Today, Clint Loveall and Michael Gewecke discuss Luke 18:1-14, exploring two parables shared by Jesus. The first parable focuses on the importance of persistent prayer and not losing heart. Clint and Michael delve into the interpretation of the main characters in the parable and highlight the trustworthiness of God in granting justice. The second parable contrasts the attitudes of a Pharisee and a tax collector in their approach to prayer and righteousness. They emphasize the danger of self-righteousness and the need for humility and authentic communication with God. Join Clint and Michael as they unpack these parables and provide insights into their relevance for our faith journey. Don’t miss this thought-provoking discussion!
Thank you for joining us, we sincerely help that this study encourages you in your understanding of the Bible. Please be sure to share this with anyone who you think might be interested in joining us. If you want to subscribe for future episodes, go to our website pastortalk.co.
Pastor Talk Quick Links:
- Learn more about the Pastor Talk series and view our previous studies at https://pastortalk.co
- Subscribe to get the Pastor Talk episodes via podcast, email and much more! https://pastortalk.co#subscribe
- Questions or ideas? Connect with us! https://pastortalk.co#connect
- Interested in joining us for worship on Sunday at 8:50
Transcript
00:00:01:13 – 00:00:29:36
Clint Loveall
Hey, everybody. Thanks for being with us. As we close out the week in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 18, Making Our Way and a Parable Today, Another Parable of Jesus. A Luke version of the parable, which is not an easy one and not. Not disturbing necessarily, but not, not one of those beloved parables that everybody knows and knows what to do with.
00:00:29:38 – 00:00:50:47
Clint Loveall
This is a kind of a little bit of a head scratcher. Let me read it for you then. We’ll then we’ll see what we find in it. 18 Verse one Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not lose heart. He said, In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people in that city.
00:00:50:47 – 00:01:13:34
Clint Loveall
There was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, Grant me justice against my opponent. For a while, he refused. But later he said to himself, though I have no fear of God nor respect for anyone yet, because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice so that she may not wear me out by continually coming back.
00:01:13:39 – 00:01:40:07
Clint Loveall
And the Lord said, Listen to what the unjust judge says and will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night. Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the son of man comes, he will find Will he find faith on the earth?
00:01:40:12 – 00:02:07:36
Clint Loveall
So the first thing and maybe the most difficult part of this parable is we have said more than once that generally speaking, when you encounter the main character of a parable, particularly if that one is listed as the father, the master, or one with authority, that character represents God. I would argue that this is one of the exceptions to that rule.
00:02:07:40 – 00:02:33:47
Clint Loveall
The problem with that logic in this parable is that you make God an unjust judge, and I don’t think that would be language that Luke would be comfortable with equating for the primary character or the God character in a parable. So this is simply a story about a woman and a man, and their connection to one another is that the man has authority to grant the woman’s plea.
00:02:33:52 – 00:02:54:30
Clint Loveall
He has not yet done that, and she persists and coming to him over and over again. And he love the language. Michael, he says the same thing said about him. I don’t fear God. In other words, I’m not doing this because it’s right and I’m not I don’t care about people. I’m just thinking she’s going to bother me.
00:02:54:30 – 00:03:25:37
Clint Loveall
She’s going to beat me into submission. And so then the judge grants her request. And Jesus uses that story as a springboard to talk to the disciples about. And Luke gives us the exact verbiage. Their need to pray always and not to lose heart. And this is the trouble with making God the judge in this story, Michael, it makes it sound like if you just wear God out.
00:03:25:48 – 00:03:37:37
Clint Loveall
Yeah, even if God doesn’t want to listen to you, eventually you can wear him down and and have your way. And it seems relatively clear that’s not the lesson Luke’s trying to teach.
00:03:37:39 – 00:03:59:38
Michael Gewecke
Well, yeah, but let’s dig into that here. Why does that seem relatively clear? Because if you were going to pull this out and you were going to study this, maybe you found this video, you searched Luke 18 one, You’re here. We’re glad you’re here. If you think that this eight verse section here is its own thing, then you’re going to believe that this is a teaching about prayer.
