gospel sanity in insane times

Crazy times, huh?

Back in the 80s Billy Joel had a hit song, “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” in which he lyricized his life from 1949 to 1989 through the headlines, some good, mostly bad. His song cited 118 key moments he’d lived through. Again, over a lifetime.

If you’re alive in these strange days, you could add 118 of those kind of moments….in just the last 18 months!

We brave souls who have already weathered 9/11 and the war on terror, have been conscripted to face the bungled Afghanistan pull-out, COVID-19, shelter-in-place, George Floyd, Critical Race Theory, Capitol riots, and cancel culture.

Mix in the perfect storm of $28 trillion national debt, full-term abortion, impeachment, social injustice, racism, human trafficking, police brutality, nationalism, BLM, white supremacy, #MeToo, pronouns, and gender identity.

Talk about piling on.

Of course the disciples of the early 1st century didn’t have the pandora’s box of issues we face in the 21st century but they lived in worrisome times too. They were a conquered people living under the imperial thumb of Rome, and right along with their countrymen they longed for a Savior-Messiah to break into their story.

Over three years, based on the information they had, the disciples believed their hoped-for hero was now standing in their midst. Trouble was, he didn’t quite fit their idea of how such a king should accede to the throne. Here’s how he put it to them:

For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. BUT FIRST HE MUST SUFFER MANY THINGS AND BE REJECTED BY THIS GENERATION.

Luke 17:24-25, ESV

Say what, Jesus?

Talk of lightning and thunder and glory are themes we can get behind. Swooping in and saving the elect and wiping out the wicked? Yes, Lord, more of that, please. Inject it into our veins! But suffering and rejection? AYKM?!?

Jesus wasn’t finished. He went on to paint an even more dire picture of future days saying it wasn’t going to be all roses and rainbows for his followers either. Times would “wax” worse and worse with unimaginable terrors unleashed on an ill-equipped world. It would be thus right up to the end. Matthew’s gospel adds the gut-checking news that only those who “endure to the end will be saved.” Even Jesus wondered aloud, “When the Son of Man returns will he find faith on the earth?”

If you’re bothered by the trajectory of things (“just how bad is it gonna get?”) take heart. Jesus’s band of brothers wondered too.

And you know what Jesus did to settle them? He told them a little story.

A widow, it seems, was the victim of a pyramid scheme and lost her life savings. She heard the circuit judge was coming to town so she went out to have her case adjudicated. To her dismay, the corrupt judge wouldn’t give her the time of day.

Next morning, she got herself dressed and went out the door to where the judge was holding court. Same answer. No, lady, go home.

Next day, same.

And the next.

But she never stopped going as long as Mr. Justice was in town. She was determined to get a hearing. He was going to take her case or, by golly, she was going to die trying.

Unfortunately the pitiful woman was penniless and had nothing to offer the shady judge by way of bribe. Still, she ventured out to the “justice tent” all the same.

This was likely her last chance. The judge could be packed up and gone the next day. This was it. Please, Universe, Higher Being, Whoever, be on my side, she prayed. (We don’t know if the fictional widow was saved.)

That morning, the judge asked who was out there beyond the folds of his tent and his assistant told him the same old lady who’s been coming every day. He shook his head disgustedly.

“Her again?”

He thought about it, then thought about it some more, and then he broke character.

“Send her in,” he said with a sigh.

And they all lived happily ever after.

Well, not without Jesus they didn’t! Which is the point. Try and do life without Jesus, and you’ll end up a pillar of salt or vulture lunch.

So what does the story have to do with being ready for what’s coming? Simply put, readiness requires faith (God is good), faith requires a “just” Jesus (God is wise), and it’s all fueled with the aromatic incense of prayer (God is able).

The people of God “ought always” to pray, Jesus said.

Was this the answer the disciples were hoping for? Probably not, and it’s not usually what we’re inclined to accept. Pray? Come on God, isn’t there something more concrete?

Yeah, he says, there is something more. Pray….and don’t give up!

[Smiley face emoji]

I’m pretty sure Jesus added that enjoinder because he knows the last days will be hard. We’re taking hard, hard, hardhardhard, so much so the elect (the people of God) will shrink and fail and cower and wonder if it’s all worth it. What if he isn’t coming? What if it’s been a trick the whole time?

Jesus hasn’t changed the formula. Methods and styles come and go, the times they get worse then better and ever worse again, but it’s always been a praying people abiding in the shelter of the Almighty who overcome through the worst of times.

I hear some of you saying, “That sounds like works, Scott.” I totally get that. Problem is, you consider prayer a task to be done — a human work — rather than a lifelong conversation with God. The praying Jesus is speaking of in verse one can be linked to his question in verse eight.

A “praying people” are a “faithing people.”

So if I stand let me stand on the promise

That you will pull me through

And if I can’t let me fall on the grace

That first brought me to You

And if I sing let me sing for the joy

That has born in me these songs

And if I weep let it be as a man

Who is longing for his home

— Rich Mullins, If I Stand

The praying Jesus is referencing is not suppertime thanks or bedtime rhymes. He’s telling us that our assurance of enduring to the end is our clinging to the Savior (“not give up”) through thick and thin, hard times and lean times, rest and unrest. It is a lifestyle and testimony of trusting Christ to carry us all the way home.

Does the little story really answer the questions and fears of the disciples? On the surface, it seems almost a redirect. On closer inspection, we see it’s exactly what we need to hear.

The widow shows us “praying” is “coming” to our One True Authority. Like her, we are to come faithfully, enduringly, single-mindedly, hopefully, and trustingly. Day after day, all our days, until Jesus comes. This is how we endure to the end.

Unlike the widow, we don’t have an unjust judge in the heavenlies who demands a bribe before coming to our rescue. He doesn’t expect us to “shape up” before he will act in mercy. He doesn’t require us to ‘perform’ some empty ritual of contrition so as to move him to respond. The only prerequisites are neediness and faith.

Each and every morning you wake up, as soon as you say the word “Father…” you can rest assured his eyes are already on you and he’s inviting you into his tent. Beloved, you are on his docket for the day, all day. Go to him. Ask him. Have faith he will hear you and be good to you.

[I was blessed to be able to share these thoughts with the generous and loving congregation at West Huntsville Baptist Church recently. If you’d like to view the full video service, simply click here.]