“THE PERSISTENT WIDOW”
Luke 18:1-8
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Being guest speaker at a
banquet, hosted by the American Humourist Association, Ted Turner -
American media mogul and philanthropist
- openly criticized Christianity
- a faith which he had roots
in. “Jesus would be sick at his
stomach,” said Turner, “over the way his ideas have been twisted. I’ve been saved 7 or 8 times. But, I gave up on it when, despite my
prayers, my sister died. The more I
strayed from my faith, the better I felt.”
Quite the opposite to people
like Mr. Turner is William Wilberforce.
Do you remember the movie ‘Amazing Grace’? It’s the story of William Wilberforce and his
personal struggle in 19th century
Deep down, we all have questions,
concerns and problems about prayer
- some get answered - many
go unanswered. Stories like Ted Turner
and William Wilberforce’s experiences around prayer can be told over and
over. The deepest problem with prayer is
that many faithful people lose heart.
Does God really hear? Am I really
talking to God or am I just speaking words into the air?
“The problem,” says New
Testament scholar, Dr. Tom Long, is not only that we are uncertain about
prayer, but we have the good sense to know that when we pray we are really
putting our faith on the line. Is there
a God or not? Is there a God who
listens? Is there a God who cares for
us, who hears and responds? These are
frightening questions. No wonder, many
people prefer not even to try to pray, rather than risk it.”
Then we read in Luke’s
gospel: “Jesus told them a parable about
their need to pray always and not to lose heart.”
Here’s the picture:
- only two people in this story - quite an odd couple
- a horrible, corrupt Judge.
- a person with authority and power.
- he thinks of nobody but himself.
- this guy was fearless.
- he hated people and God
- and not particularly interested in justice at
all.
Then there is the woman.
- a poor, destitute widow
- she had nothing
- no husband, no money, no standing in the
community, no power, no legal or public resources at all. Social assistance wasn’t even thought of back
then.
In the cultural setting of that
day, the woman didn’t stand a chance. But
the woman did have one inner resource in her favour - the
capacity to be a pest.
- she annoyed the heartless judge constantly
- she shouted aloud for justice: “Give me justice! Give me justice! My rights are being violated by people who
don’t like me. Protect me!'
- she knocked
- no, she pounded on his chamber
door
- she left him messages
- she was the court pest, coming back to the
judge day after day, resolutely pressing her case for justice
- she was not going to take ‘NO’ for an answer.
- she had enough faith to believe that at the
end of the day right will win out.
Finally the judge had a
conversation with himself. “This woman
is about to drive me crazy! She might
even give me a black eye.” Despite his
callousness and his lack of integrity, he finally gave the woman what she
wanted, just to get her off his back.
The traditional interpretation
of this parable is known as an argument from the lesser to the greater. If a poor, destitute widow can wangle justice
from a corrupt judge, how much more will we find a gracious God who hears and
answers prayer. The usual understanding
of the parable is that God is full of compassion, willing and ready to hear the
prayers of the poor and oppressed. It is
a parable of good news for all who persist in prayer. Like the woman pestering the corrupt judge,
God hears your prayers - and they will not go unanswered.
As I listened to the parable
more closely, it became clear to me that we have a dilemma with the standard
interpretation. The poor and oppressed in our world are still calling out for
relief. For the most part, they don't
seem to be any closer to a world of justice and compassion than they were when
Jesus first told the parable. Even with
persistence in prayer, there will always seem to be some lack of evidence that
such prayer really makes a difference.
Now don’t get me wrong, I
believe in persistent, relentless prayer.
Unrelenting prayer is important, not because our prayers may elicit the
mind of God, but that such prayers can change our hearts and minds to be in
line with God.
Presbyterian minister and author
of several works of fiction, Frederick Buechner once said, “persistence is a
key, not because you have to beat a path to God's door before [God will] open
it, but because until you beat the path, maybe there's no way of getting to
your door."
As I pondered and prayed for
some new insight from this parable, I began to see that there’s more to this
parable than we have commonly understood.
For me, it’s too tempting to use God like a ‘Geeny’ in a magic
lamp. We rub it enough times; we say our
prayers; we pound at the door of heaven enough times, and finally, God hears
and responds.
I have often said that Jesus
came proclaiming a message about the Kingdom of God - an
ordering of human life and relationships that turns our present world
upside-down. SO…what if this little
parable is not just a call to persistent prayer, but a reminder to the church of the
importance of securing justice for the widows and orphans, for the poor and the
oppressed in our midst every day? What
if this little parable isn’t about prayer but a call to the church to let the
priorities of God reorder the priorities of our lives? What if we stand this parable on its head and
see ourselves in the face of the Judge.
Maybe the parable isn’t about the rewards of persistent prayer. Maybe it’s really all about the persistence
of God, who wants us to grant justice to God's chosen ones who cry out day and
night?
All through the scriptures, it
seems clear to me that God is the One who has been persistently knocking at our
door. Ever since the first acts of
Creation, God has had an unwavering claim on our world - but
Adam and the apple changed all that. Thoughout
the ages, God has been like the destitute widow constantly crying out for
justice. The two greatest commandments of scripture have always been to love God and to love our neighbour - to
live in such a way that faithfulness, integrity, righteousness and justice
would flourish.
Over and over again, we ignored
God’s knocking. Like the Judge in the
parable, we became more concerned about our own pleasures and comforts,
dominated by our egos. As the Apostle
Paul says in Romans, “we have all fallen short of God’s ideal….None of us are
righteous.”
And then, in the fullness of
time, God sent Jesus into our world to show us the ways of grace and love
toward all of God’s children - especially the poor , the outcast and those
on the fringes of life. And He remains
forever at our door today. “Behold,” said
Jesus, “I stand at the door and knock.”
The knock is the sound of the “widows” of our world, pounding at our
doors, crying out for justice. Across
our lifetimes we have experienced a steady drumbeat of news reports of injustice
after injustice. We speak our laments
and cast our prayers up to God - and go right on with dinner. “Have we become the unjust judge in a ‘widowed
world’? Have our spirits hardened like
stale bread?
In Matthew 25, in the parable of
the final judgement, Jesus said, “For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was
thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into
your home. I was naked, and you gave me
clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited
me.’
‘But Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and
feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or
naked and give you clothing? When did we
ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
“And the King will say, ‘I
tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers
and sisters, you were doing it to me!’
And there were others to whom
the King said, “For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and
you didn’t give me a drink. I was
a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you
didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
“Then they will reply, ‘Lord,
when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in
prison, and not help you?’
“And he will answer, ‘I tell you
the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters,
you were refusing to help me.’
Maybe the parable is really a
mirror of our own lives. This is not a
flattering way to read the parable, but let me assure you, there is good
news. There is a word of hope for the
widow. The judge eventually reached the
tipping point and granted the widow’s request for justice.
God hasn’t given up on us. There is hope, not only for widows, orphans
and people on the fringes of life. There
is hope for us - hope that we will open the doors of our
hearts to those who knock persistently
- hope that we will hear the pleas
of the least and the last - hope that we will use our voices, our power
and our resources to change our world.
There is hope for us because I
believe God has hope in each one of us. God
is persistent. God does not give up on
us. “Behold,” said Jesus, “I stand at
the door and knock.” Maybe today we’ll
open that door.