Luke 18:1-8
Then 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 judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’ And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And 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. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
This is another of Jesus’ challenging parables. (Of course, I suppose if a parable isn’t challenging, we’re probably not reading it carefully enough!)
On the one hand, it presents itself as fairly straightforward. Luke introduces the parable by telling us that Jesus shared this story to teach the disciples about persistence in prayer. Great, so far so good.
But then there’s this character, the unjust judge. And in reading the larger context of the story it’s hard not to see the unjust judge as representing God in some way. I mean, the analogy seems clear: as the woman beseeches the judge, so also are we to beseech God. But that can’t be, can it? That God is like an unjust judge? It doesn’t seem right.
But maybe parables aren’t analogies. And maybe this parable isn’t only about persistence in prayer in general. Let me try to explain.
The phrase we translate as, “this woman keeps bothering me” is more literally translated, “this woman has blackened my eye.” That is, by beseeching him over and over again for justice and by refusing to settle for anything less than an equitable resolution, this widow has shamed him and in this sense has given the judge a black eye.
And so maybe part of this parable is about the need to cry out for justice. In fact, maybe Jesus – especially in Luke’s Gospel – is inviting us to imagine that that’s what prayer is about: not simply asking for our personal needs to be met, not only holding up those we love and who are in need, but also that prayer is about asking for justice, about crying to those in authority until all are treated equitably.
Which brings me to the end of Jesus’ parable. As it turns out, Jesus isn’t comparing God to an unjust judge. If an unjust judge can be shamed into giving justice, Jesus is saying, then how much more will the God of righteousness bring justice to all of God’s children.
So here’s my question: what happens to our conception of prayer when we imagine that its beginning and end is meant to be a means by which to ask for justice? I don’t know about you, but I think that if I take this seriously, my prayers are going to look a little different.
Prayer: Dear God, encourage us to look out for the welfare of those around us, to work for equity, and to beseech those who are in power to seek justice. Lord, teach us to pray. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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