SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR C

First Reading: Genesis 18:20-32

Let not my Lord grow angry if I speak.

In those days, the Lord said: “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin so grave, that I must go down and see whether or not their actions fully correspond to the cry against them that comes to me. I mean to find out.”

While Abraham’s visitors walked on farther toward Sodom, the Lord remained standing before Abraham. Then Abraham drew nearer and said: “Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty? Suppose there were fifty innocent people in the city; would you wipe out the place, rather than spare it for the sake of the fifty innocent people within it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to make the innocent die with the guilty so that the innocent and the guilty would be treated alike! Should not the judge of all the world act with justice?” The Lord replied, “If I find fifty innocent people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” Abraham spoke up again: “See how I am presuming to speak to my Lord, though I am but dust and ashes! What if there are five less than fifty innocent people? Will you destroy the whole city because of those five?” He answered, “I will not destroy it, if I find forty-five there.” But Abraham persisted, saying “What if only forty are found there?” He replied, “I will forbear doing it for the sake of the forty.” Then Abraham said, “Let not my Lord grow impatient if I go on. What if only thirty are found there?” He replied, “I will forbear doing it if I can find but thirty there.” Still Abraham went on, “Since I have thus dared to speak to my Lord, what if there are no more than twenty?” The Lord answered, “I will not destroy it, for the sake of the twenty.” But he still persisted: “Please, let not my Lord grow angry if I speak up this last time. What if there are at least ten there?” He replied, “For the sake of those ten, I will not destroy it.”

PRAYER

Rev. Linh N. Nguyen

There is a lot of evidence throughout the Bible that God invites us to pray and He assures us He will hear our prayers. Though He is holy, while we are sinful, He invites us to ask favors and promises help. There are times in our lives when we, in desperation and pain, run to God in hysterical prayer. We don’t know the words to speak to him. But God hears, for he knows our circumstances.     

At first, prayer seems to be very simple. It is something we were taught to do when we were a child. Prayer can be thought of broadly as communion with God, and more narrowly as asking God for help or giving thanks. But with time, prayer becomes amazingly difficult because it requires lifelong effort. The greatest saints struggle with it. How should we approach God? What should we say? How should we say it? What right do we have to ask God for anything? How do we know that He will answer? 

In today’s first reading, we see that the message from God about judgment upon Sodom caused Abraham to do some mediation on behalf of the righteous in that sinful city. The reading states, “The Lord remained standing before Abraham. Then Abraham drew nearer to him…”  Abraham drew himself close to the Lord before he spoke up for the righteous in Sodom.  Drawing nearer to God before praying is essentially important. Drawing nearer to God will always activate our prayer life. The closer we are to God, the better our prayer life will be. Being close to God will improve us in the energy and effectiveness of our praying.

When we are moving farther and farther from God, the aftermath of it is often tragic. We would make many bad decisions and do bad deeds when we are far from God. But when we draw near to God, we protect ourselves from these great problems and make our lives productive in God’s sight.

When God had revealed to Abraham that Sodom was headed for impending destruction, Abraham’s compassion was immediately for the righteous living in that sinful city. He was concerned about the well-being of the good people. Do we have this kind of compassion to the righteous who are victims because of bad deeds of others? In human society, we sometimes perceive that laws are given in favor of the wicked than to the righteous. Lawyers and courts at times show interest in protecting the criminal more than the innocent. The problem in Sodom was that few cared for the well-being of the righteous. Instead, most of Sodom’s citizens were concerned about the prosperity of the wicked.     

Only Abraham, the righteous man, cared for the sake of other righteous people. And he took this matter straight to the Lord. He was very humble when he prayed. For example in verse 27, Abraham spoke up: “See how I am presuming to speak to my Lord, though I am but dust and ashes!” Here, Abraham saw himself as dust and ashes compared to God’s holiness. He could perceive himself that way, because, we remember, he drew himself nearer to the Lord. The more we are in God’s presence, the more we are aware and humbled by our smallness compared to God’s mightiness, and by our sinfulness compared to God’s holiness. 

Because Abraham saw himself as dust and ashes before God, he spoke respectfully of God in his prayer. He called God by the highly venerable title of “the Judge of all the world” (v. 25). Here, Abraham teaches us to be careful how we address the title of God when we are praying.

