First Reading Genesis 32:22-30
22The same night {Jacob} arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”
Psalm Psalm 121
1I lift up my eyes to the hills; from where is my help to come? 2My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. 3He will not let your foot be moved and he who watches over you will not fall asleep. 4Behold, he who keeps watch over Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep; 5The Lord himself watches over you; the Lord is your shade at your right hand, 6So that the sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; it is he who shall keep you safe. 8The Lord shall watch over your going out and your coming in, from this time forth forevermore.
Second Reading 2 Timothy 3:14–4:5
14As for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
1I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Gospel Luke 18:1-8
1{Jesus} told {his disciples} a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” 6And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
PAUL’S CHARGE TO TIMOTHY
Since gator prices were at an all-time low and jobs were hard to come by in Louisiana, Billy Bob and his brother Jim Bob Joe decided to go down to Mexico one day and build themselves a Bungee Jumping tower. They figured that those folks down there had probably never seen someone bungee jump before and figured they could make themselves a good bit of money. They did some research and found that the border town of Nuevo Laredo was the closest and safest town to attempt their venture. So, they gathered the supplies they needed from around the home place and headed for the Texas Mexico border.
After they got the tower all set up, they noticed that the crowds gathered around, but nobody was buying tickets. Billy Bob says to his brother, “Maybe you should demonstrate it to them, so they get the idea.” After Jim Bob was strapped in, he jumped and fell almost to the ground before springing back. As he came back up Billy Bob noticed that Jim Bob’s clothes were torn and wondered what that was all about. Jim Bob went down again and this time when he came back up Billy Bob noticed that he was bleeding. Billy Bob wonders aloud, “Wow, what’s going on here?” Ole Jim Bob went down a third time, and this time when he came back up Billy Bob noticed that he had blood, contusions and cuts all over his body. Billy Bob pulls his brother in and said, “Jim Bob, what happened?” Jim Bob groanes, “I don’t know, but what’s a pinata?”
I’ll bet that most of us here can say that at least once in our lives we too have felt like a pinata. Each of us can probably think of a time when we felt like we were getting beat up from all sides. But as I read about the Apostle Paul, in heavy prison chains, languishing in jail, I couldn’t help but feel a bit ashamed of feeling sorry for myself. Paul, as you already know wasn’t in jail for committing some heinous crime, he was locked up simply for being a follower of Jesus. I know were not supposed to compare one situation to another, but when I contrast my discomforts with Paul’s situation, my complaints seem quite trivial.
In the verses following the reading in our second lesson, Paul describes his situation like this: “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing (6-8). “At my first defense,” Paul continues, “no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (16-18). What a magnificent testimony to what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ!
What a wonderful statement to the sustaining power of God! What we need to take note of, is Paul’s tone when he wrote this; there’s weariness in his voice. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Paul didn’t write this at the beginning of life, but near its end. It’s a wonderful thing to be young; to have lots of energy and enthusiasm. To believe that nothing is impossible to you. To believe in happy endings. That’s not as easy toward the end of life as it is when you are younger, is it? Not when a good many of your friends are gone, and your health begins to fail, and you worry constantly about what tomorrow may bring. Now for those us who deal with the effects of arthritis, Terry shared a quote she saw on Facebook with me the other day by someone dealing with arthritis, they wrote: “The part they never told me about getting old is that rigor mortis starts to set in before you die.”
One lady wrote her son and said, “Rabbi Abrams came to call the other day. He said at my age I should be thinking of the hereafter. I told him, oh I do it all the time. No matter where I am, in the parlor, upstairs, in the kitchen, or down in the basement, I ask myself, Now, what am I here after?'” It’s not so easy near the end of life. Aging has its challenges.
This isn’t to say that you can always judge a person by their age. George Bush, at age 72, jumped out of a plane. Tony Randall, at age 77, was doing eight Broadway performances a week, and still summoned the energy to father a child with his 27-year-old wife. Today there are women past 50 who bear children. Octogenarians finish marathons. As the American Association of Retired Persons puts it succinctly on its World Wide Web site: “The experience of aging in America isn’t what it used to be.”
Consider Eva Johnson, who as a little girl loved to draw. She started painting at age 65 and now, at 100, has become a latter-day Grandma Moses, painting country scenes in Otterbein, Ind. At last glance, they were selling well. And recently in Boston, a woman named Ruth Rothfarb died at age 96 after a 27-year career as a marathon runner that she began when her husband died. “I had to do something,” she said. “I wasn’t going to sit around doing nothing.” The list goes on: Bob Hope was still performing at the age of 95. Sen. Strom Thurmond, RS.C., was still serving in the legislature at age 96. And, for that matter, George Dawson of Dallas, Texas, decided that after 99 years of illiteracy, he’d learn to read. I guess he finally got bored of fishing. And who can forget about John Glenn, who at the age of 77, headed back into space. No, aging isn’t what it used to be.
Still, aging has its challenges and its disappointments. If we’re not careful, fantasy gives way to fatalism. Faith gives way to despair. It could have happened to Paul. “At my first defense,” he writes, “no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me.” Can you imagine that? Here was the greatest Christian teacher who ever lived, and he couldn’t count on the support of his friends and fellow believers in the church. A lesser person might have become bitter. It’s one thing for your enemies to turn you into a human pinata, it’s another for your brothers and sisters in Christ to turn their backs while it’s happening.
