Genesis 10：20－32／Colossians 2：12－24／Luke 11：1－13
There is a local event happening now, but I think it’s coming to an end soon (in fact I think it’s ending today!)
It has been happening for two months already, and it would have caught our attention somehow.
Do you know what I’m talking about? Still thinking?
What if I say it’s connected to shopping?
Ahh … yes … it’s the Great S’pore Sale! Right?
Yes, the Great S’pore Sale, and it’s intended to spur us on to a shopping spree because there are supposed to be great discounts and bargains.
I can’t say much about the Great S’pore Sale because I don’t do much shopping, and I don’t have the time to go around comparing prices.
But I can say that there is something missing in the Great S’pore Sale.
Yes, there is something missing. What is missing is this very interesting activity called bargaining.
So as much as it is called the Great S’pore Sale, and the prices are slashed and discounted, yet that is the final price.
There is no further bargaining. The discounted price is fixed.
That is something that my mother and the women of her generation cannot quite understand, nor will they accept it.
For them, the displayed price, whether discounted or otherwise, is meant to be further reduced.
For them, the displayed price is a challenge for them to see how much more can be reduced, and their usual starting bid is 50% off the displayed price.
So at times, it can be quite difficult for me to go shopping with my mum at those classy departmental stores.
Because she will ask me to go and bargain with the salesgirl!
But if bargaining with the salesgirl at a classy department store can be embarrassing, then are we daring enough to bargain with God?
In the 1st reading, Abraham seemed to have the guts to do it.
The whole town of Sodom was to be destroyed because of their sinfulness.
Abraham pleaded with God not to destroy the just man with the sinner.
So he bargained with God, from finding 50 innocent persons to finding just 10 innocent persons, so that the whole town could be spared.
But in his bargaining with God, Abraham believed that God was merciful and compassionate.
So Abraham dared to persist further and further in his prayer bargain with God.
He did all that in order to try to save the people of that town.
In the gospel, Jesus teaches us to persist in prayer.
He told us to ask and we will receive, to search and we will find, to knock and it will be opened.
But we may need to look at what we are asking for in prayer.
Generally speaking, most of what we are asking for are valid needs.
So there are prayers for recovery from illness, for job stability, for peace in the family, for our children to do well in their exams, and maybe that our cars won’t be stuck in a flood, or whatever.
These are valid needs, and Jesus assures us that God knows what we need and He will provide for us.
In the gospel, Jesus told a parable about a man knocking on his neighbour’s door at midnight to ask for some bread because he had a guest.
Jesus concluded the parable by saying that if the neighbour does not get up and give it to the man for friendship’s sake, then persistence will be enough to make him get up and give the man what he wanted.
Jesus emphasized the need for persistence in prayer.
But there may be another side to this parable.
Now, let’s say, that your bank offers you this fantastic deal.
Each morning, the bank will deposit $86, 400 into your private account for your use.
But these are the following conditions.
Firstly, the money that you do not spend each day will be taken from you.
Secondly, you cannot transfer the money into another account.
Thirdly, only you, and you alone, can spend it.
Fourthly, the bank can end this deal without any notice.
At any time, it can say “Account closed” and you will not get a new account.
Now what would you do with the money in this account?
You would surely buy anything and everything you wanted right? No need Great S’pore Sale, just shop till you drop.
Not only for yourself, but also for the people you love and for your friends too, isn’t it?
Even for the people you don’t know, you will also spend it on them, because you couldn’t possibly spend it all on yourself.
You would try to spend every cent and use it all before the day ends, right?
Sounds like too good to be true, isn’t it?
Well, this is true, because each of us has such a bank account.
Everyday God gives us 86,400 seconds as a gift of life.
It cannot be brought forward. What we have not lived up to for that day is gone. Well, yesterday is forever gone.
Each new day, the account is renewed.
But the account can be terminated at any time, and without any notice.
Well, what are we going to do with our 86,400 seconds?
Certainly, those 86,400 seconds are worth so much more than the same amount in dollars.
Well, God is knocking at our doors and persistently asking us how we are spending our time, and what are we doing with our lives.
We don’t have to ask for more. Whatever we needed, God has already given to us.
86, 400 seconds of life is God’s gift to us everyday.
How we use it, how we live it out, is our gift to God and our gift to others.
Abraham used his gift to plead for the innocent people of the town.
May we use our gift to bring life and love to others.
May our lives bring joy and peace to others.
Let that be our prayer, our persistent prayer.