00:03:59:38 – 00:04:40:10
Michael Gewecke
Specifically, you’re going to look at this and say, Well, isn’t the easy takeaway here that the point is, Pastor God, as long as possible, be faithful in praying. If you do that, then you’re going to get what you want. Well, that would make sense if you only read eight verses. But if you read the things that came before, if you stick with us through the entire book of or sorry, chapter 17 here in Luke, you’re going to see that there’s been this much longer theme of God’s vindication, of God’s justice, of God’s righting the wrongs of the world, of God’s up turning and overturning the systems that are and inserting a new kingdom into the
00:04:40:10 – 00:04:58:47
Michael Gewecke
world. This is, of course, the entire Book of Luke, but we’ve seen these themes already in Jesus’s confrontations with the Pharisees. It’s not the people with power, but it’s the people without the power that God’s going to lift up. And so Clinton, when you look at a text like this, you have to recognize the importance of the characters presented.
00:04:58:48 – 00:05:27:16
Michael Gewecke
You have a person of power, a person whose job is to administer justice, and you have a person who seeking justice, a righteous person, a person who fears well, who is seeking out that which is owed to her. And the person’s persistence is ultimately the thing that will bring that justice to bear. And that is the overall theme I think that Jesus is teaching through this parable.
00:05:27:16 – 00:05:56:07
Michael Gewecke
It’s not that the way to get what you want, like a mail order prayer campaign is to just be persistent, and then you can pull down blessings or riches or health or whatever the situation or moment you’re in is. No. This is about the people of God who are resolute and persevering in their trust of God and their supplication for justice and their commitment to justice and to doing the right thing and being part of the Kingdom of God.
00:05:56:22 – 00:06:10:34
Michael Gewecke
These people will be rewarded when in the end they’ll be part of that just kingdom. I think that that’s what you see happening in a text like this. And if you misunderstand this context, it’s going to take you someplace entirely different.
00:06:10:39 – 00:06:32:33
Clint Loveall
I think that there are clearly parables where Jesus makes a comparison between a character and God. We saw that in the parable of the prodigal Son, right? That the Father is the God character and the father longs for the son, and he runs to him and he welcomes him back, and he is gracious and merciful. And then he has words for the older brother.
00:06:32:47 – 00:06:57:38
Clint Loveall
In other parables, it’s a parable of contrast, and I would argue that’s the case here. This judge ends up doing the right thing because of a woman’s persistence. How much more then essentially says Jesus, can God be trusted to act on behalf of those who are righteous, on behalf of those who are seeking justice? Will he delay? No, he won’t.
00:06:57:39 – 00:07:28:12
Clint Loveall
I tell you, he will quickly grant justice. And when the son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth? And so I think the I think it’s very helpful. Michael, this idea of read the beginning of this section and the end to interpret the middle. The beginning says pray and don’t lose heart, be persistent, and then at the end here, will the son of man find faith on the earth?
00:07:28:17 – 00:07:54:34
Clint Loveall
Will, Will. Will Jesus find people who have hung in there and persisted in their prayer and not given up? And and God can be trusted to hear and and care about and act on behalf of those people. Even even an unjust judge does the right thing sometimes. How much more will God do the right thing?
00:07:54:39 – 00:08:16:53
Michael Gewecke
And this is a theme I do think we’ve seen in Luke, maybe not called out as much as some of the others. Clint is the idea of the value of Christian persistence. I think that has been there and I think it is only going to become magnified because, as you may know, Luke is part one of two books which go together.
00:08:16:53 – 00:08:55:31
Michael Gewecke
You have Luke and you have acts. And acts is ultimately the story of the church living out that perseverance, living into that faith that Jesus Christ will soon be returning. And so these words are not, I don’t think, abstract Clint. I don’t think that this is some kind of imaginary spiritual teacher. I think that this is a very practical kind of lesson that, you know, that in the secular, faithless world, that even bad people end up doing good things because ultimately they just give in.
00:08:55:31 – 00:09:16:17
Michael Gewecke
And at the end of the day, they think it’s in their best interest to just, you know, I’ll give justice because it’s going to get this woman off my back. How much more? So if you are faithful and persistent and you are committed to your faith and you you live that out over the long run, and by you, I think not just you individually.
00:09:16:26 – 00:09:51:00
Michael Gewecke
I think we, the church, are in view here that if we are faithful one generation to the next, then that will ultimately be the thing that the son of man will find upon that return. This idea that the persevering ones, the passing on of the faith, that this is the thing that matters, and that if we are committed to it and we practice that kind of persistence, that that will make a difference and that that will be the kind of thing that will leave a lasting kind of impact on the kingdom.
