We’re going to take a good portion of the message today hearing what Luke has to say, in chapter 18. [PRAY!]
The Reading: Luke 18
The Thread: Parables
So, Luke 18 appears, at first glance, to be a random collection of stories and events, plucked out from the life of Jesus with no real connection to each other. But I think there is a thread running through the whole chapter to do with ‘parables’.
Are we all clear on what parables are? They’re like metaphors, but usually extended into a sort of mini-story.
Now, there seems to be a paradox concerning parables: Mark says that, “with many … parables, Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand” Mark 4:33; but, earlier in Luke, it says that Jesus spoke in parables “so that, ‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’” Luke 8:10 So, which is it? Do parables help or hinder understanding?
Admittedly, when I first read this, I thought it sounded like Jesus didn’t want people to understand what He was saying, but it doesn’t take a genius to realize that this is an absurd thought – I mean, why would He bother speaking at all if He didn’t want to be understood?! More importantly, if Jesus has the words of life John 6:63, 68 and He wants all to have that life John 10:10; 2 Peter 3:9, then it’s ludicrous to think that He would then hide the meaning of the words He is speaking!
The key is who He is talking to - back in Mark, He says: "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables” Mark 4:11 … and He said this to “the twelve disciples and others around Him” – in other words, the people who had come to Him, who followed Him, and who “asked Him about the parables” Mark 4:10 had the secrets of the parables explained to them.
So, parables are helpful, but only for those who come to Jesus, who follow Jesus, and who ask Him for understanding.
And that makes sense, doesn’t it? Jesus is all about “being one” – one church, one family, one body, even – He wants us to abide in Him and He in us. It makes sense that He does not want us going off on our own to figure out what He’s talking about. He wants to be the one to open our eyes to the secrets hidden in the parables.
Speaking as a teacher, I can vouch for the joy of seeing that ‘light bulb moment’ when someone finally gets what you’ve been trying to explain. So, from our perspective here, surely we would want Him to have the joy of leading us into understanding.
We’ll come back to the concept of His opening our eyes later… for now, I think we spoken enough about why Jesus used parables, let’s look at the content of the parables He used in Luke 18.
Structure of Luke 18
So, Luke 18 starts with two obvious parables, then there are two mini-parables (pure metaphors, really), then the whole parable tool is flipped as Jesus speaks plainly (about what all parables ultimately point to), and finally Jesus answers the need of all of us with respect to parables.
Let’s dive in… (and, don’t worry, after such a long reading, I’m going to be very brief on each part!)
So, first: the parable of the persistent widow. Jesus is clear (with His disciples) about what He is trying to show through the parable: “that they should always pray and not give up”. I don’t think this needs unpacking any more than this, but let’s just notice Jesus’s closing words for this parable: “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” It seems that He is telling us that persistence in prayer requires a rare faith.
Let’s just bank that for now, and move on to the next parable.
This time, we have the 1st century Jewish version of an Archdeacon and a Tax Collector coming to pray. Again, this doesn’t need much explaining but, again, it is good to note Jesus’s own summary: it was not the self-confident Archdeacon but rather the God-fearing Tax Collector who “went home justified before God”. Here, it seems that Jesus is telling us that justification in prayer requires humility before God.
Then we move on to the situation where some children are trying to come to Jesus – and Jesus turns this into a parable, or metaphor at least: whoever “will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it”. I think ‘receiving the kingdom of God like a little child’ will endure a lot of thoughtful meditation but, for now, let’s just contrast what it might mean with the next little mini-parable, as the ruler comes to Jesus. Confident in his lifelong pursuit of godliness (since ‘a little child’, in fact), he is dismayed when Jesus tasks him with one final, all-consuming command: ‘give up everything and follow me’.
So it seems that just being a little child is not what Jesus had in mind when He said to receive the kingdom of God like a little child – the difference seems to be that the ruler, as a little child, pursued godliness, whilst the little children coming to Jesus are pursuing God. So, here, Jesus is telling us that receiving the kingdom of God in prayer requires an uncomplicated pursuit of God.
At last, Jesus turns the parables on their head and speaks plainly about what all parables ultimately point to: “everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled: He will be delivered over to the Gentiles (who) will mock him, insult him, …spit on him, … flog him and kill him; (and) on the third day he will rise again”
Jesus could not have spoken more plainly – and yet, ironically, this time His disciples did not understand. Why might this be? From what we’ve learnt so far, could it be simply that they did not ask? Certainly in the very next chapter, when Jesus tries to tell them again, “the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men”, the disciples “feared to ask Him” what He meant.
The meaning of this very plainly spoken word “was hidden from them” – at this point, “hearing, they could not understand” … when it came to the fulfillment, ‘seeing, would they see’?
The last event in Luke 18 reminds them how to see. And it’s a parable in reverse: normally, in a parable, something they are called to imagine is used to explain real-life – in this situation, real life is used to explain something they are called to imagine.
A literally blind man, who trusts in the name of Jesus, calls out to Jesus in humility, calls persistently, and receives what he asks for: having his eyes open to see. Let me just read that part of the reading again so you can see each of these points in action (remember, you’re looking for him trusting in the name of Jesus, calling out to Him in humility, pursuing Him persistently, and having his eyes opened to see Jesus):
[35-43] As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." He called out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" "Lord, I want to see," he replied. Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.
