June 2008

Stories Seldom Heard

106th Edition

A Parable - Luke 18: 1-8

Welcome to Stories Seldom Heard. I would like to especially welcome the members of St. Margaret of Scotland parish in Selden, Long Island and Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Queens, New York. This edition has two parts. Part I is background information concerning parables. Part II is a discussion about the persistent widow and the unjust judge.

Part I – Background Information

The parables are not just ancient stories that Jesus used to teach his followers who traveled with him along the dusty roads of Galilee, they also are invitations to us. The writers of the gospels wrote these stories to encourage us to see the meaning of our lives in light of these ancient teachings of Jesus.

Many of the images that Jesus uses in the parables are easily understood even in our modern day. Yet, there is always a twist or a surprise in the parables that jars our thinking. And it is in those small shifts that God speaks a word to us. When we see day laborers who stand on the street corners of our cities waiting for a day job, it is easy to recall the parable of the laborers who start work at different times of the day, yet receive the same amount of pay at the end of the day. That parable certainly has a modern tone, as well as a curious and challenging ending.

So, too, does the parable of the baker woman God who bakes bread which is common place, but there is a strange part of the story. She puts yeast into three measures of flour – not three cups, but three measures. Three measures of flour are equal to one hundred pounds of flour. So could you imagine what your kitchen would look like if you mixed yeast with one hundred pounds of flour and then went off for the day? When you arrived home there would be dough everywhere- overflowing. There would be dough filling the sink and covering the sideboards and your kitchen table and floor! You would have a huge mess to clean up, to say the least. So why would she bake so much bread? It would be more than enough bread to feed a village. Most of us bake only enough bread for a day or two. The details of the story are there to pique our curiosity because there is, once again, more to the story than what first meets the eye.

The parables are open-ended. They sometimes leave us with unanswered questions. They challenge us and encourage us to imagine new possibilities of what the reign (the kingdom) of God is like in our lives. Hopefully, our study of the parables will help us question: How do the parables relate to us? How do they help us see beneath the surface events in our lives and understand how God is bursting forth in our very modern world?

Part II - The Parable of the Persistent Widow

With this in mind, let’s continue our study with the parable of the persistent widow. From the outset this is a very engaging story for even though it is an ancient scene, it is also an experience to which we can relate. There are enough movies, TV programs and stories in the newspaper that consistently blanch any romantic ideas we might have about modern day courtrooms.

Not all courtroom experiences are as difficult as the one described in the parable, but when we enter a courtroom we never know what is going to happen or what kind of judge we might meet.

I was talking to a friend of mine in California just recently about his court experience. He felt he was issued a citation unjustly. So he decided to bring his case before a judge. In order to get a hearing, he had to present a written statement describing the situation of which he was accused, including any extenuating circumstances that gave him reason to contest the fine. He also had to present supportive evidence such as photographs and witnesses that would help his case. Since the judge reviewed all of the evidence before she met with him, the judge was aware of the total situation. Luckily she was a conscientious and just judge. Even before my friend verbally pleaded his case on the evidence he had presented the judge dismissed the case and declared him not guilty.

The parable in Luke Chapter 18 is a far cry from my friend’s experience. The parable presents a very different situation. The judge in the parable is described as one who "neither feared God nor respected any human being." (Luke 18:2) No one can miss how difficult this courtroom scene would be for a seemingly powerless widow. The judge’s description runs completely opposite to the First Testament (Old Testament) qualities of a good judge. In the First Testament good judges are people who are God fearing and mirror God’s justice and mercy. They, like God, "love justice and right." They follow God’s law and like God "are trustworthy and do not abandon the faithful". (Psalms 33:4, 37:28)

Furthermore, the litmus test for God’s justice according to scripture is how the poor are treated. When the poor, the orphan and the widows are cared for properly, then the nation knows that God’s justice is being done. (This is not a bad criterion with which to measure the justice of our present day political leaders’ decisions.) The Israelites were aware of how difficult it was to be just and so it was a part of their regular prayer intentions. We hear it in Psalm 72:1-2 with sincere hearts. "O God, give your judgment to the kings; your justice to the sons of kings; that he may govern your people with justice, your oppressed with right judgment." Often when we think of biblical rulers who judged justly Solomon comes to mind. Throughout the ages Solomon still remains a model of wisdom and justice.

With this as a background we come to "The Parable of the Persistent Widow". There is, however, sometimes a problem when we begin to interpret this parable. Chapter 18 begins by identifying this section with the title "The Parable of the Persistent Widow." Then before the parable begins the authors of the passage tell us, the readers, what the parable is about. Jesus "told them a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary." (Lk. 18:1) But as we listen to the parable, most of us might get a frown on our faces because it can be a confusing parable. If this parable is about praying always, why does it not speak about praying? The focus of the parable is on justice. The widow requests the judge to "Render a just decision for me against my adversaries." (18: 3) In response the judge "delivers a just decision" because the widow is so persistent.

Another aspect of the parable of which we need to be aware is that the judge is not representing God. Often when we read parables we assign the role of the king or, in this case, the judge to God. This is not what Jesus intended. It is clear in this parable that the judge is not an image of God for the judge is presented as one who "neither feared God nor respected humans". This judge is not the God of whom Jesus speaks. This is neither the God who says to forgive seventy times seven times nor the One from whom we are to ask daily bread.

