Here’s my sermon on the Parable of the Talents. Or listen to it!
Shabbat Shalom.
You know, usually when I’m asked to give a message, it’s a Torah commentary and my subject matter is determined by the weekly Torah reading. Today I was given more freedom to choose, and I finally settled on a parable of Yeshua that has always had some elements that puzzled me. So I leaped at the opportunity to study it more closely.
This parable is usually referred to as the “parable of the talents,” and I’ve heard teachers teach this parable many different ways. But before we get into analyzing it, let’s read through this parable now so that we all have a common frame of reference. Yeshua is speaking as we read this in:
Matthew 25:14-30
“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’ His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Now, one of the most common ways that this parable of Yeshua is mistaught, and I believe it can lead us down a wrong path, is to look past the cultural context of this parable and interpret talents to mean the giftedness with which the L-RD has blessed each of us. So there are teachers who will go on and on about using your talents in the service of the L-RD, whether it be singing, dancing, writing, teaching, organizing, working with numbers, or whatever it may be that God has given you as a special talent.
Now, using your God-given talents in service to God is a good thing. I agree with it. We can and should all strive to live closer to that ideal. However … that’s not what this parable is about, and I believe Yeshua’s real point here has been missed by those who teach this parable in this way.
I believe the root of this misunderstand starts with simply misunderstanding what Yeshua means by “talent” here. So what is a talent? Well, it’s actually a unit of measurement, one that is used for measuring precious metals, primarily. The Greek word used is talanton, and we find this definition in:
STRONG’S G5007 talanton
• 2) that which is weighed, a talent 2a) a weight varying in different places and times 2b) a sum of money weighing a talent and varying in different states and according to the changes in the laws regulating currency 2b2) a talent of silver in Israel weighed about 100 pounds (45 kg) 2b3) a talent of gold in Israel weighed about 200 pounds (91 kg).
In addition to this, we are offered this insight by:
Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary, p. 59
In Roman times one talent equaled 6,000 denarii, a denarius being roughly a day’s wages for a common laborer … Haman offered King Achashverosh of Persia 10,000 talents of silver to destroy the Jews (Esther 3:9).
So, a talent is a measurement of money used in the ancient world, and it’s a significant amount of money. In fact, if a talent is equal to 6,000 denarii, and a denarii is roughly one day’s wages for the common working person, then it would take the average person, taking only Shabbats off, around 19 years to earn a single talent. Add in the festivals of the L-RD and it’s probably closer to 21 years or more, just to earn a single talent of money.
Stern elaborates on this to give us an idea of just how much money we’re talking about; I’ve updated the amounts in the following quote to reflect today’s precious metal prices, as of this week:
Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary, p. 59
If a day’s wages today is in the neighborhood of $80, 10,000 talents would be $4.8 billion! In the Tanakh a talent weighs 75.6 avoirdupois pounds. This amount of gold, at $1120/troy ounce, is worth nearly $13.54 billion; the same amount of silver, at $17.37/troy ounce, comes to over $210 million.
Now, applying this to the current parable, assuming it is speaking of talents of gold, the man with the five talents was entrusted with the equivalent of – in today’s prices – $6.8 million, the man with two talents with $2.7 million, and the man with one talent, $1.35 million.
So, what can we draw from this? Well, first and foremost, I think it should help us realize that even the man given a single talent by his master was given a vast fortune, not a limited resource. While his share may seem small in comparison to the other two, he in fact has been given much more than most people would ever have access to all at once in their lifetimes.
By now, I think it’s clear that this parable does concern itself with financial resources; this is supported by the text itself, when it mentions that the servants of the master are given “talents of money.”
So now that we know Yeshua is teaching us something about our financial resources, let’s take a step back and take note of the greater context of this parable. Without understanding the context of what Yeshua’s teaching here, it would be too easy to fall into misinterpreting what he means.
Remember the very first word of this parable? What is it? It begins, “Again.” The first few words, in fact, are, “Again, it will be like…” So the next questions we must answer are, why is the word “again” here, and to what is the word “it” referring?
