to beg on the street. Because
of this, there were several Jewish laws meant to protect widows, although they
were fairly limited in their scope. As a
result, widows became a symbol for all those who were poor and oppressed; all
of those who needed to fight for their right to be heard.
It is clear that this widow did not
have a male relative who was caring for her.
If she did, she would not have been the one in front of the judge. She was at the mercy of a judge who had no
fear of God and no respect for anyone.
She could not beg for mercy. She
could not appeal to his sense of justice or his respect for the law. The only power she had in her arsenal was
perseverance, and it would appear, more than her fair share of feistiness.
Most of the New Testament was
translated from Greek. Some things have
been lost in translation. The English
translation we use in the Episcopal Church (The New Revised Standard Version)
says that the judge said, “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for
anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so
that she many not wear me out continually by her coming.” Virtually every commentary I read said that
the last part of the verse (wear me out continually) is not a good
translation. The literal translation
would be, “she will end up giving me a black eye.” People are divided about what Jesus meant by
this. Some say the judge was actually
worried that she would hit him. Others
say that black eye is a euphemism for public shame. Still others, (and this is my choice) hypothesized
that it was both. He was afraid this
woman would hit him and that black eye would result in public shame. The judge, who had no fear of God and no
respect for anyone, was afraid of public shaming, even if it was by a poor and
powerless widow. It would seem that she
wasn’t so powerless after all.
I believe that there are some times
when it is good to feel a little powerless.
It is a humbling experience. And
we must always remember that we are all powerless before the majesty of God. Yet there is a time when being powerless
feels more like hopelessness, and that is never a good thing. This woman, while powerless, was never
without hope. If she had been, she would
not have gone back again and again.
Where did she get that hope? The
last line of the Gospel reading gives us a good clue. Jesus concludes the parable by asking, “And
yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Her hope was rooted in faith, and that faith gave
her strength to persevere, even when the fight had probably gone out of her.
Some people think this parable means
that if you are insistent enough in your prayer life, your prayer will be
answered. I have tried that and I have
known many people who have tried it.
Sometimes it works, and sometimes it does not. When it does not work, it can be faith
shattering. It can crush the strongest,
the most powerful, and the most fortunate.
In my limited experience, prayer is about the process and not the
outcome. Sometimes that process will
feel more like a boxing match, or a wrestling match than a quiet moment with
God.
Jesus prayed a lot. That probably seems obvious, but when you
think about, it’s actually kind of odd.
He prayed, even though he had control over the outcome. Sometimes he prayed all night. The night before he was arrested, his prayer
was such a struggle that he actually sweat blood. Was he trying to change the mind of God, or
was he preparing himself for what was about to happen? I believe he was preparing for himself, and
that prayer, it was a battle. He was
going to work that out with God. In the
end, it did not free him from his death on the cross, but it gave him the
strength to die in peace.
What Ali was doing the first 5
rounds of that fight was wearing out George Foreman. In essence, he was preparing for the moment
when he could overcome his opponent. But
in preparing, he took a beating and sometimes that is what prayer feels like,
even when the outcome is the one we want. He won that fight, but what I find most
interesting was what happened to George Foreman. He lost to Ali and he lost a couple matches
after that. Then he became an ordained minister and did ministry full time for
at least 10 years. After that, he
announced a comeback. At age 45, 20
years after that fight against Ali, he won the Heavy Weight Championship
again. He was oldest person to ever win
that. It took him 20 years, but he never
gave up.
Prayer is a process and it is not
for the faint of heart. It’s for those
people who are willing to engage in a struggle.
Usually it is a struggle of the heart and not the fists (in fact we
really discourage fighting in the Christian Church). Yet most of us know that emotional blows can
be just as painful as physical ones.
Sometimes our prayers will be answered after 5 rounds of beating like
Muhammad Ali. Sometimes it will take 20
years like George Foreman. Sometimes it
will seem like no matter how hard we fight, how good we are, how just our
prayer, it will never get answered, not in this lifetime. It is those times, when we have to remember
that our prayer is not meant to change God’s mind, but ours. It is meant to make us into the person who
can handle what an unanswered prayer feels like. My
prayer for each and every one of you is not only that your prayers be answered,
but that when they are not answered in the way you think they should be, you
will have the strength for the next round.
God won’t give up on us. We cannot give up on him.
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