Furthermore, this is not the God of whom we hear in the First Testament. Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca and the prophets continually remind the people of Israel that God cares for the orphans and widows. God protects the aliens and strangers. In scripture it is God who listens to the cry of the poor. "See you lowly ones, and be glad; you who seek God, take heart! For God hears the cry of the poor. God does not spurn those in bondage." (Ps. 69: 33-34) It is God who listens to the broken hearted and gives justice. "When the just cry, God hears and rescues them from all distress. God is close to the broken hearted, saves those whose spirit is crushed. Many are the troubles of the just, but God delivers them all." (Ps. 34: 18-20)

Viewing the parable in this light, a space is opened up for us to rethink the meaning of the parable. Maybe we have been looking in the wrong direction. Remember this is a parable! Perhaps we need to examine the story more closely and ask ourselves some new questions. If it’s not the judge who is meant to be the God-figure in this parable, are there any other possibilities? The only other character in the story is the poor widow. Is she the one on whom we should be focusing our attention?

At first glance, the widow doesn’t seem very God like. First of all she is a woman. Yet, this shouldn’t disqualify her since God is neither woman nor man. God is Creator and each of us is created in God’s image. Second, in Jesus’ day the word widow was synonymous for a woman who not only lost her husband to death, but also was weak, poor and without a voice in society. Widows were outcasts, useless and without dowries. They had no rights or a place to call their own. They were without protection. So how could this widow in the parable be an image of God?

The fact that God is imaged as a widow is really not that surprising. This is not the first time God identifies with the poor, the weak and the outcasts. One of the best known quotes in the New Testament is: "Whatever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters you do to me." Furthermore, scripture uses many images to describe God. God is like a mother hen who protects her chicks. God is like a gardener who tills the fields, plants cumin and rosemary and waters the ground. God is like a spouse in a marriage who remains faithful even when the partner is unfaithful. The Bible is filled with images of God. So perhaps it would behoove us to ponder this image of the widow for a few moments. My suspicion is that if we do spend some time with it, a wonderful gift waits us.

So often we pray to the God of power and might. And God is powerful. We often call upon God who is most high and triumphant. And God is awesome. But, too often, these images of God lead us in our society and others throughout the centuries, to think of God as being on the side of the powerful, the victors. This kind of thinking can lead us in the wrong direction. Victory in an argument or a war is not the sign of God’s pleasure. Might does not make right as some people believe.

Sometimes we sound more like the sons (and daughters) of Thunder in Luke’s Gospel than the sisters and brothers of Jesus. Remember when Jesus’ two disciples, James and John wanted to call down fire and consume the Samaritans who did not welcome them into their village? "Jesus turned and rebuked them." (Luke 9:54-55) I have often wondered if we are not doing God a disservice by using only one-sided images for God. It is true, God is most holy. It is true, God is powerful and mighty. But God is also alive and well in the weak, the stranger, the alien, the oppressed and the widow.

This parable presents the other side of the story – the Widow God. She might be someone who is without home or wealth. She might be dependent on others, but she is also strong, demanding, courageous and persistent. Nothing distracts her. Nothing slows her down or makes her waver in her commitment to justice. Her qualities are congruent with the other biblical images of God. And there is more to the parable. This seemingly insignificant person has the power to change the unjust judge who "neither feared God nor respected any human being." God’s tenacity and persistence in the guise of a widow are irresistible.

The beginning this parable speaks of "the necessity for them (us) to pray always without becoming weary." So maybe this parable is more about prayer than I at first thought. Perhaps we were just looking at it from the wrong direction. God is not like a harsh judge who reluctantly gives in to our prayers. God is not some heartless, distant power who scorns us through inattentiveness or indifference. No, God is like a widow who passionately and unrelentingly pleads our case to unjust judges in this world. These judges are not confined to the judicial courtrooms of our nation. They sit in boardrooms making decisions that hold people in economic bondage. They sit in the marketplace disdaining the voices of the needy who ask for daily bread and a just living wage. They sit on public policy committees and think only of their own good and not of the common good. They sit on boards of education that deny equal and excellent education to all.

The God figure in this parable is not unlike the God in our own lives whom we sometimes overlook. The Widow God has much to teach us and I wonder what would happen if we began imaging God as a Widow God. Would it make a difference in my prayer? Would we begin hearing God’s voice in the poor and the oppressed? What if we prayed believing that this Widow God was at our side? Would we be more persevering and hopeful when we face harrowing situations? Could this Widow God help us trust in our own dignity and worth? Could her tenacity help us break the chains of an abusive or violent relationship? Could the Widow God’s voice and our voice ever become one in such a way that her Spirit and our Spirit would be one?

I wonder what would happen to us if we used this passage for prayer. We could read the passage each day for a week. We could draw the Widow, paint a picture of the Widow God or write a poem/prayer to Her. We could pray for Her courage and perseverance during our daily labors. I wonder what changes she, who changed the heart of the judge who "neither feared God nor respected humans", could work in us?