Well, if we take a look at the first half of Matthew 25, we see that Yeshua is teaching another parable there, the parable of the ten virgins. The word “again,” therefore, means that whatever Yeshua is about to tell us is linked to what he’s already taught. This is done for emphasis, or to get a point across. Yeshua is telling us that he’s about to make the same point – again – and he’s hoping that if we didn’t get it the first time, we’ll grasp it the second time.
This teaching style is often used by parents teaching their younger children. It would be similar to telling a child, “Right now, it’s time for the dog to sleep,” and then saying, “Again, do not play with the dog right now.”
I’m making the same point each time, but saying it in different ways to emphasize the point. This teaching style can also be used to help eliminate the possibility of misunderstanding. So one thing we gain from the context immediately is the insight that, whatever point Yeshua is making with the parable of the talents, it must be congruent with the point he’s making in the parable of the ten virgins.
Now let’s read how the parable of the ten virgins begins. We read this in:
Matthew 25:1
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.”
Well, this answers what the “it” refers to in the parable of the talents. The “it” is “the kingdom of heaven.” Yet we have a new question arising from this verse as well. Yeshua starts the parable of the ten virgins with the phrase, “At that time.” Since he’s making the same point in both parables, we need to understand what he means by, “At that time,” in the parable of the ten virgins, in order to understand the parable of the talents properly, don’t we?
So, if we back up to chapter 24, what well see is that both of these parables are building off of an earlier discussion with his disciples, as we read in:
Matthew 24:3
As Yeshua was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
Since this point, Yeshua has been teaching the twelve about this period of time – the sign of his coming, the end of the age – without interruption. Each thing he teaches is designed to add another layer of understanding to what he’s already taught. And throughout these few chapters, to remind us that he’s still responding to his talmudim’s questions about the end of the age and His coming, he begins to use this phrase, “At that time,” as we read in:
Matthew 24:10
At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,
And again in:
Matthew 24:23
At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.
And again in:
Matthew 24:30
“At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.
And this pattern simply continues until Yeshua is done teaching on this topic, and we know that both parables are part of this teaching because it is not concluded until we read, in:
Matthew 26:1-2
When Yeshua had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, “As you know, the Passover is two days away–and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”
So now, with confidence, we can pinpoint the time Yeshua is teaching about with both of these parables, when he uses the phrase, “at that time.” The parable of the talents is a teaching about the return of Yeshua.
Now, Rabbi Stan has often taught on the parable of the ten virgins. And from his teaching, we know that the thing which separated the five wise virgins from the five foolish virgins was what? The oil in their lamps. And what does the oil symbolize? Well, it does not symbolize the presence of the Holy Spirit – the Ruach haKodesh – as some teachers suggest, does it? No, it represents our acts of giving, of charity, our good deeds, our mitzvahs, our kindness shown to others, the way in which we treat those who are in need. And we know this is Yeshua’s message because it is stated even more implicitly later in chapter 25, which we’ll look at in a moment.
But before we do, let’s apply this insight to our understanding of the parable of the talents. Yeshua has been teaching us of his return, of the Day of Judgment. So this is a teaching related to which fall festival of the L-RD? Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement! What do we know about the Day of Atonement? We read this in:
Leviticus 16:29-31
“This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work–whether native-born or an alien living among you–because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the L-RD, you will be clean from all your sins. It is a sabbath of rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance.
And again, in:
Numbers 29:7-11
“‘On the tenth day of this seventh month hold a sacred assembly. You must deny yourselves and do no work. Present as an aroma pleasing to the L-RD a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect. With the bull prepare a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil; with the ram, two-tenths; and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth. Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the sin offering for atonement and the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings.
So the Day of Atonement is the day when our sins are paid for and the books between ourselves and the L-RD are brought into balance. This insight is reflected in the parable when Yeshua teaches, “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.” This settling of accounts alludes to the Day of Judgment. It is the day Yeshua has been speaking of, the day referred to in the parable of the ten virgins and now the day he’s referring to here.
