The Faith That Prays and the Reality of Grace Alone

And he [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. (Luke 18:1 ESV) The parable of the unrighteous judge and the persistent widow is a lesson about faith and God’s Grace Alone. While we often see this parable and its predication as an admonition to Jesus’ followers not to lose heart, in fact this parable gives us the very faith we need to cling to God no matter how long He takes in answering our prayers. This is, in other words, a lesson on God’s Grace Alone – Sola Gratia. Today at International Lutheran Church, Jesus pours into us by Grace Alone the faith we need – the faith that prays!

The Bible is filled with many examples of men and women of faith. Often, we see their faith lived out and articulated in their prayers. Abraham heeded God’s call. Jacob wrestled with God all night until God blessed him. Hannah called out to God in silence for vindication. David sang to God as he tended his sheep and reflected on God’s care for him. Jonah wept from the depths of the bottom of the sea. Esther fasted with her court for three days on behalf of God’s people throughout the world. Their prayers were an outcome of their faith. As Jesus journeys to Jerusalem and the final and swift act of God to right all wrongs through the death of His only Son on the cross for us, He encourages His followers to be men and women of faith, men and women in prayer.

The context of these verses continues Jesus’ teaching to the disciples concerning the End Times. The Pharisees had asked in Luke 17:20 about the coming of the Kingdom of God and Jesus had replied with the mystery of both its imminent arrival but also its paradoxical delay. In a sense, Jesus points to the fact that it will seem like “justice” or the restoration of all things will never come – and people will continue to live as if there is no end. And yet the parable and Jesus’ teaching is in fact a testimony to the very opposite. God will act and will do so decisively.

The parable reflects this contradiction in that prayer is likened unto a widow who sought justice from an unlikely and unwilling source. Day and night she came to one who neither feared God nor respected people but with the sure confidence that ultimately God’s justice will be done even through this unlikely of persons. She held on to the unrighteous judge despite his response to do nothing until he was feeling beaten down and defeated by this powerless and helpless widow. So when Jesus tells His followers to listen to what the unrighteous judge says, He is highlighting the truth of the kingdom: God’s justice - His Kingdom - does not come because of us but for us. We are sure that our prayers are heard, not because of us, but because of Him who answers all prayer with the most precious response He has – His own Son.

As the widow sought justice from an unlikely source, God was in Christ showing us His heart for us and His power to save swiftly and decisively. As Jesus, the only true righteous person, suffers for the injustice of all people, He pours into our hearts the assurance that God does see, does hear, and does act. In and through His death we are declared right, vindicated from our adversary. Just as we are baptized into Jesus, we are buried into His death so that just as He rose from the dead, we too would daily rise to new life and faith in Him who has overcome death itself (Romans 6:1-11). From this faith rises all our prayers for God’s justice to be done in our lives and in the lives of our neighbor. We are confident that He even works through those who neither fear Him nor care for the needs of others so that we and all would be changed by the faith He gives us – the faith that prays. Note especially that our prayers and lives of faith are not our “good work” that then deserve God’s response, but rather God’s response and the answering of our prayers and even our lives of faith are based on God’s Grace Alone – Sola Gratia.

Yes, our lives may at times seem hopeless and abandoned. We may feel like the widow - powerless and helpless to do anything. But in that moment, our faith is strengthened as He pours into us the confidence that we need to hang on to Him and not lose heart. In His Grace, He has heard and has answered in His flesh all our prayers even as He gives us the faith that prays.

Pastor Carl