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Luke 18:1-8a
Here we have it –
the judge and the widow.
Let’s start with the judge.
In the time of Jesus, there were no juries.
Judges alone were the sole source
of handing down the verdict
of right from wrong,
of guilty or not guilty.
Judges certainly had guidelines.
The law of Israel instructed the people –
seems to me that that would have included judges –
to show mercy to widows, orphans and foreigners.
After all,
God had been merciful to the Hebrew people
while they were in bondage,
so they should extend this graciousness
to the powerless among them, right?
So the judge would certainly be charged
with the responsibility of championing the rights
of the poor and the weak.
By these standards,
the judge in Luke’s parable today
comes across as unfit for his job.
We might get the idea that he’s on the take,
that he’s in the hip pocket
of all the big shots in town.
Chances are pretty good that he’s crookeder
than a dog’s hind leg, as they say.
Meanwhile, let’s look at the widow.
Is she admirable?
We don’t know much about her,
but we can make certain assumptions.
Like most widows, she’s probably poor.
She no longer has her late husband’s support,
and we can figure that his estate
has passed on to his sons or his brothers –
women didn’t inherit.
She has no way to earn a living,
so society has forced her to become a charity case.
She doesn’t have any friends in high places –
if she did,
they’d be speaking up for her
and she wouldn’t be forced to try
twisting the judge’s arm.
That arm twisting is the only thing
she has to fall back on.
Her successful strategy is her brassy way
of making her demand.
Think of Winston Churchill and his famous line
during WWII –
“Never, never, never, never give up.”
Maybe he got that idea from the widow.
She gets right in the judge’s face.
She badgers him, plagues him, hounds him –
practically stalks him!
Until finally he says, “I give up.
Though I have no fear of God
and no respect for anyone”
(how’s that for being a great judge?)
“yet because this widow keeps bothering me,
I will grant her justice,
so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.”
What are we to admire here?
Whom do we identify with?
A crummy judge?
A thoroughly annoying woman?
What point is Jesus making in this parable?
Well, in short,
the point is perseverance.
This parable is the one we refer to
as the persistent, or the persevering widow –
a woman we can emulate.
Though we don’t have to be annoying
like fingernails on a chalkboard.
(remember that sound?)
The point of the parable
is that we should keep on praying
and never lose heart.
The Lord says,
“Listen to what the unjust judge says.
Will not God grant justice to his chosen ones
who cry to him day and night?
Will he delay long in helping them?
I tell you,
he will quickly grant justice to them.”
What would our WWJD (remember those?) bracelets say?
They would say pray daily.
On my kitchen window sill I have a plaque
that says
“A day hemmed in prayer never unravels.”
It can be tempting to give up praying
when our prayers don’t seem to be answered.
Sometimes it’s because what we’re praying for
isn’t in our – nor in God’s – best interest.
Sometimes it’s because what we’re praying for
is in God’s hands
and in God’s time,
not ours.
So Luke encourages us.
He gives us Jesus’ reassurance and promise
that God will respond to us.
God is just.
God listens.
We, too, must listen.
And we must listen persistently.
Sometimes we get so busy praying
(nothing wrong with praying, to be sure)
so busy praying that we forget
that prayer is a two-way street.
So our assignment from Luke’s parable
of the persistent, annoying widow
and the crooked judge
is to pray persistently.
And to listen attentively.
And – to not give up.
Amen