And this makes sense, doesn’t it? I mean, if the oil in the lamps in the ten virgins parable represented the Holy Spirit, how long could it take to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Not long, right? But if the time for the wedding supper has come and the oil represents our good deeds – what we did with what we were given by the L-RD – then how long would it take to make up for a lifetime of neglecting the needs of those around us? A pretty long time, right? And too long for them to be ready for the wedding supper once the bridegroom’s return is imminent.
So, if Yeshua’s point about our mitzvahs – our good deeds – being significant at the Day of Judgment is unclear in the parable of the ten virgins, it becomes clearer in the parable of the talents. Remember, all three servants have been entrusted with different resources according to their abilities, but each is still entrusted with plenty, right? I mean, sure, servant with five talents may have more – about $6.8 million, remember – but even one talent is $1.35 million in assets, and if someone can’t figure out how to bless others with those kinds of resources, well, they need a deeper prayer life.
But now we’re getting to the heart of what used to confuse me about this parable. At the master’s return, on the Day of Atonement, at the settling of books, the servant given five talents has doubled what he was given and so has the servant with two talents. Yet the servant with one talent was afraid and instead of putting that talent to work, he hid it and returns to his master exactly what was given him.
Now, the master’s reaction is what used to confuse me, because it doesn’t appear that the servant with one talent did anything wrong. I mean, he didn’t sneak off with his master’s money, or spend it on himself, did he? And yet he’s called wicked and lazy and is tossed outside of His master’s presence!
Yet what I have realized as I have studied this parable over and over again is this: my understanding of this parable had been influenced for many years by yet another off-target way of looking at this parable. Too often, people approach this parable like it is the secret to financial success in this life. They interpret it by fleshly definitions, when in fact Yeshua is offering a deep teaching of the Spirit. Does it make sense, then, to treat this parable like “God’s Secret to Earning Quick Cash Now!”?
Of course not. That’s not what Yeshua is teaching here. He’s not instructing us on how to invest in Wall Street; he’s instructing us on how to invest in the streets of gold in the kingdom of God! You see, the talents each servant is given represent our earthly treasures, all that the L-RD will bless us with over the course of our lives. This is a teaching about how we use the resources we already have to advance the kingdom of the L-RD. Will we be like the faithful servants, who “put their money to work” and doubled what they were originally given? Or will we fear our L-RD and hide all that we have so that it cannot grow beyond us?
Again, this is not about gaining riches in this life, but storing up for ourselves treasures that cannot perish in the World to Come. As we read in:
Matthew 6:19-21
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
So in light of this, what is Yeshua teaching here? Do we want to keep all that the L-RD has blessed us with in this life to ourselves, and go before Him on the Day of Atonement to offer it all back, but with nothing beyond what he’s given us to show for it? Or do we want to expand His kingdom? If our heart is focused on His kingdom, then we’ll invest our treasure beyond ourselves. We’ll put food in front of the hungry, clothes on the backs of the needy, offer shelter to those without homes. We’ll treat others with the same unearned kindness the L-RD has shown us, won’t we?
You see, the key to handling our treasures in this life is not to tithe, is not to give away no more than twenty percent lest we become destitute ourselves as the rabbis teach, but to realize that all we have belongs to God; it’s not even ours to begin with, but the L-RD’s and we’re to do His work with it.
We find out just exactly what Yeshua is driving at as we read beyond the parable of the talents, in:
Matthew 25:41-46
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Could it be any clearer? By the end of chapter 25, Yeshua is being about as unveiled as possible. Our faithfulness to our master, Yeshua, is measured by our deeds!
So is Yeshua teaching that it is our deeds that are our salvation? No! Yeshua alone saves us. He is offering us a deeper teaching, a teaching about how to pursue righteousness, holy living. He is speaking to his disciples, his talmudim, to those of us who have already been saved and he’s asking us, “OK, now what are you going to do with it?”
