This Week on the Social Gospel Blog with Rev. Paul J. Bern: On Refusing to be Intimidated by Authority

Stories of Persistence, Arrogance and Humility

(Part one: Luke chapter 18, verses 1–8)

Last week when we finished up the 17th chapter of the gospel of Luke, Jesus had explained to the apostles some of the things that would happen at the time of the Rapture of the church. “Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it”, Jesus explained to his apostles, “and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” So whoever lives only for themselves will be dead for eternity and eternally condemned, while those who live for and dedicate their lives to following Jesus Christ and his teachings will achieve immortality in the presence of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These two ultimate fates of humankind are polar opposites of one another. This week as we move on to chapter 18, Jesus is exhorting his apostles to enrich their prayer life, and then gives them an illustration of how this can be done. So let’s go to the first verse of Luke chapter 18 as we continue from last week.

“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them they should always pray and not give up. He said: ‘In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to…