JOKE: A man prayed to God his entire life to win the lottery. He prayed to God every day for 65 years. He prayed in the morning, at lunchtime, in the evening, and just before he went to sleep.

The man passed away and went to heaven. The man was rather upset with the Lord and sought him out.

When the man found the Lord, he said "I've been praying for 65 years. Every day when I woke up, ate my lunch, had my dinner in the evening, and just before I went to sleep. How come I never won??"

And the Lord said, "IT WOULD HAVE HELPED IF YOU BOUGHT A TICKET!"

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Pray and do not lose heart, Luke wrote.

Pray and do not lose heart. And so we pray this morning for health, for peace, for change, for forgiveness, and our lack of patience and persistence.

Always Pray and Never lose heart.

In both the readings this morning that sentiment is embodied in the stories told.

 

Jacob was a cunning man.

He was even a cunning baby, as he began his life being eager and persistent, clinging to his twin brother’s heel at the moment of birth. Eager to get out of his mother’s womb and eager never to be second.

The Bible tells us the story about Jacob and about the time when he made his hungry and trusting brother Esau sell his birthright, and we listen to the story about the same cunning Jacob tricking his old blind father Isaac to bless him. Later in life after all his deceits, when he brought his wives and concubines, his 11 sons, and numerous others in his household safe over the river of Jabbok -  Jacob rested at the river bend, alone at night, and had a mysterious encounter with God. As persistent, as cunning, as feisty as ever, Jacob fought for his blessing and his life.

 

Pray and do not lose heart, Luke wrote.

In the gospel from Luke this morning we meet a persistent stubborn widow and a lazy judge.

It is a strange story about a persistent widow who pursues justice and pesters the judge with her persistence and admirable patience.

And about a judge who is not doing his job, he is just reaping his benefits and enjoying his position. He is lazy and not respecting either his position, his religion, or his call to duty.

Like a female counterpart to Jacob, the widow persistently pesters, confronts, prays, and begs the judge to act and grant her justice.

 

We too know that in this hard and unjust world of ours there are judges who neither fear God nor respect their fellow men. There are men and women in power who do not do their job but only reap the benefits.

So today we are reminded that these people in positions and power who neglect their duties have been around for a long time, and we are also reminded that these brave, patient, persisting and pestering women and men who continue to give judges, courts, and politicians a hard time, persistently crying out day and night, until change will happen, and justice might be served… that they have also been around for a long time.

 

The widow is stubborn, patient, and persistent.

As is Jacob.

So, these stories today should make us remember and celebrate all those, women and men, who persist in the cause of right, justice, healing, and reconciliation; who will not keep quiet; who insist on raising the issues, again and again;

 who campaign for unpopular or forgotten causes, write letters, send emails, and sign petitions:

people around the world, who pick up their pens or take to the streets – as these young girls on the street of Iran taking their scarf down and raising their voices.

We celebrate them: steadfast, down-to-earth, blessed with both stubbornness and courage, to change the world.

 

Pray and do not lose heart, Luke wrote.

We pray. We are persistent. We try not to lose heart or faith when our prayers and pleas seem to be unanswered. When we seem to run low on persistence and patience.

We do lose heart, when we worry, when we resign, give up, when feeling numb, and when we despair because our prayers seem to be unanswered.

 

The widow most certainly did not lose her heart or focus. She knew her needs, she knew their urgency, and she knew exactly where to go and whom to ask. Getting up every morning, getting dressed, heading over to the judge’s house or workplace, banging on his door, and talking his ear off until he finally listened, is the embodiment of praying and not losing heart. “Give me justice~ I will not shut up until you do!”

 

We pray. We persist. We try not to lose heart.

Persistent prayers and relentlessly seeking justice involve struggles, wrestling, honesty, questioning, and hope.

We try not to lose heart or faith, just like Jacob and the widow, because we somehow have learned to trust God. We believe that God, - unlike the judge in the parable, - is just and always on the good side of healing, reconciliation, and peace.

We do believe that in the end the doors will open and justice will prevail.

 

Many times, we persistently pray, and we keep knocking on doors for justice, healing, change and help, - and the prayers seem unanswered, and the doors closed.

In that sense prayer is a mystery. A divine mystery, which we can only surrender to and patiently believe in.

 

We can’t know why some prayers are answered and why many others are not.

We can’t understand why our earnest pleas for justice, healing, for peace hit the wall of God’s silence and sometimes seem to remain silent for days, weeks, months even years.

And yet, from this mystery, Jesus says: Always Pray and never lose heart.

Faith is about persistence and patience in the stories today. Faith is all about persistence and patience in our stories too.

 

The widow persisted in her belief that good things would come to her, even when the odds looked bad.

Jacob wrestled in total darkness until the blessing was granted and a new name and new future were given to him.

And we persist because we do believe in God’s persistent faithfulness.

Our prayers are our persisting conversations with God: conversations that will change us, empower us, enlighten us, and be answered.

 

As Martin Luther said: “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”

Let us remember that as we pray, we kneel alongside Jesus Christ, in the presence of God, with the help of the Spirit.

So let us bring to mind now

those people who need our prayers:

those who are ill, or anxious;

those who are lonely or sad;

those who are despairing or defeated;

those who are hungry or homeless;

those whose relationships are breaking apart;

those who are bullied or abused;

those who cannot find work; and those who are overworked.

In silence now, let us make our specific prayers

for those on our hearts and minds today.

(silence)

In the presence of God, alongside Jesus Christ,

with help from the Spirit may we go into this week to live out our prayers throughout our lives. Amen.