* Jeremiah 31: 27-34
* Psalm 119: 97-104
* 2 Timothy 3: 14- 4: 5
* Luke 18: 1-8
In May of 1940, after the Battle of France had been lost and the British
Expeditionary Force had narrowly escaped being wiped out at Dunkerque –
and knowing that the Battle of Britain was about to begin, Prime Minister
Winston Churchill told members of the House of Commons:
“ … we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in
France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing
confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island,
whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on
the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall
fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
In October of 1941, Churchill visited the Harrow School – where he had
been a student. The visit came after Great Britain had won the Battle of
Britain, but before the United States had entered World War Two – so it was
still a dark time in history.
He told the students:
But for everyone, surely, what we have gone through in this period — I am
addressing myself to the School — surely from this period of ten months this
is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never – in
nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of
honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently
overwhelming might of the enemy.
It turns out that Winston Churchill never said, “Never, never give up,” in a
speech –
but that was clearly his message. Actually, it was soul singer Barry White
who wrote and sang, “Never, Never Gonna Give You Up.”
Thank God that God never gives up on His people. God’s covenantal love –
which we commemorate in the Sacrament of Baptism – is everlasting. It is
not conditional. It does not depend upon how good we are or how many
good deeds we do or how much money we give to the church. It is truly
unconditional love. God’s people put that to the test over and over again –
but God never, never gives up on them.
In the story of the Exodus, God gives the stone tablets with the Law on them
to Moses. He had been gone a long time, and the people started to wonder
whether he might never come back down. They figured that without the go-
between, God might have given up on them. Or at least, God would no
longer given them the signs of His presence – like the pillars of cloud and of
fire.
So Aaron got what was perhaps the worst idea in history: create a sign of
God’s presence – in the form of a golden calf. They worshipped it and
offered sacrifices to it. And that made God furious. Verse 27 literally tells
us that God’s “nose burned” –
that God was breathing out fire that could have consumed the Israelites.
But Moses interceded for his people. He was so concerned about them that
he told the God of the Universe that the optics would be bad, as they say in
political circles:
"… why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out
of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians
say, 'It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the
mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth'? Turn from your fierce
anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people…”
Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster
he had threatened.
A lot of theologians say this proves that God changed His mind. I would say
that it proves that even though God would have been utterly justified in
vaporizing them on the spot, His love for His people is so great that He will
never, never give up on them.
King David pushed his loving God to the limit. The so-called “Man After
God’s Own Heart” had committed adultery with his neighbor’s wife,
Bathsheba – unquestionably a violation of the sixth, seventh, and tenth
commandments, and probably the first and second, as well. And maybe the
seventh.
When the prophet Nathan called him out on it, David did not despair,
because he knew that God is compassionate and merciful. He cried out to
God with confidence in what we call Psalm 51:
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to
your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my
iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and
grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”
David knew God so well that he knew that God would forgive him – not
because David deserved it, but because God never, never gives up on His
wayward children.
Saul the Pharisee never thought of himself as a wayward child of God. He
kept all those laws that Moses carried down Mount Sinai. But he was
completely in the dark about who Jesus was – the One who fulfilled the
whole Law for us – so Saul tried to stamp out the fledgling Church.
But God in His mercy never, never gave up on Saul. We know the story of
the bright light on the road to Damascus that blinded him, and how Jesus
appeared to him in that light, and how Saul was renamed Paul and became
Jesus’ apostle to people who were not Jewish. He later wrote to Timothy:
Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent
man, I was shown mercy … Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves
full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of
whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so
that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his
unlimited patience …
Unlimited patience. Have we ever thought that God has unlimited patience
with His people? Or do we fear that if we do that one more time – whatever
the sin might be –God will say, “I’m done with you”?
But He doesn’t. That’s what it takes to never, never give up.
Jesus put that concept into a beautiful word picture in our Gospel reading
today from Luke 18. A widowed woman could not get a judge to give her
justice. Someone apparently had wronged her – and was getting away with
it. But she kept hounding the judge until he gave her justice.
Jesus is not saying here that God toys with us – and will only give us what
we need once we’re at the end of the rope at the eleventh hour. Rather,
Jesus is teaching that God may test our patience from time to time to give
our faith a good work-out – and to teach us the value of persistence.
To teach us to never, never give up.
Because God will answer our prayers. Maybe not when we want them
answered – or how we want them answered – but He will answer in His
own perfect time and in His own perfect way. So we must keep praying
and never, never give up trusting Him.
Amen.