Now, some might object and claim this is putting us back under the idea of works. But this is not so; even James, the very brother of our Messiah Yeshua, agrees on this point, as we read in:
James 1: 22, 27
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says … Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
And also:
James 2:14-18
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
So one question remains, one passage that for a long time has eluded me. In the master’s rebuke of the lazy servant, he says, “So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.”
The meaning of this passage eluded me until preparing this sermon. Then the pieces started to fall into place.
If the talents of money are about using our earthly resources to store up treasure in the World to Come, then what’s this about putting it on deposit with bankers and having the master get it back with interest?
Now, clearly, the wicked servant is operating out of fear. Perhaps he was afraid he’d lose his master’s fortune. But how can you lose a fortune if your job is to give it away to those in need? You can’t. But another fear paradigm is this: perhaps the servant feared he’d invest it poorly; like the person who means to help a homeless person by giving them money, only to find out those funds bought the last bottle of whiskey that left them dying in an abandoned alley.
So, using the fear explanation, could one understand the concerns of a person who is afraid of using what they’ve been given in ways that don’t advance the kingdom? Possibly, but is that an excuse not to give, not to help? No. That’s why I think the comment about the bankers is here. Could it be that Yeshua is telling us, “If you’re afraid to invest your earthly treasures yourself, then entrust them to those with experience.”
Again, this is not about banking in this life! This is about spreading the kingdom of the L-RD. If you don’t know how best to invest in spreading the kingdom of the L-RD yourself, then give to those who do; there are many ministries that help the needy. It can be as close to home as your local community of believers, or as global as giving to ministries that help poor Jewish people return to the land of Israel, or anything in between. And I’d suggest this; if you pray long enough and hard enough, the L-RD will not return vacant anything you give in faith. Your treasures in heaven will accumulate.
The bottom line on the parable of the talents is this; we all have more than we think we’ve been given, and we should use it prayerfully and wisely, putting it to work to advance the kingdom of heaven, rather than invest in our comfort and convenience in this world. While none of us are complete works in this regard, all of us – I’m including myself – can do better in trusting the L-RD enough to turn our treasures, our finances, over to Him. For it is far better to enter into the World to Come hearing Yeshua say, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” than it is to hear, “Throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
May we all live toward, and earn, that “Well done” praise from Messiah Yeshua, our master, on the Day of Judgment and in the World to Come.
Shabbat Shalom.
Sermon: Parable of the Widow and the Unjust Ruler
Monday, April 26th, 2010
Well, I finally made some time to sit down and re-type up the sermon I lost to a crashed flash drive early this year. It was my penultimate sermon at Beth Yeshua, but here it finally is. And I have an MP3 file here, so you can listen to it!
Shabbat Shalom.
So, we’ve been studying the parables of Yeshua in recent weeks and we began with the Parable of the Talents, in which we learned that the L-RD wants us to regard all the wealth He gives us in this world as belonging to Him, using it to spread the work of His kingdom, rather than on our own temporary comfort in this life. Then, in the Parable of the Great Debt, we came face-to-face with the responsibility we have to forgive others in the same way God has forgiven us, and we explored how, while that seems easy in concept, it’s not so easy when to comes to forgiving some of the gravest sins.
And then, last week, in the Parable of the Weeds, we discussed the problem presented by the presence of evil in the world; about why it exists, how it came to be, and how to remain forgiving, even to the unrepentant. We talked about how, when it comes to the unrepentant, while we must forgive them, it’s not to be a brainless forgiveness, and that in the case of the unrepentant only, it is best to forgive from a distance, because the preservation of life comes before all the rules of Torah.
So, what more is there to learn from Yeshua’s parables? Plenty. The parable I’d like to look at today is one of Yeshua’s less-explored parables, and it was suggested to me by someone here at Beth Yeshua. And I believe not only does it hold an important teaching for us, but it also ties in nicely with the themes of the recent parables we’ve been exploring.
It’s called the Parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge, so let’s read it now so we all have a common frame of reference. It begins in:
Now, some people can find this parable confusing, primarily because they draw too close a parallel between the unjust judge and the L-RD. While the principle Yeshua is teaching about draws such a parallel, it’s not meant to be a close parallel.
