Persistent Faith

Let’s just make a list of the parables we wish Jesus had never told. That might be a good exercise for us preachers. At least, it’s something to do in our heads before we get to work wrestling with the text. Just for fun. For relief. So, what do we do with this parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow? Do we make it simple? Keep at it. That seems to be what Luke is suggesting, anyway. He tells us when he introduces this parable by saying Jesus told this about “their need to pray always and not to lose heart” (Luke 18:1 NRSV). Luke says that is what this is about. And it is a powerful message. Hang in there. Keep at it. Keep chipping away, and eventually, you’ll get an answer.

Except what does that say about the God we worship, the one of whom Jesus asks, “Will he delay long in answering them?” Despite his own response, we would have to say, “Well, yes, in our experience, God delays. Sometimes painfully so.” It isn’t a stretch to say that in every congregation, there are those who have worn out their knees and shed many tears in persistent prayer and are unable to see an answer that comes close to answering their pleas. They will hear the suggestion to keep at it more as a burden than a blessing. It’s more like a slap in the face than a pat on the back.

Was Jesus just wrong about the speediness of God’s response? Or was there something different about time? What seems slow to us isn’t slow to God. “Nor are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8 NRSV), and all that. “A thousand years in your sight are like yesterday” (Psalm 90:4 NRSV) doesn’t sound like a quick response. And it has never been our responsibility to give excuses for God.

If not excuses, what about explanations? Are we expected – required – to give explanations for God? Well, no, not really. Except we need them ourselves. We need to understand what is going on and what is expected of us so that we can continue in our journey of faith, our discipleship path. The problem with explanations is that they often change due to circumstance and perspective and, often, need.

Hold off on explaining God, then. Let’s look at us. Luke tells us that this parable is to tell us about our “need to pray always and not to lose heart” (Luke 18:1 NRSV). So, what do we learn about prayer in this parable? What is the proper prayer position, according to the story Luke records? What words should we utter and in what direction do we utter them? Hmm. Another look tells us that we don’t learn much about prayer or about how to pray from this text. We see that we’re to keep at it. And eventually, we’ll break through the walls of heaven, and God will grudgingly grant us the justice we desire.

Wait a minute there. Jesus himself says that isn’t how God functions. This is a parable of contrast and not of similarity. God isn’t an unjust judge who has to be badgered into answering prayers for justice. Rather, God is a God of justice, who lays it out clearly, weighs it toward the most vulnerable, demands it most vociferously from the prophets and preachers, from the scholars and the priests. It’s there; it’s been given, this justice; it is within our reach, in our grasp. And yet. And yet.

What if we’ve got the parable backward? What if the woman who begs and pleads and makes a noisy nuisance of herself is not us, but God? And what if the unjust one, the one who has no fear of God and no respect for anyone, is not God but us? What if justice has been declared, but because of selfishness and greed, because of prejudice and fear, it isn’t given to those who need it and is only offered to those who can afford it?

And if this parable is about prayer, why does that terrible question hang in the air before us like a fiery finger writing on a wall: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Is this a parable about how to pray, or is it about living the life of a disciple? Well, yes! Both, of course. Praying is doing, and doing is praying. The woman in the story was praying as she stood vigil at the judge's door. She was praying as she pled for justice. She was praying as she made a nuisance of herself to such a degree that even someone who cared for neither God or human beings finally caved and gave her what she clamored for.

When we’re told to be persistent in prayer, it means moving our feet. It means knocking on doors. It means advocating for justice. And don’t lose heart. Don’t give up when it doesn’t seem to bring the desired change. Because part of the change is in us, as we are shaping our hearts into the mold of his heart. We care for the ones he cares for. We are advocating for the ones he advocates for. Justice comes quickly, but not universally until we pound on the doors holding it back. Until we resist the tide of complacency and tear down a justice system of favoritism and judgments that can be bought and sold. Thoughts and prayers, according to this parable, are much more active and frontline. And we keep at it. Don’t lose heart.

And yes, we still need the quiet conversations with God, where we pour out our hearts and weep our laments. We still need a place to withdraw. But we withdraw so that we can then go back out and stand vigil against injustice once more. Because we have a persistent faith.