October 21, 2007
21 Pentecost, Luke 18:1-8
I have restarted my exercise regime. I have set myself a goal to walk at least five days a week and get a swim in at least once a week. I know that these things are good for my body and for my soul. I can think clearer and the worries of the day do not pile up quite so high if I will take the time to go outdoors and walk or climb into the clear cool water and completely immerse my body in its goodness. But this means that I have to find time in a much too busy schedule and persevere when I don’t feel like it --or want to sleep 10 extra minutes--- or it is cold outside blah blah blah. The next day I come home from classes and go for a long walk. Gosh, this feels wonderful! Why don’t I do this more often. The next few days I walk. And the next day,--- and then a meeting gets scheduled. I will walk tomorrow. Then I realize that I have an exam and need more study time. Maybe the next day. I am finding it hard to exercise everyday. Does it count if I just walk two times this week? I am a busy person. I have classes and homework, responsibilities here at St. Aidan’s, and I should at least greet my husband once a day. I am finding it already, hard to persevere.
We are a goal oriented society that expects that with our best efforts, good things will happen. When we put together our talents and hard work we expect that our goals will be achieved and that we will be successful. At work, when we are given an assignment, we are expected to do the job well and in a timely manner. At school, when we are given projects and papers, it is understood that our projects will be completed on time and will be worthy of our effort. But when we put our best efforts into a presentation and it is rejected by our boss or by our clients, or when we have studied really hard in a class and still get a grade that is very discouraging---do we lose heart and give up, or do we recommit, continue to work hard, and believe in our efforts? This idea of perseverance is difficult in our hectic world. We are too busy to keep after someone or something. It can almost be perceived as being compulsive or against good sense to continually strive for something that we cannot get easily. Besides, if it cannot be achieved on the first or at most the third try, then perhaps it is not “meant to happen,” or maybe we are not equipped to achieve the goal. It is not our “gift.”
However, in the Gospel reading today, Jesus is telling his disciples that perseverance “without giving up” is what will be required of them. Perseverance requires commitment, hard work, patience, and endurance. Jesus tells them a parable about “their need to pray always and not to lose heart”. The author of this Gospel is writing to disciples who have realized that the “end-time” will not be coming soon and they will have to continue to pray and not lose heart in the face of persecution and oppression.
In this parable there are two characters. The first is a judge “who neither feared God nor had respect for people.” In other words the man is not religious and has no scruple. He goes about his days granting justice as it suits him—sometimes for intellectual status, sometimes for financial or social reward. This man will not see the widow; she is not on his radar screen. He is a judge who looks down on the people he adjudicates. He does not see himself in the faces and the lives of those who come before him. They are not as wise, courageous and self-disciplined as he. He would not allow himself to get into these situations. He is a better man than these persons. In other words--He is the exact opposite of the kind of judge we would want to stand before seeking justice.
The second character is a widow. In Israel, as in every patriarchal, agriculturally based economy, certain classes of people were universally vulnerable: the orphans, the sojourners, and the widows. But the widow comes to this judge and although we are not told in the parable what wrong she has suffered, we know that she would not be expected to prevail. She is powerless and of no worth in society. She is also alone. If she had had any male relatives, they would be pleading on her behalf. But instead here comes this widow.
She steps forward and asks the judge to “grant me justice against my opponent”. This judge refuses to grant her request. She knows that he is not seeing her plea for vindication rather he sees her and her complaint as worthless. She has no substance to him. She is less than an insect to be flicked away. She must know in her heart that the only way she will find justice is to refuse to surrender.
And refuse to surrender she does. Time after time she returns with the same request “Grant me justice against my opponent”. This parable is almost a hint at Gospel humor as the Judge is said to say “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, 5yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.” The Greek word, translated in the NRSV as “wear me out”, literally means "strike under the eye" or "give a black eye to.” You can almost see this woman hitting the judge over the head with her backpack! So whether the Gospel writer intended us to think the widow socked the judge in the eye or whether he is making the point that this widow is being an intolerable nuisance, she is making the judge look bad, so he grants her her request. She refused to go away until she received justice—and because she persevered—not because the judge is just—she is granted her petition.
What are we to take from this parable? Are we to assume that we must be like the widow and pray night and day to an unjust judge who only answers us because we are persistent? Are we to assume that if we are just persistent, everything will always work out the way we want it to? . This parable is ultimately about God and about you and me. God is viewed in stark contrast to the “unjust judge.” God is faithful and compassionate. God listens and responds to those who cry out to him If this unjust judge will give justice to the widow who he has no respect or compassion for, how much more mercy will God show those who are his own creation, who He has loved from the very beginning.
In this life, we know that our best efforts are not always going to result in our expectations being met. We can eat right, exercise faithfully and still suffer from failing health. We can be faithful and loving parents and still not be able to protect our children from bad choices and difficult life situations. We can study, attend every class, and work our hardest and still not make above a “C” in a class. We may practice and practice shooting the basketball at a hoop and still never make the team. In a large gathering of persons concerned about unfair and oppressive conditions in our society, an elderly African American minister read this parable and gave a one-sentence interpretation: "Until you have stood for years knocking at a locked door, your knuckles bleeding, you do not really know what prayer is." ...
But as Christians we are called to persevere and not lose heart. Because it is in the strugggle that we learn what we are made of and who God is to us. It is in the struggle that we can grow closer and go deeper into a faith that has no limits. We are told in this parable that God will never leave us alone to struggle.
Before coming to seminary, I worked for many years as a teacher and as a professor in Special Education. I worked with children and the families who faced everyday the challenge of learning and being accepted by teachers and classmates and having the opportunity to experience at least one moment of success. My teacher friends and I used to note that these children and adolescents just by getting up every morning, getting dressed, and coming to school, showed more courage than would probably be required of us in our lifetime. Yet these students and their families showed up, worked hard, and believed that their efforts would be rewarded at some future time. In their perseverance, their life had dignity. In their perseverance, others found inspiration.
Jesus understood struggle. After all his time teaching and healing, his disciples still did not get it. In his final hours, his disciples betrayed him, denied him, and turned on their heels and fled. They were very human in their fear of failulre. But Jesus did not lose heart. He drew strength for his ministry and his walk to Jerusalem in his time in prayer with his Father--in his deepening relationship with God. He knew where his commitment lay and he knew that his help would come from God. And this would be the source of his endurance. He knew that his Father would never abandon him.
As we leave here this week, and as we face the challenges the next week brings, we can take inspiration from this parable. God waits for us to ask, seek, and invite God into our lives. Sometimes our perseverence will result in great and glorious outcomes. Sometimes our struggles will leave us weak and tired. Sometimes we will be accompanied in our perseverence by friends who will support us and lift us up. Sometimes we may feel like we are facing life’s struggles alone. But God never leaves us alone. God is always beside us encouraging us, holding us up when we fall, carrying us when we completely lose hope. It is God’s love that we find when we most need it in the words of an email or a song, the touch of a friend or sister, or a moment of peace that lifts us up away from our worries and fears.
Let Everything Happen (Source: Book of Hours: Love Poems to God)
Rainer Maria Rilke
God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
---then walks with us silently out of the night.
These are the words we dimly hear:
You, sent out beyond your recall, go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.
Flare up like flame and make big shadows I can move in.
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going.
No feeling is final.
Don't let yourself lose me.
Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.
Give me your hand.
We must persevere and not lose heart. For this God who reveals Godself through the richness of parables waits to enfold us in love.
Amen.
JWZ