Why do I say this? Well, because the judge in this parable is unjust to begin with. Is the L-RD Himself unjust? Of course not. God Himself is the arbiter of all justice; He is the source of justice and He brings justice to everyone, doesn’t he?
So we have to be careful of letting out picture of God begin to reflect the picture of this unjust judge too closely, for the L-RD is not like him. The text has Yeshua describing this judge as not fearing God nor caring about his fellow man. Does this remind us of anything? It calls to mind for me:
So, we know Yeshua teaches these two commandments sum up the entire Torah: to fear God and to care about your neighbor. That’s it; that’s the Messiah’s summary of the entire Torah. So if we’re being told that this judge neither feared the L-RD nor cared about his neighbor, what are we really being told about him? That this ruler is far from… what? He’s far from the Torah, isn’t he? About as far from Torah as he can get! This is why he’s labeled an unjust ruler! Because he is ruling according to his own petty concerns and self-interests and decisions between right and wrong, rather than ruling based on the Torah of God. He is a portrait of the Torah-less world!
So who or what does that remind you of? Remember last week, when we studied the Parable of the Weeds? In that parable, we learned that the wheat represents those of us who are in Yeshua, part of the kingdom of the L-RD, who obey the Torah and follow its instruction; yet we are intertwined with the weeds – those who are children of darkness, sons of the Adversary of the L-RD, workers of evil and injustice. And we read that Yeshua taught that evil cannot be purged until the time of the harvest – that final Yom Kippur, the Day of Judgment – when the good crops will be separated from the weeds, and the weeds will be burned up, while the wheat will be brought into the master’s storehouse.
So we saw that we are in a world filled with both children of God and children of the Adversary. The children of the Adversary are without Torah; and we know that while we must forgive them when they do evil against us, that it would also be unwise to trust them when they are unrepentant, giving them an opportunity to do evil to us again.
That raised the question of how do we interact with those who are children of the Adversary. I mean, it’s not like any of us have a scorecard, is it? We can’t walk down the street, or even a church aisle, and say, “righteous,” “righteous,” “unrighteous.” Can we? Of course not.
And the sad truth is that the world we are in is usually ruled by those who are Torah-less. So one of the very real questions about getting through this life is, how can we find justice in a world ruled by the unjust? This parable gives us a clue: persistence, it appears, pays off. The unjust ruler of this parable doesn’t rule justly because he fears the L-RD and agrees with the woman who was wronged; he rules in her favor because she never gives up, never surrenders, never ceases in insisting that he rule rightly on the matter. He does what is right, basically, just to get her off his case!
So how does Yeshua interpret this parable? Let’s read on:
Now this is where we can easily slip into misunderstanding. This is where the connection is made between the nature of God and the nature of the unjust judge. But what is Yeshua really saying here? He’s saying that if even an unjust judge will render a just verdict through the persistence of a widow, how much more will the L-RD, who desires justice and to do what is right, answer the righteous requests of those who bring their concerns to Him?
Of course, that’s not that hard. It’s relatively easy to understand. But it does raise a question, which the person who suggested this parable asked: “So, is this parable teaching us that if we merely bug God enough, He’ll give us whatever we want, like some genie in a magic lamp? Is God no better than us, changing His mind simply because He’s being pestered about something and wants to get someone off His back?”
As I’ve taught often the last few weeks, Scripture reveals Scripture. If you want to understand one verse or passage, study everything around it and eventually the meaning will become clear. Right? So let’s start setting this parable in context to gain our best response to this question.
First and foremost, we ought to understand the word “persistence.” You know, in the NIV, some form of the word “persist” appears only ten times; in only one of these is the word given a positive connotation. In one other appearance, it results in the same effect Yeshua describes in the parable.
We find this positive mention in:
And we find the instance in which the effect of persistence is the same as Yeshua describes in this parable, in:
Now, this last instance here is not entirely positive. Remember, Elisha the prophet is right to tell his men not to go looking for his master, Elijah. Why? Because Elisha himself saw Elijah taken up to heaven. He knew they were not going to find Elijah, but he finally gives into their demand to search because they simply won’t let it rest.
