Praying for the Marginalized People
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength (Deut 6:4-5). For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners (love them as yourself—Lev19:34), for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. Fear the Lord your God and serve him (Deut 10:17-20).
Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns. Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it. Otherwise they may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin. … Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this. When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this. (Deut 24:14-15,17-22)
Do not defraud or rob your neighbor. … Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord. Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord.(Lev 19:13-16,33-34)
In the synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus “stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor’ … ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’ (Lk 4:17-21)
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ (Mt 25:34-40)
1. The Marginalized People Among Us
Because of the sinfulness of humankind, the marginalized people have been part of our societies throughout history. They are the people who are overlooked, ignored, looked down upon, mistreated, and rejected. They are the poor, the widows and the fatherless, the migrants, the refugees, and the oppressed. The poor are those who have fallen into or are ensnared in poverty for various reasons. Today the widows and orphans are not only those who have lost spouses and parents to death but also the millions of single mothers and fatherless children because of broken families.
Although some migrants and refugees leave their communities by choice, many more are forced to flee their homelands, cultures, and families. Whatever their reasons, they all are vulnerable and at the mercy of the compassion and hospitality of others. The oppressed are all those who have experienced injustice. Their human dignity, human life, has been taken from them. They have been ignored, mistreated, exploited, oppressed, and rejected because of their economic or social status, race, ethnicity, culture, nationality, gender, age, or disabilities.
God loves the marginalized people. In His laws for holy living, God included compassion, care, and protection for them. He makes it clear in His Word that the lives of His image-bearers matter equally and supremely. He sent His Son to prove it. Jesus came. He served the desperate needs, physical and spiritual, of people. On the cross, He redeemed our bodies and our souls. He demonstrated God’s love and God’s kingdom. Jesus is the Savior, Redeemer, Liberator of the marginalized freeing them from the bonds of slavery, oppression, and injustice giving them a new life, love, and hope.
And now He sends us to continue his ministry. In his actions and teachings, Jesus gave us a picture of what believers look like, what the kingdom life looks like. We are to be merciful, poor in spirit, meek, pure in heart, peacemakers, caring about righteousness and justice, and mourn with those who mourn. All lives matter. We must lead the way in fully acknowledging the equal dignity and value of all people as fellow image-bearers. But sometimes we have to leave the 99 to search for, find, and reach out for the one that is lost, that is marginalized. We are to love, have compassion, show hospitality, and serve the needs of the marginalized people. That is how we demonstrate God’s love and kingdom to the world. However, when we see the desperate needs of the marginalized peoples around us and across the world, we are overwhelmed. What can we do? How can we serve them?
2. We Must Pray
We must pray. Luke 18:1 — Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up (not lose heart or become discouraged). Just before this parable, Jesus talked about the coming of the kingdom. In verse 21 He said, “behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” In Jesus Christ, God’s kingdom has come. But we are living in this tension between the already and the not yet. God’s kingdom is here, but this world is still full of sin, unrighteousness, and evil that destroy human life and cause millions of people to be marginalized. We are called to live out the kingdom life in this world. But we can do that only when we are rooted in, begin with, and live out of prayer. We must pray and continue to pray until He comes back.
Prayer is something all of us can learn to do. Jesus taught the disciples to pray. Prayer is talking with, listening to God, having fellowship with God. No special skill or language is required. Everyone, even the smallest child can learn to pray.
We must practice to pray. Jesus taught the disciples to pray always and not give up. He did not mean that we should always be on our knees with our eyes closed but we must always be in the spirit of prayer. When we practice to pray during our devotional times, it will become easier for us to go about our daily living and work in prayer, with a prayerful attitude, and to pray while we do other things. When we practice the Lord’s presence during our quiet times, it will become easier for us to always live in his presence and to do everything in his Name during the day. We must always pray and not give up. Why?
3. We Must Believe God Will Answer
Because we must believe God will answer. Let’s Read Luke 18:2-5 — He said: “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’”
This judge was unloving, ungracious, merciless, sinful, evil, and godless. He did not care for or obey the Great Commandment to love God and his neighbor. Because he did not fear God, he did not love and worship Him. His disrespect toward people revealed his disrespect toward God. He eventually gave the widow justice but for the wrong reasons, not because she deserved it, not because it was right, not to impress others, not to obey God. He did it purely for selfish reasons. He wanted to get her off his back and out of his way so that he can continue with his comfortable life. She was making his world and life inconvenient. He did not want her to keep on annoying him and wear him out.
Luke 18:6-7 — And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
God is not like the unjust, unrighteous judge. Our God is loving, good, gracious, merciful, just, and righteous. He hears our persistent prayers. He always answers His people’s persistent prayers. In the desert, Hagar called the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me. (Gen 16:13). God saw the misery of his people in Egypt. He heard them crying out, and He was concerned about their suffering (Ex 3:7). “Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless. … If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset, because that cloak is the only covering your neighbor has. What else can they sleep in? When they cry out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.” (Ex 22:22-24,26-27)
God’s answers are always just and timely. I know, this leaves a big question in our minds. So many times, in so many places, so much injustice is done. People suffer and die. The perpetrators of injustice seem to get away with it. Why God allows this remains a mystery, but God’s Word is clear. Justice will be served. If not in this life, then in the next. And that should serve as a warning for those who commit injustices. And it should serve as an encouragement for us to persevere in praying and doing justice. It may seem to us that God is not answering our prayers, but sometimes his silence is a loving no. Sometimes the silence means that He has a bigger answer in store than we could ever have dreamed of or asked for. And sometimes His silence is meant to instill dependence upon him.
4. We Must Join God in His Response to Those in Need
In this world and in this life, God works through His people, through us, to bring hope and encouragement to the marginalized people. We must pray and ask God to show us where and how we can love and serve those within our reach who are marginalized. Who do we know to be struggling with despair and the effects of injustice? Who are the poor, the widows, the orphans, migrants, refugees, oppressed within our reach?
I would like to repeat what I said in the sermon, Take the Risk to Love, before Christmas. We must not make excuses to not serve the marginalized. We cannot, must not judge them. We don’t know their stories. The Holy Spirit already told us in his Word what to do. On that day, in that moment, when we love them with actions and in truth, they may meet Jesus and He will change their lives. We must step out in faith and love them. So next time when we encounter that poor or homeless person, that refugee, widow, orphan, or enemy, take the risk to love them. Wash their feet, serve their needs, give to them, and pray for them.
We cannot serve and help all the marginalized peoples in the world. But we can pray for them. God listens to our prayers offered on behalf of others. Therefore, let us have faith, and always pray. Continual prayer is the evidence of faith and it builds faith. And this is the faith our Lord will find when He comes back. He will find us fervently praying in faith. Let us not give up or lose heart. God hears our prayers. And He answers our prayers.