Sara Miller-Schulte
Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.
He said, “In a certain city there was a widow who kept coming to the judge and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ And for a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘You know, because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice.”
And Jesus said, “Will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?”
And we who have itching ears make this into a story about how God will give us what we want if we just pray until something happens.
But God is not the unjust judge.
The Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says:
He says, ‘Though I have no fear of God — that’s a clue — and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice.”
Justice is easy.
In fact, in granting the widow justice, the judge is making a ruling on her case; He is doing his job.
He is doing the barest minimum of what one might be moved to call a good work. So in describing this judge, Jesus is not saying something about God — he is saying something about us.
Earlier in Luke’s gospel, Jesus says, “Is there anyone among you who, if your child asked for a fish, would give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asked for an egg, would you give a scorpion?
If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Is there anyone among you who, if your neighbor asked for justice, would turn a deaf ear instead of giving him justice?
Justice is a good gift.
We are promised better gifts. If you have not used this beautiful font for a baptism recently —
or witnessed one somewhere else — You might not remember our prayer for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. which are promised to each one of us in our baptism:
an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you (O Lord), and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works.
And the result is that — even before we ask, “everyone who belongs to God may be proficient and equipped for every good work.”
So Jesus talks about the need to pray always and to not lose heart. Paul talks about it in a letter.
He talks about it in most of his letters. “Since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry,” he tells the Corinthians, “we do not lose heart. We refuse to practice cunning or to falsify
God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the
conscience of everyone in the sight of God.” And he urges the people of Philippi to be anxious about nothing, “but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be
made known to God.”
By the time of his letters to Timothy, Paul was in prison for disturbing the empire’s peace — I leave it to you to decide whether that is justice — and his instructions are a little different, but the theme is the same:
“Proclaim the message, Timothy; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage; endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.”
“As for me,” he continues, “I have fought the good fight;
I have finished the race;
I have kept the faith.
From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
That longing is a little bit lacking in the story of the widow and the judge: In a certain city there was a widow who longed for justice against her opponent. And there was a judge, who refused for a while, but later he said to himself, ‘I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’
If we are like the widow, if we pray until something happens, then what happens when we get the thing that we longed for — if the thing that we longed for was wisdom or peace or strength or health or justice…
Or anything other than the presence of the one who made and sustains us?
Do we then find something else to long for,
Over and over, so we’re never really quite satisfied.
Do we pray until something happens and then stop? The unjust judge is pretty sure
the widow will wear him out by continually coming back and back and back —
until she gets the justice she demands. Then she will leave him alone.
And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?
But I put it to you that God does not give us justice and peace, the crown of righteousness,
an inquiring and discerning heart, or any other good gift, in order to get us to go away.
God invites us into relationship, Into ongoing prayer and the life of faith;
And in this context, our prayers might look a little less like a list of demands
And a little more like an ongoing conversation. Among our petitions we might include the occasional prayer of thanksgiving in gratitude for God’s abundance.
But: If we are like the widow, if we pray until something happens, what happens if we never get the thing that we longed for? Because you and I all know
That God does not always Answer prayers by giving us the thing That we asked for —
No matter how persistent we may be.
And when this happens to you —
That’s when, not if —
When this happens to you,
it is not because your prayers are not eloquent enough
or your faith is not strong enough or
your good works are not good enough —
Or you are not good enough —
Or any of the horrible and well-meaning things that people say.
It’s just a thing that happens.
And it’s hard.
But we’re in good company.
When Jacob grappled with the man by the river,
He didn’t win, exactly.
He walked away with a broken hip, which he did not ask for.
And he never learned the man’s name — which he did ask for.
But he did get his own new name — which he did not ask for.
And he received a blessing, which he did.
Did he come out ahead?
I’m not sure.
But Israel believes he saw the face of God, and lived.
And that relationship lasted the rest of his life.
In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for
people.
In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him.
He said to himself, “I will grant her justice.”
Likewise, God will quickly grant justice to his chosen ones.
But this is not a parable about justice.
This is not a parable about what God will do for us.
Jesus told us a parable about our need to pray always and never to lose heart.