A man named Gary Shank saw a church sign that carried an unintended message. In large letters it said: “WE CARE ABOUT YOU.” Underneath in smaller letters it said, “Sundays 10 A.M. Only.” If that doesn’t make you laugh, it’ll make you cry. But it happens. Jesus handpicked twelve men and one of them betrayed Him. Paul gave his total devotion to starting churches and some of his closest Christian friends let him down. No wonder we can hear the weariness in Paul’s voice. But notice also the expectation of a coming reward.
Paul writes, “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” Paul knew his lifetime of faithfulness would not be in vain. There was a crown of righteousness bestowed by God’s own Son awaiting him.
I like something that Barbara Johnson wrote in one of her books. Barbara is a Christian writer and speaker who runs a ministry for people in pain. Tragedies in her own life have given Barbara and her husband special insight into suffering. Over thirty years ago, Barbara’s husband was involved in a car wreck that left him severely and permanently injured. Their oldest son was killed in the Vietnam War, then their next son was killed by a drunk driver. Barbara and her husband were estranged for many years from their third son, who was living a self-destructive lifestyle. Yet in spite of all the sorrow they’ve faced, Barbara and her husband have never lost their faith in a loving God. Whenever she meets someone who is in despair, Barbara Johnson shares with them a few words of wisdom she lives by. These words will particularly resonate with those of you who are football fans. She shares, “God didn’t promise we’d be leading at the half, but only that we would win the game!”
What an incredibly reassuring message for anyone feeling like a human pinata. “God didn’t promise we’d be leading at the half, but only that we would win the game!” There was a weariness in Paul’s voice from all the trials, beatings and imprisonment he had experienced, but there was also the sound of victory, because he knew that he would receive a great reward. How did he know he would receive a reward? He knew because God had been with him each step of the way.
Paul writes: “At my first defense no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth.” Paul’s expectation of a much-deserved reward was not based on wishful thinking but on his own experience. Every step of the way, through both hardships and heartaches, Paul had found God standing by his side.
A few years ago, Norman Vincent Peale and his wife, Ruth, rode with a taxi driver who was an interesting man. The name written on his license was Dutch, so Peale asked if he was from Europe. “Yes,” the driver said, “from Rotterdam.” “Well,” Peale replied, “I was the minister of the old Dutch Reformed Church in New York City for fifty-two years.” “Oh,” the driver commented in surprise. “Then you’re Doctor Peale.” “Yes, sir,” Peale said. “I’ve been to your church,” the driver continued, “but I didn’t recognize you without your robe.” “Yes,” Peale said, “there’s a difference between an alb and a business suit.” And they had a nice chat.
As they drove along, the driver asked, “Have you time to let me tell you a story? It’s about the time I met God, and it shows how good God is. I have great faith, sir, and I know that I can never get outside the care and love of God. “It was close to the end of World War II,” he began. “I was a little boy. Our country had been ravaged.
The conquerors had been driven out, but we were left absolutely destitute. We had ration stamps, but they weren’t any good, for we had no food at all. There was no food in the warehouses or in the stores or in the country districts. Holland had been swept clean of foodstuffs. We were reduced to eating beets out of the fields. It was a kind of beet that is dangerous to eat without long cooking. Even then, if you don’t accompany it with other food, the chemical reaction will bloat and distend the stomach. People have been known to die from the chemical that they absorbed from an overdose.” He continued, “You know how beautiful Holland’s tulips are? We dug the bulbs out of the ground and ate them. That was all we had. We were desperate.
“Then a notice from our pastor went around, telling us that there would be a meeting in the church. Since we were reduced to final circumstances, we would have a meeting and pray to God, telling Him we were His children and asking Him to feed us. It was the only hope we had. The big church was packed; two thousand people were present. There was no sermon. We prayed for an hour or two. The pastor prayed. People prayed aloud all over the church. We sat there herded together, praying to God. “I was only a little boy. But all of a sudden, I became aware that God was right there, and I was almost frightened. I could feel Him in my heart. I knew that He was present, and I knew that He was going to take care of us poor starving people.
“Then we sang one of those old Dutch hymns of faith and we went out into the streets and back to our homes; and with a gnawing, empty stomach, I fell asleep. “Early the next morning, we were awakened by the roar of a great armada of airplanes over Rotterdam, and there began a great shower of food. It seemed that the sky was full of great packages of food floating down to the streets of Rotterdam, filling the avenues with fine food. And we ate.” The driver glanced back at the Peales from the driver’s seat as he said, “As long I live, I will believe that God heard those prayers and, out of His great heart of love, He fed his children.”
You know, I believe that, too. Certainly, Paul believed it. In spite of living part of his life as a human pinata he writes, “But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth.” And then Paul adds a doxology. Even though he was weary and disappointed with many of his friends.
With this expectation that a crown of glory awaits him he writes, “The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” And thankfully, that’s our affirmation today. “The Lord will rescue us from every evil attack and will bring us safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever.
Amen.”
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