THE K I NO ' S B U S I N E S S
January, 1941
HOT WATER
no excuse, making no comparisons be tween himself and others. I t was a suitable prayer, asking for mercy, rath er than justice. And it was successful, of necessity (cf. Rom. 10:13; Jer. 29: 13). His trust was in God, not in self. He saw himself as guilty, lost, and in need of a Saviour; he saw God as a God of mercy and pardon, and left all in His hands. This is the only method by which a sinful being may find jus tification before the holy God who can not look on sin. Points and Problems 1. "He spake a parable unto them . . . that men ought always to pray” (Lk. 18J.). I t seems to me that there is a direct connection between this parable on prayer and the subject of the Lord’s return dealt yvith in the preceding chap ter (17:30-37). The duty of prayer and the coming of the Lord are brought to gether in other similar passages (cf. Mark 13:33, “Watch and pray” ). The same connection is indicated in Luke, not only by the sequence of the pas sages, but also by the nature of the parable. Men are “to pray and not to faint" (17:1). The possibility of faint ing suggests that those who are always to pray will be passing through tribula tion, the very thing connected with the second coming in Luke 17:31-33. Fur thermore, the woman of the parable is suffering, from an adversary and pleads with the judge to execute vengeance, and in His application of the parable our Lord declares that He will “avenge his own elect, which cry day and night”; but this day of avenging will be ac complished a t the second coming of the Son of man (v. 8). 2. "Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the .earth?” (18:8). I t is interesting that in the Greek the definite article occurs be fore the word “faith.” “The faith” will be lacking, He warns, suggesting clear ly a certain kind of faith. Can it be any thing else but faith in the very thing which forms the background of the whole passage, namely, the Lord’s re turn from heaven to avenge His elect people suffering from their adversaries? Is it not clear that because of the seem ing long delay in the Lord’s return for judgment, even His elect people will to a large extent lose their faith in the coming event? Thus the intent of the parable becomes clear: No matter how great the afflictions from the adversa ries, no matter how long delayed the coming of the Lord may seem, His peo ple should continue to pray for that glo rious event and “not faint.” If even an unjust judge may finally heed the cries of a poor widow, certainly God will not fail His own. 3. “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself” (18:11), In this de scription there is a fine example of di vine brevity and irony. In these few words you have a complete picture of
bile without gasoline would be useless. But when the power and direction are combined, the impossible becomes the possible—a fact which Elijah proved on Mount Carmel. n . T he M ethod o f P rayer (2-8) Our Lord revealed by this teaching that the proper method of prayer in cludes two essential elements: importu nity and persistence. The widow’s case appeared to be hopeless as it was pre sented to the unjust judge, but impor tunity and persistence availed for her. Sometimes, and to some individuals, God seems like an ,unjust Judge, and some are tempted to cry, “Carest Thou not at all?” I t is this complaint that the parable is intended to meet. The certainty of answer does not rest finally upon the crying, but upon divine elec tion: “Shall not [the just] God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him . . . ?” The expression, “day and night,” describes the mighty crying that proves the election. The righteous Judge shall answer “speedily,” ' that is, suddenly. in. T he M anner o f P rayer (9-14) The Pharisee mentioned in this les son was honest in his business relation ships. He was not an extortioner; he was not unjust. He was dean and moral in his personal life, and was respected in society. He was very religious: he fasted twice in the week, and was gen erous in giving; indeed he gave tithes of all he possessed. He illustrated the terribly prevalent belief that human morality and the keeping of religious ceremonies can prepare men, inherently sinful though they are, for the presence of God. But he was not justified, and his prayer indicates the reason. He was proud. His prayer was “with himself,” not with God, and his prayer made God his debtor. He was insolent, in recount ing before God what he was and did. Is it any credit to a man that he is what he ought to be? Rather, it is a revelation of the warped condition of human nature that a man can presume to take credit for being honest and clean. The Pharisee was also self-suffi cient; his trust was wholly in himself, and he had no realized need of a Sa viour (cf. Matt. 9:13). He compared himself with others, and chose the pub lican for this purpose, not knowing chat God’s standard is His faultless and sin less Son, Jesus of Nazareth. This Phari see, like every other human being, was a sinner (cf. Rom. 3:23; Heb. 9:22), and hence was not justified in spite of all his human goodness. On the other hand, the publicans gen erally were irreligious, unjust in busi ness, and often immoral. But this pub lican’s prayer indicates the reason that i he was accepted and justified before God. His prayer was sincere, offering
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