Now, the other eight instances in which some form of the word “persistence” is used, it is always negative in connotation, referring to how people persist in their sin or their disobedience to the L-RD.
So I thought it might be handy to look at the Hebrew and Greek words that are translated as “persist,” but what I found is there is not a precise word in Hebrew or Greek that is always reliably translated that way. In fact, I found at least two different Greek words and two different Hebrew words that are translated as “persist,” but also that these words are not reliably translated that way. They are the Greek words epimeno (ep-ee-men’-o) and hupomone (hoop-om-on-ay’), as well as the Hebrew words patsar (paw-tsar’) and yalak (yaw-lak’).
So persist as we understand it in English is used to translate more than one Biblical word. So I began to look for parallel concepts to persistence, ideas that captured the meaning of persistence, even if it was not translated that way.
Suddenly, I found more positive references to the concept of never giving up, of persistence, than I found when looking for that precise English word. We find one such example in:
We also find this in:
So persist means to continue, to so something without ceasing to do it, to never give up. This agrees with what Luke tells us was the purpose of Yeshua’s parable, which was, “to show them that they should always pray and not give up.”
So, to get back to our question: Does this mean that if we pray without ceasing, that God can and will actually change His mind? There is no quick answer to this; to understand what Yeshua is teaching us better, we must first understand the nature of prayer itself.
So, what is prayer, really? Well, is it simply taking time to communicate with God. To, as Moses did in the Tent of Meeting, come face-to-face with our Maker. That is ideally what prayer is meant to be. As believers, in fact, we are commanded to pray, as Yeshua Himself teaches in:
James, the brother of Yeshua, teaches us further about the benefits and purposes of prayer in:
What James teaches us here is loaded with important concepts on an effective prayer life, but it’s easy to miss the important details. We all love to hear that prayer is powerful and effective, but too often we read right past one of the most important words in the passage. What does James actually teach? He teaches that, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”
A righteous man. Not just anyone, not even just any believer. But the prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. And you see, that’s where many of us can trip up. That’s why so many who are believers in this country feel like they have ineffective prayer lives, or complain about God not answering their prayers. Because it is the prayers of the righteous that will be answered, not the prayers of just anyone.
So can you, for example, ignore the Torah commands of God and expect your prayers to be answered? Can you persist in habitual sin and expect God to grant your request? Can you lead a life of casual, only-when-it’s-convenient faith, come home from, say, a night of hard drinking, and pray to the L-RD for some blessing and expect Him to listen and respond affirmatively?
No.
God is not an emergency parachute for when you’re in a tight spot and need to save your butt, only to neglect Him at all other times. God desires to have a relationship with us, a give-and-take relationship, and part of being able to speak with Him as Moses did in the Tent of Meeting – face-to-face – is that we must live at least to the minimum standards set down for us in the Torah; furthermore, we should live to a standard far above that, striving to walk as Yeshua walked, in obedience to the L-RD, obeying everything that was commanded of Him.
Does this mean the L-RD never listens and responds to the prayers of the unrighteous? Not at all! He hears the prayers of repentance offered up by those lost in their sin all the time! But think about it! That repentance needs to come first, just to clear the table!
If you have a relative who, the only time they gave you the time of day was when they needed something, and the rest of the time they were out bad-mouthing you and ruining your reputation, and even when they asked for your something they wouldn’t apologize for how they’ve wronged you – how long would you keep giving them what they ask for?
You see, the kind of righteousness James is talking about here isn’t some unreachable, impossible standard; as he wrote, “Elijah was a man just like us.” So was Moses, for that matter, as we discussed in last week’s Torah commentary. But both men were humble enough to know they were unworthy, in and of themselves. They relied on God’s truth to create their righteousness and they obeyed His commands in gratitude. They agreed with God and relied on Him and that became their righteousness.
