Posts Tagged ‘Luke 18:1-8’
A Word of Hope is the Hope of the World – Br. Lain Wilson
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Br. Lain Wilson
The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 24C)
I remember being told when I was younger that I was my own worst advocate. I could find it difficult to acknowledge what I was good at and argue for myself. I’d like to think that this was an early expression of humility, but it wasn’t, really. It wasn’t, because I didn’t also acknowledge what I was bad at and where I needed help. I was a bad self-advocate, both in terms of trumpeting my accomplishments and owning up to where I needed to grow.
Now, all of this is to say that I really admire the widow in today’s parable. She’s a great self-advocate. I can’t help but imagine that the judge, who “neither feared God nor had respect for people” (Luke 18:2), was successfully hiding that. The widow must know, as one of the lowest of the socially low, that in going to him she is up against an implacable and hostile opponent. She must know that this is an uphill battle. What I admire in her is what I can only imagine is her clarity of purpose and resolve, her bone-deep commitment that her cause was right, and her assurance that her own self-advocacy can effect change.
Clarity, commitment, and assurance – we might simply say “faith.” Her faith, burning in her heart, gives her the courage to persist in her own advocacy, and eventually to overcome her opponent. Read More
The Comparable Parable – Br. Curtis Almquist
Br. Curtis Almquist
The Blessed Virgin Mary, God-Bearer
Jesus’ story about the widow and the judge is one of his parables. This is a made-up story Jesus told, which is to say it did not really happen. Except that it did happen. Every day.
Widows were everywhere, and most of them were dirt poor. The Old Testament prophets and the early church continually named the suffering widows because their needs were as great as their numbers. They were as common as chattel, and often treated the same on the streets and in the courts. The Hebrew word referring to a widow literally means “an empty house.” No one home; nowhere to belong. You will know about this emptiness if you have been widowed… or, for that matter, if you have been orphaned from your parents; or separated from people, or places, or things where you belonged… or never belonged; or if you intercede for other people who live with estrangement, poverty and injustice in our suffering world.
Which is why parables are comparable, because they imply a comparison, an analogy, an elaboration, or an illustration.[i] So how is Jesus’ parable comparable to your own life, or to your life’s concerns? How is this your story? How is Jesus’ parable about the suffering and importunate widow and the jaded judge – the ultimately-converted judge – your story? What does Jesus’ parable invite from you and your own needs, or your concerns for others? The answer is yours.
This parable is surely an invitation to cry out our hearts, and bang on the gates of heaven. Jesus’ parable invites and provokes that. And if God-the-judge seems too intimidating, or too distant, or too much of a male for you to safely cry out your heart, then tell the Blessed Virgin Mary, who seems to have God’s ear.
[i] The New Testament Greek word parabolē, means, literally, “that which is tossed alongside,” implying a comparison, an analogy, an elaboration, or an illustration. From “Biblical Parables” by Fred B. Craddock in Interpretation; Luke (John Knox Press, 1990; pp. 108-110.
Offering Love – Br. Luke Ditewig
Jesus paints the picture of two people: a judge, a man with authority with no respect for others who won’t be ashamed, and a widow, weak and vulnerable. The widow comes persistently asking for justice such that the judge relents, so as to stop being bothered.
Have you agreed to something like the judge? Given in just to stop someone from bothering you. Have you received something for acting like the widow? Persistently present, continually asking. Have you ever felt that God is like the unjust judge? Distant, unhearing, refusing, without respect or shame. Has prayer felt like repetitive knocking or finger pointing? Read More
Keep Coming – Br. Luke Ditewig
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Luke 18:1-8
In today’s parable, Jesus paints the picture of two people. A judge, a man with authority who does not fear God nor respect people. He won’t be ashamed. Perhaps accepting a bribe, but otherwise immoveable. A widow comes repeatedly to this judge. As we see often in scripture, widows are most vulnerable and to be cared for. In Middle Eastern culture, men represented women in court. That she is here means she has no male relative to assist her.[i] On one hand, she is weak and vulnerable. Yet she is present and persistent, not accusing, asking for justice.
In Middle Eastern culture, there is also a social code of respect such that women sometime have unusual access that men do not. Kenneth Bailey, who taught seminary for many years in Lebanon, tells of seeing a violent militia take up residence in a neighborhood. An elderly woman came regularly telling the guards to go away. They responded by politely telling her to not be upset. If a man had done so, he would have been shot.[ii]
The widow keeps coming asking for justice. The judge relents, giving her what she asks so that he is no longer bothered.
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