00:09:51:05 – 00:10:22:35
Clint Loveall
And I want to move on here, but just before that, briefly, there is a concession, I think, here that’s important. Luke is acknowledging in as Jesus does, that there is an element of the faith of waiting. There is a a grind it out, hang in there kind of aspect to the Christian faith, that the Christian faith is not one that promises immediate results and everything we want all the time.
00:10:22:48 – 00:10:50:01
Clint Loveall
It is not it is not a system that says, hey, come and get whatever you want and you’ll get rewarded instantly. There is a there is a season of persistence. There is a season of waiting. You know, what does it say here that his they cry out day and night, his chosen ones who cry to him day and night.
00:10:50:02 – 00:11:27:50
Clint Loveall
There is assumed within the faith. Moments of longing and moments of persistence and moments of hanging in there when things are difficult and God can be trusted with those moments. I think that’s ultimately the takeaway here. Let’s move on. This next one is much easier. Also profound, but much simpler. He also told them of parable to some of those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and others they looked on with contempt, he said.
00:11:27:52 – 00:11:56:51
Clint Loveall
Two men went up to the temple to pray. One a Pharisee and the other tax collector. The Pharisee standing by himself was praying. Thus, God, I thank you. I’m not like other people. Thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even this tax collector. I fast twice a week I give a 10th of all of my income. But the tax collector standing far off would not even look up toward heaven, but beat his breast and said, God be merciful to me, a sinner.
00:11:56:56 – 00:12:31:12
Clint Loveall
And I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Sometimes we talk of Jesus preaching as reversal, the great reversal, the upside down kingdom and here we have such a wonderful, clear example of that. You have a fair seen tax collector named Jesus Day that that’s a that’s a criminal and, you know, a senator.
00:12:31:24 – 00:13:01:26
Clint Loveall
It’s a whatever it is, there’s a massive gap between these two morally, socially, in terms even religiously. We could say one is clean, the other is unclean, and the Pharisee is impressive. I mean, what he says is impressive. I, I fast twice a week, I give a 10th of my income. That’s a disciplined person. Right. But he begins his his lens is to look favorably on himself and unfavorably on others.
00:13:01:26 – 00:13:25:40
Clint Loveall
And you have, by contrast, this man, the tax collector who recognizes his sinfulness, who won’t bring himself to look up to God, but he simply says, be merciful on me, a sinner. And then Jesus gives the reversal at the end. I tell you, that’s the one who went home justified. And Michael, this is this a beautiful parable. It’s a wonderful story by Jesus.
00:13:25:42 – 00:13:47:22
Clint Loveall
Luke does a nice job with it. This is one of those parables I think people do remember. We you know, it it’s one of those that’s pretty hard to make you choose. We all like to think we’re the one standing off saying, I’m a sinner. But there’s a warning here for the moments that we think too much of ourselves.
00:13:47:27 – 00:14:29:02
Michael Gewecke
There absolutely is a warning here. This is actually one of the parables that I think there’s some disagreement, functional disagreement between Christians on how to read this, because if you read the Pharisee as representing Judaism and representing the old way, the law, the kind of binding statutes and that is contained to that, then I think Christians can kind of offload the challenge of this text and we can say, yeah, Jesus is criticizing those legal lists, and it’s those people that Jesus is calling to account where people of grace that we receive this good news.
00:14:29:02 – 00:15:00:51
Michael Gewecke
And, you know, so so ultimately the critique doesn’t land on us. This story is for us. We’re the tax collectors. They’re the Gentiles. The people have been giving grace and didn’t deserve it. That would be one way to read the text. And I think that forecloses and misses on much of the force of the text because the Pharisee This all boils down to what you had said, and I want to point this out here verse 11, this idea that I twice a week I’m fasting, giving a 10th of all of my income.
00:15:00:55 – 00:15:38:58
Michael Gewecke
This is a person who is giving a factual account of doing the things that would be looked up to as the highest bar of the expression of faith in that day. And so I think a far more troubling interpretation of this text is that this today could be read as a very, very stinging critique of Christian legalism. The idea that we who live with the highest bar of of faith practices, that we who are seeking to go to church, read our scriptures, pray the Bible, trying to be connected in service opportunities, trying to give of what we have.
