And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
Luke 18:1-8
Unanswered Prayer
It’s not uncommon to hear of people turning away from evangelicalism these days. They call themselves ex-vangelicals, but these people are not only turning away from evangelicalism as a MOVEMENT, but also turning away from it’s doctrines (orthodoxy).
Often one of these reasons for people becoming ex-vangelicals is because they have a mountain of unanswered prayers and a lack of supernatual interaction with God.
Here in the above parable, self-evidently, Jesus encourages people to be persistent in praying to the Father and if you persist you will get your petition.
God / Evil Judge?
I’m not actually interested in exploring the need to be persistent in prayer because you can listen to ten million sermons on this simple lesson of Jesus in the Parable given in Luke.
I want to rather ask the question why Jesus, who I presume loved God the Father quite a bit more than any Christian can, why would he compare Abba to an Evil Judge?
There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
…
And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
Here we have two passages in the parable wherein the one eternal God is compared to wicked rulers of men.
How, even in the course of a lesson from Jesus, could an unassailably pure and powerful God be like “an unjust judge?”
This, on first glance would question the righteousness, the goodness, and the holiness of the Father…by the Son no less!
The Uncreated One is OTHER
Since the context is prayer, lets call to mind a word from Solomon on prayer that may help us:
Guard your steps as you go to the house of God and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know they are doing evil.
Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven and you are on the earth; therefore let your words be few.
Ecclesiastes 5:1-2
and another from Christ:
“And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.
“So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
Matthew 6:7-8
Another way of saying the above is God is not like we expect to find him.
Part of the “improvement” in the storyline of the New Testament over the Old, is that God gets more personal.
Maybe we could even say he ‘becomes’ person-able (likeable) in the Person of Christ revealed to us rather than the Shadowy Dreadful God of Sinai.
But God has not changed from an angry and implacable God who destroys his enemies at a moment’s notice just because we have turned the page from Malachi to Matthew.
God is other. He is, in a very real way, NOT US, and NOT LIKE US.
We are not only dependent, and weak and miserable creatures with endless needs….
but also sinners, and to some degree distasteful to a perfectly pure God.
We forget we are not entitled welfare mommas texting sugar daddy when we pray. We are unworthy even as born again souls to enter his presence. All that we have is an utter gift and consolation despite us not because of us.
God is No Creature
Part of the reason a holy and unchanging God could appear cruel, uncaring, and distant from our suffering is becuase God is not a creature.
‘We’ love to personify God the Father, and some evangelicals are prone to refer to him as “Daddy” with many sentimental seeming and squishy titles to help people feel God is approachable.
We must not look up and see our human dad, we must not look up and see squishy baby daddy giving us the goods.
God is not us, He is not like us.
We must remember the infinite distance he has from us in terms of likeness, though not in access (which was purchased by Christ).
Cool Distance is Healthy
So why can we look to an unjust and evil judge, and rightly see something true about Abba?
It’s because Abba is infinitely above our concept of existence, the world, meaning, time, pains and pleasures, needs and wants.
He stoops to us in Christ, but he remains aloft, infinitely so.
His otherness is cold toward much of what it is to be a creature. It must be, to retain his unchangeble golden purity.
But we, as members of him in Christ may approach and often we must to obtain our sustinence just as the Christ did in his earthly sojourn.
To approach him so as to go from want to sustenence, we must do so with the danger and dignity of Esther who approached Ahasuerus at risk of her life to obtain her petition of the Jewish deliverance.
We must come with cold, cool, and desperate urgency, willing to die as it were to obtain before this lofty royal, this lofty divine, who is other….
…the thing we need.
Nate