To honor God’s name is to honor Him. The book of Exodus (20:7) teaches, “You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain. For the Lord will not leave unpunished him who takes his name in vain.” Disrespectful use of God’s name is an insult to Him. It holds true that many Christians address God in a frivolous way when they pray. The way we address God conveys how we really feel about him.  

Furthermore, we see that Abraham prayed single-mindedly. He was very determined that the righteous in Sodom would be spared. His determination was so great that he worked down the number needed to spare Sodom from fifty to ten. He teaches us the necessity of resolute faith in prayer.

A little boy came to the priest and asked him to have the folks in prayer meeting pray that the Lord might cause his sister to read the Bible. The priest made the request known, but as soon as someone began to pray about it, little Johnny got up and left. Everyone thought him very rude, and the next day the priest scolded him for it. But Johnny said, “Father, I wanted to go and see my sister read the Bible for the first time.”

Most of us are not that resolute in pursuit of our spiritual goals like Abraham was. Hence, we cut short our own blessings, for we do not keep it up in our tasks and are not determined enough in our efforts to accomplish them.

Although Sodom was eventually destroyed, Abraham still got his prayer answered. That is, the righteous would not be destroyed with the wicked, for God delivered Lot and his family from the destruction of Sodom. Abraham’s success in praying tells us that prayer does accomplish great things. So we should keep praying when our prayers seem have not been answered at first. Eventually, we may be accomplishing much more through prayer than we realize. 

One of the remarkable characteristics of Abraham’s prayer is his persistence. It seemed that Abraham haggled with God over the destiny of Sodom. He marked down prices sharply to bring in sales of the sake of Sodom. He bargained with God about fifty innocent people for the saving of that sinful city, and then went down to forty-five, forty, thirty, twenty, and finally ten.

In the text, it seems that it did not take a lot of time for Abraham to get through his bargain with God. But it goes without saying that Abraham must have been an importunate and thick-skinned man of prayer. In fact, true believing Old Testament Jews taught that prayer was to be persistent. Another example is that after the Children of Israel had worshiped the golden calf, Moses prayed forty days in a row that God would forgive them (Deuteronomy 9:25–26). He persevered in prayer.

The New Testament also sets many examples and teaching parables of Jesus about perseverance in prayer. Jesus often withdrew himself to the mountain and there he prayed to his Father all night. The greatest illustration of His intensity in prayer took place in the garden prior to His death. Luke writes, “After withdrawing about a stone’s throw from them and kneeling, he prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done.” He was in such agony and he prayed so fervently that his sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground” (22:41–42, 44). This was one fervent, prolonged prayer experience, so much so that during it the disciples fell asleep several times.

Saint Paul was also a persistent man in prayer. He commands us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonica 5:17). “Persevere in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving” (Colossian 4:2). “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God” (Philippians 4:6).

Saint Paul urges us to be persistent in prayer. If at first, we do not get what we ask for, we are to keep asking. If God, who hears all things, appears deaf to our cries, we are supposed to cry longer. Jesus told a parable about an unjust and uncaring judge, who finally ruled in favor of a poor widow simply because she wore him out with her persistent pleas. God is not unjust and uncaring like that judge. But we are to be persistent like that widow. God never wearies of our asking, even when it appears He is not hearing.

We must learn to wait in prayer, sometimes for months, sometimes for years. If we don’t get an immediate answer to our request, or if events don’t turn out exactly or as quickly as we hoped they would, our Lord’s word to us is “don’t lose heart.” Just keep praying without ceasing and don’t give up. Keep knocking. Keep asking. Keep seeking.

Waiting on the Lord takes us to the heart of prayer. Persistent, continual prayer that comes from the innermost part of our being is what moves the heart of our compassionate, loving God. However, to “pray without ceasing” does not mean we are literally to iterate and reiterate without cessation the words of prayer. But we would rather educate our mind about the tendency of persistent prayer. Even when we are not praying by direct volition, there will be an underlying impulse towards conversation with God, felt through all the soul.

In sum, prayer is a key in the hand of faith to unlock God’s treasures. Prayer will compel us to leave off sinning; or sinning will make us leave off praying. The greatest and hardest preparation for heaven is within our heart. But the spirit of prayer can affect this, for prayer is heart-work. Many saints advised that in prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart. In the family’s life, it is said that the family that prays together stays together. A family without prayer is like a house without a roof – exposed to every wind that blows, and every storm that rages. Finally, we should always keep in mind that prayer is the voice of faith.