Anyone here this morning trying to housebreak a new puppy?
If you've ever tried to housebreak a new puppy, you know that the key to success is consistency. You must always take the puppy out the moment it wakes. You must never let it whine and look like it needs to go without whisking the little creature outside. And if you let the puppy get away with any indoor accidents, you can bet that it will return to the scene of the crime for a repeat version of its indiscretion. The same absolute consistency is required of anyone trying to run the gauntlet of the check-out counter with a child in tow. It's an absolute, positive law of the universe that your kid (regardless of age) is going to suddenly, desperately need whatever is being sold by the check-out stand in that particular aisle.
Whether it's the gum aisle, the candy aisle, the cough drop aisle, or the battery aisle, cajoling, whining, nagging, begging, even out-right crying and screaming is sure to break out as the desired goody is passed.
The child knows that if they beg, moan, screech, or scream long and loud enough, there's a good chance that the adult-in-charge may cave in - either out of embarrassment, or exhaustion, or because some primitive survival gene suddenly takes them over. Of course, once the adult does give in, the lesson has been learned and reinforced with a sugar-based substance: crying gets you what you want. Crying louder and longer insures that you will get what you want.
We learn all our good and bad behaviors through the process of rewards and punishments. As children we cultivate the obedient behaviors and the outrageous acts that we know will grab mom and dad's attention when we want it. As adults we certainly know how to behave in a board meeting or among co-workers so that we will either stand out as a prominent figure or blend in like wallpaper. As a spouse we're fully aware what attitudes and remarks will push buttons and what responses and actions will keep us well below our loved-one's radar.
The justice-seeking widow-woman in today's gospel text is as annoying and irritating and doggedly persistent as any child in the check-out line . . . or any puppy trying to get outside.
She persists despite the uncaring judge's indifference to serving justice, to serving God, or to serving his fellow human beings. She has no financial resources with which to bribe this hard-hearted judge to act on her behalf. She has no political clout that might succeed in squeezing a favorable response out of this calloused adjudicator. Neither does this widow, whose age we don't know, seem to possess or practice any feminine wiles to sway this judge to her side, convincing him to give her a favorable ruling.
But this widow does have persistence. This widow knows the power of persistence. It seems to be the only power she possesses. And she wields this power with unfailing tenacity and skill.
Her legal opponent, from whom she seeks a judgment, is apparently made of sterner stuff than the judge she chooses as the focus of her attention. The weakness of this judge must have been well-known. At least his mindset was evident enough to this widow that she chooses to focus her attentions on him instead of her legal opponent. Yet even knowing that the judge's opinion could be swayed through sheer dint of effort, this widow didn't have many options before her. Without family, without influence or status, she could only count on her own unswerving demand for justice, her own overwhelming need for a just verdict. Her resolve was the only weapon in her arsenal, the only arrow in her quiver.
This widow's in-your-face annoying presence was so great that this judge, this man who neither feared God nor had respect for people (verse 2), felt completely beaten up by her powerless persistence. This judge's eyes were not opened to justice. His heart wasn't warmed with compassion. His spirit wasn't compelled to righteousness. This judge simply wimped out and wore out.
Woody Allen is famously quoted as insisting that "90 percent of life is just showing up." The parable of the annoyingly persistent widow-woman teaches that we must show up again, and again, and again, and again. And only the most persistent, the most hard-headed, the most annoying, the most stubborn, make it into the history books as persons of note.
An A&E survey of the top ten most influential people or leaders of the past 1000 years yielded the following list:
10) Galileo
9) Copernicus
8) Albert Einstein
7) Karl Marx
6) Christopher Columbus
5) William Shakespeare
4) Charles Darwin
3) Martin Luther
2) Isaac Newton
1) Johann Gutenberg
Without exception, each one of the remarkable persons named by the survey met with total resistance, complete rejection, absolute failure whenever they attempted to express their unique new visions upon the world in which they lived. Despite the fact that these individuals represent diverse insights and radical advancements in science, politics, literature, religion, and technology, they're all tied together by a common trait. Each of these historically exalted individuals were widow-like persistent: they exhibited unfailing endurance in the face of seemingly insurmountable opposition.
But this parable that Jesus gave isn't just about persistence. It's about persistence coupled with prayer. When you yoke persistence with prayer, you get revolution.
One of the hit shows on TV right now is the Survivor series. The Survivor Vanuatu (episode 3) segment that debuted on September 15, 2004 takes place in the republic of Vanuatu, 83 islands located between Papua New Guinea and Fiji. What these South Pacific islands were most noted for in recent years, however, wasn't the filming of a TV special. It was the riots that broke out on the island of Tanna, one of the 83, in May of 2004 when some Christians got into a fight with members of a Melanesian cargo cult religion and 25 people were hospitalized.
The term "cargo cult" first appeared in 1945 to describe a new religious movement that mushroomed in the 40s and 50s throughout the Melanesian archipelagoes of the southwest Pacific. In the Second World War, these islands of Vanuatu were used by the military as cargo depots to supply the troops. Big cargo planes would land, bringing with them all sorts of manufactured goods (vehicles, refrigerators, tools, foods) and then they'd take off again.
The natives of these islands, many of whom had never seen planes before, looked on in amazement as these magical transactions from the heavens took place. Soon, some of the natives began to worship these heavenly appearances and wait expectantly for the arrival of more cargo. Long after the Americans left in 1945, they kept watching and waiting, preparing themselves for the arrival of John Frum, the iconic symbol of one cargo cult religion.
When the planes didn't return, some residents began building planes from the trees and branches. When these planes didn't take off, they persisted. They built runways. When the planes still didn't take off from the runways, they persisted. They built torches to serve as searchlights. When the planes still didn't take off, they persisted. They built hangers in which to house the planes. When the planes still didn't take off, they built headphones for members of the cargo cult to wear that would help to take off. Members of these cargo cult religions are to this day waiting for the second coming (often called Last Day) when the cargo planes will return and make their lives better.
Of course, what's missing in cargo cult religion is the engines that can power the planes into the air to ride the wind. All the persistence in the world doesn't pay off without the engines of prayer to power our lives, to make our hopes and dreams soar in the Spirit.
This is one of the greatest problems in our churches today: we're another cargo cult religion. We're copying programs, crafting planes, building hangers, and landing strips galore. But unless these programs and planes are powered by prayer, and the winds of God's Spirit, our lives and our churches are grounded, unable to take off and reach the heights to which God is calling us.
Persistence alone isn't enough. Only when persistence is yoked to prayer will transformation take place.
What's missing in your life? Is it the courage of persistence? Is it the power of prayer? Are you searching the skies for cargo? Or are you searching the Spirit in prayer without ceasing?
Prayer is the spiritual terminology for these words: "Lift off." Prayer is "lift off" for living.
Christians are imperfect, humble people who love sacrificially, forgive generously, welcome unconditionally, act irrationally, live gratefully, listen constantly, and pray persistently . . . which enables us, in the face of death, to choose life; and in the face of violence and hatred, to choose peace.