Jesus lives in the middle of a culture whose militant rulers are persistent about their lack of care. Rulers do not care for sinners; for women, children, those who are poor, and others. If we add up the numbers of those harmed by that lack of care, will it add to the bravery and courage of the rulers who cause it? Jesus is instead persistent in giving care and encourages it from others. He speaks a truth about persistence and his words have persisted, “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” He tells the story of a persistent man who is in need and who asks, seeks, and knocks at a neighbor’s. The neighbor does not care about the man or about his needs, “Do not bother me; the door has already been locked.” Jesus finishes by asserting, “He will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.”
We have to be persistent about giving care because those who deny care can be extremely persistent about denying it. That denial of care is the basis of another well-known phrase about persistence spoken by David Farragut (1801-1870). Farragut, who becomes the U.S.’s first admiral, was a soldier when the nation was young. He was first put to war when he was very young, 11, and persisted as a warrior all his life. It was the middle of the summer, in 1864, that Farragut fought in the Battle of Mobile Bay and uttered a phrase that has also persisted. In the face of deadly torpedoes launched by opposition soldiers, Farragut persisted in his naval attack shouting, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.” 164 men were killed that day, 199 were wounded, and 1,587 captured. Does adding up the numbers of those harmed by the lack of care add to the bravery and courage of the rulers who cause it? There is irrefutable evidence that some people in the U.S. culture do not care if they hurt other people, for example, workers, or refugees, or people who are sick, or those who are homeless. Hurting others is the basis of their action as it was the basis of Farragut’s action. He and his soldiers had little if any care for others and, to a degree, little if any care even for themselves. That lack of care is misinterpreted as sacrifice, duty, even bravery; but it is, in truth, just a lack of care. Such people appear more forceful – and they are – because they are willing to forcibly hurt, forcibly maim, forcibly kill. They are a minority of people but their ethic of not caring wears us down, day after day, year after year. It influences us. We grow old and we grow weary and we acquiesce from love. We find ourselves not caring. Perhaps we find ourselves not caring about people who disagree with us or even oppose us. But have we forgotten they too need our care? As the forceful show a lack care for people with a different skin color or sexual orientation, we show a lack of care to the forceful. We sink into our own battle of Mobile Bay and target them in our own brave attack shouting, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.’ We are no longer asking, seeking and knocking on behalf of those in need, no matter the nature of that need. We are inching toward their same sociopathy – a lack of remorse for our lack of care, maybe even glad if violence is done to them.
“The perilous time for the most highly gifted is not youth. The holy sensibilities of genius — for all the sensibilities of genius are holy — keep their possessor essentially unhurt as long as … the idea of being young lasts; the perilous season is middle age, when a false wisdom tempts them to doubt the divine origin of the dreams of their youth; when the world comes to them, not with the song of the siren, against which all books warn us, but as a wise old man counselling acquiescence.” (J. Phillips via Elizabeth Peabody)
Prayer: Spirit, keeps us persistent in care.
Question: How am I buoyed when I am tempted to acquiesce, especially to a lack of care?
July 28, 2019 Gospel Luke 11:1-13 Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time