00:15:39:10 – 00:16:05:06
Michael Gewecke
That if you can put a checkmark next to these things, then you stand in position of being questioned like the Pharisee, that that the temptation might be that it becomes for us the actions that are justifying and not the humility, confession and repentance. And I think I want to be clear, Clint, we are called as people of faith to the spiritual practices.
00:16:05:06 – 00:16:28:19
Michael Gewecke
Pharisee was doing nothing wrong in practicing faith in a meaningful, sustained way. I go back to just a couple of minutes ago when we were talking about the idea of persevering in the faith. You have to do the work, and the work takes time. That said, we have to hold intention on this hand. We have the calling of being Christian and all of the things involved.
00:16:28:24 – 00:16:51:21
Michael Gewecke
On the other hand, the very literal next parable is Jesus saying it is never the stuff that will save you, it is never the practices that are the point. It is always the reminder that we are indeed at the center sinners. We are always those in need of grace. We are always those who need to return to humility.
00:16:51:21 – 00:17:10:07
Michael Gewecke
And if we can hold those two things, doing the work of faith, remembering that work is all about instilling and practicing and returning to humility, then we’re living in the full force of I think, these these texts in conversation, as opposed to reading them individually and honing in on alternate points.
00:17:10:12 – 00:18:02:27
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I think the warning here for Christians and for Christianity as a whole is that any practice of the faith that leads us to self-affirmation is inherently flawed. Any approach to following Jesus that leaves me patting myself on the back for how good that I am. It is broken. It is. It’s not of Christ. It is the one who humbly approaches God out of gratitude and hope and grace, not out of confidence and and self-assessment and that’s that’s just it’s just so crystal clear in this parable.
00:18:02:40 – 00:18:19:48
Clint Loveall
This parable is not long. It’s probably I mean, there’s it would be very hard to misunderstand this parable. It asks troubling questions. It’s not easy in its interpretation, but to just see where Jesus is going here. This is this is about as clear as parables get.
00:18:19:53 – 00:18:41:51
Michael Gewecke
And know this, that this is not the point of the text. This is so far from the point of the text. I want to make this clear, but I think there’s an interesting anecdote that could help us. This is not a teaching on prayer, but I do think there’s a short lesson on prayer in here, because notice that the Pharisee is practicing fasting and praying.
00:18:42:05 – 00:19:01:03
Michael Gewecke
And, you know, this is in a very short sentence, still an eloquent prayer. You know, thank you for all of these people. I’m not. And this tax collector is not in any way eloquent. And yet these words are the most powerful words. God be mercy to me, a sinner. You may not feel like an eloquent prayer as well.
00:19:01:17 – 00:19:32:49
Michael Gewecke
You may not feel like you always have the words to return to God. And this is not a text with a lesson about praying. But but I think when you see these characters, the heart of prayer is ultimately honesty with God. And I think that that’s a thing to truly reach for in our own spiritual lives, is may we be people more and more vulnerable and transparent with God in an honest and authentic way so that what we say to God is more and more reflective of what is true of our lives.
00:19:32:49 – 00:19:39:52
Michael Gewecke
And if that’s happening, friends, then you’re growing in your prayer life that that’s the kind of prayer that Jesus is lauding in a text like this.
00:19:40:03 – 00:20:05:49
Clint Loveall
Yeah, this isn’t a prayer parable, but if if you spend the bulk of your prayer telling God how good you are versus seeking and celebrating God’s grace that your prayer needs work, you’re right. That’s yeah, I mean, I it’s not a prayer parable, but it certainly says something about it.
00:20:05:54 – 00:20:25:30
Michael Gewecke
Whether it is the first parable or the second that hits you today. I certainly hope there’s something both challenging here as well as encouraging. And I hope that you certainly will share this with others that you think might help or that this might be a help to them. We would love if you give this video a light, helps others in their own searching for studies like this.
00:20:25:30 – 00:20:34:06
Michael Gewecke
Subscribe to stick with us as we go through the Book of Luke and other books like it. But friends, until we see you again next week, be blessed.
00:20:34:16 – 00:20:35:04
Clint Loveall
Thanks everybody.