In summary, Luke 18 uses the concept of parables to show us how to pray and what to pray for:
1. Persistently, in faith that God will not put off answering our prayers;
2. Humbly, in the knowledge that, though we are sinners, God has mercy and answers our prayers; and,
3. Uncomplicatedly, in the childlike confidence that God loves to answer our prayers.
And what to pray for? That, seeing and hearing Jesus’s words – whether spoken in parable or plainly - we would see and understand more about Him and His love for us.
A love that had Him endure our mocking Him, insulting Him, spitting on Him, flogging Him, and killing Him … only to rise again, on the third day, making the way for us to enjoy life with Him forevermore.
Sequence:
18:8b On judgement day, will Jesus find faith? …
18:9 Those confident in their OWN righteousness (i.e. NOT “that which comes by faith”) are …
18:14 … NOT justified …
18:15-17 Trust in Jesus, NOT in self …
18:18-25 … NOT by works …
18:31-32 … but by faith in Christ
[See end of Notes / Prompts, below, for final point]Do you have a prayer / a few prayers, that have (so far, at least) gone unanswered?
e.g. 23 yrs praying for my parents and brother; over 10 years praying for Katy’s;
We're going to look at the chapter of Luke 18 as a whole, to learn about praying.
Reading
[Whole chapter (read directly from the Bible) – so PRAY first!]
We start with 2 parables…
1. Parables
ii. Help or hinder understanding? [Now, there seems to be a paradox concerning parables: Mark says that, “with many … parables, Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand” (Mark 4:33); but, earlier in Luke, it says that Jesus spoke in parables “so that, ‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’” Luke 8:10 So, which is it? Do parables help or hinder understanding?]
iii. Help those who come to Jesus for their understanding [The key is who He is talking to - back in Mark, He says: "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables” Mark 4:11 … and He said this to “the twelve disciples and others around Him” – in other words, the people who had come to Him, who followed Him, and who “asked Him about the parables” Mark 4:10 had the secrets of the parables explained to them. … So, parables are helpful, but only for those who come to Jesus, who follow Jesus, and who ask Him for understanding.]
2. Jesus uses the 1st parable to reassure that persistence in prayer is good - and to ask: “Who has faith enough to persist in prayer?”
... The former should not expect to have his prayers answered.
3. Then, as if to say ‘this is not just theoretical”, real life – and …
ii. A clarification: [just being a little child is not what Jesus had in mind when He said to receive the kingdom of God like a little child – the difference seems to be that the ruler, as a little child, pursued godliness, whilst the little children coming to Jesus are pursuing God]
N.B. Jesus starts:” Why do you call me good – there is none good except God”
[the ruler is asking for something to do; Jesus starts by telling him what he needs: The Only One who is good – God]
4. Then, no more parables or metaphors:
But now His disciples don’t understand! Why? (Remember our 3rd point re parables? [Parables help those who ask Jesus for])
5. How could the disciples not understand plain speaking?
[A literally blind man, who trusts in the name of Jesus, calls out to Jesus in humility, calls persistently, and receives what he asks for: having his eyes open to see. Let me just read that part of the reading again so you can see each of these points in action (remember, you’re looking for him trusting in the name of Jesus, calling out to Him in humility, pursuing Him persistently, and having his eyes opened to see Jesus):
6. If we would hear from God…
2. Call out to Him in prayer, in humility and persistence;
3. In whatever we ask, ask that – through the answer – we would see more of Jesus.
7. One last thing: 2 true stories to address “Quick vs Slow answers”
[May 1940: 375k Brit soldiers have been pushed back and surrounded at Dunkerque; Nazi generals are confident that they will be annihilated. The waters are so shallow there, that Brit generals believe only 30k will be saved.
King George VI calls a national day of prayer. Millions of people line up outside churches across the UK.
1. Hitler overrules his generals and stops the advance on Dunkerque
2. A freak storm stops the main Luftwaffe force from taking off to bomb Dunkerque
3. 100 km away in Dunkerque, fog cover stops most of the rest of the Luftwaffe attacking, and the seas are “like glass”, allowing even canal barges to make the crossing. Of the few Luftwaffe planes that could attack, none met their mark: one chaplain describes lying on the sand praying as a plane shot at him – when he got up, he saw his silhouette in bullets but he himself was unharmed.
4. Over 338k soldiers were evacuated
b. Slow: Nicaragua
[Autumn 2015: an Christian from Colorado visited Nicaragua and prayed to be able to help; God told him to return to the US and collect medical supplies to send over for use by Nicaraguan hospitals;
Summer 2019, he had collected a shipping container full of medical supplies, which he duly shipped to Nicaragua; because of bureaucracy and corruption, the contents were sent to be auctioned off – but the shipping container was lost;
Spring 2020, a missionary in Nicaragua called Kendra Doutt was approached to investigate where the container ended up: she found the container – less than a week after the pandemic was declared in this country – and was able to release to numerous hospitals 980 items, from PPE (incl. 50k face masks), through nebulizers, oxygen concentrators, respirators, to even ICU beds
A slow answer to prayer, that was perfect in its timing.]
[PRAY]