That’s a righteousness that doesn’t come from ignoring whatever commands you don’t like or don’t fit what you do; it’s a righteousness that clears the table and allows you to speak with God as Moses did, as Yeshua did. That’s when God starts listening: when you’re not fighting with Him anymore over what the truth is. That’s when the prayer of the righteous becomes powerful and effective, because you become echad with the maker of the universe! Not one person, but of one mind and one spirit with Him, not struggling against Him anymore.
Yeshua instructs us on some more mistakes to guard against when we pray. We read this in:
And Yeshua didn’t just tell others one thing and do something else Himself. He modeled this in His own walk with His Father, as we read in, for example:
So now we have a basic understanding of how to pray effectively. So the question becomes, let’s assume we’re doing all this right. Let’s assume we’re relying on His righteousness and not fighting with God over the truth; we’re repenting of our sin, we’re face-to-face with God, and we’re talking with Him. Can we, even at this point, change the mind of the creator of the universe? Can we, simply by badgering Him, get whatever we ask?
Let’s first take a look at the prayer live of someone who only had the appearance of righteousness; who went through all the right steps and claimed to have the ear of the L-RD. Let’s see what Balak found out about prayer, as we read in:
A similar statement is expressed in I Samuel 15:29. This testimony about God and His nature is true! God doesn’t lie. He always is truthful and all truth comes from Him. Balak performs all the right steps, does everything the Hebrews do, and yet he could not curse the Jewish people; he could not move the L-RD to cease from blessing the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and in this prophecy, Balak is testifying to that fact; man cannot change the mind of God in a way that makes God break His promises. The L-RD will never promise, then fail to fulfill because someone else prays for Him not to.
Yet it’s important to remember Balak is not a righteous man; as he’s testifying to the L-RD’s goodness to Balaam, Balak is there trying to curse Israel against the L-RD’s wishes. The L-RD allows Balak to do this, but He does not answer Balaam’s prayer.
Why?
Because part of the prayer of the righteous being powerful and effective is that the righteous never pray for the L-RD to do something outside of His own will. The righteous never pray for the L-RD to violate His own promises.
So, even a man like Balak, who has the appearance of righteousness, can pray and yet the L-RD will not make those prayers either powerful or effective; because the prayers are not righteous.
But is that the end of the subject? Is the L-RD never swayed? Well, let’s remember this episode from:
Now, we should all remember how the rest of this story goes. Abraham is bold in his prayer life with the L-RD and keeps asking Him for His mercy for forty, for thirty, for twenty and then for ten righteous left in the city. Why did Abraham stop at ten? Because that comprises a minyan – the minimum number of people required to start a congregation.
Did the end result change? No. Sodom and Gomorrah fell, but only because there could not be found even ten righteous who were willing to turn from their sin, repent and follow the L-RD and His commands.
Yet if they had found ten righteous, would the city have been spared? You bet; and it would have been spared because of Abraham’s prayer life, his communication with the L-RD. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. And we know this is true because there are times when the L-RD, in the wilderness, wishes to slay the children of Israel for their unrighteousness, and it was the prayer life of Moses, praying a righteous prayer for the L-RD to protect His name among the Gentiles, that caused the L-RD not to slay the children of Israel and instead offer them a path to forgiveness.
You see, God never repents because God never sins where He has to repent. But can the prayer of the righteous move God to change? In some ways, yes. We read an example of this in:
This is where the prayers of the righteous can have an impact. When we pray for God to relent from judgment, to show mercy to the unrighteous, to give time for repentance. Not when we pray outside of the will of God, or for the L-RD to violate His will or His nature, but when we pray for the L-RD to be who He is, to live up to His name and show His greatness.
That’s when the L-RD moves. That’s when the prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective, because we’re remaining in the L-RD and His will. That’s the kind of prayer life we should want. The kind of walk with the L-RD we should want. That’s when Messiah Yeshua reigns and gives us the ability to forgive, even to forgive the unrepentant and yet stay safe. That’s when we rest in Him.
Shabbat Shalom.
Tags: parables, unjust ruler, widow, Yeshua
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