LK 18:1-8
Dear Friends, There are a couple of points we need to make right away. The parable of the judge and widow does not teach us that we can eventually win God over to our side by our strong-minded resolve. The real lesson for us in the story is this: not to lose hope in spite of all the hardships and injustices that confront us daily. The parable is inviting us to a persistence that is rooted in loving trust in the goodness of God. We need not worry about God’s perseverance. It is our faithfulness that is the issue.One of the delightful aspects of the story is missing in English where it says that the judge finally gives way to the widow because he fears she may strike him. In the original language, it says he fears that she will give him a black eye.
The main point of the parable is contrasting the self-absorbed and crooked judge with a loving and merciful God. If the poor widow received her due from the corrupt minister of the law, how much more will be the loving response of the God of mercy, compassion and limitless love. We are called to place trust in our prayer to a God of all goodness. Luke’s message is one of exhortation to the disciples and us: be constant in your prayer no matter what.
We can easily see ourselves in the widow, a woman forsaken by society and locked into poverty that seemed ruthless in its destructive power. We may not be caught in the urgency of her immediate economic survival but poverty attacks us in many ways. Our human condition is always caught in a sense of futility and mortality. We are caught in the consequences of the neglect of our environment. The on-coming horrors of climate change seem totally overwhelming. The issue of sexual harassment in the Church, society and, more often than we might imagine, in the family, often renders us longing for the liberation of a new day. The continual struggle of a fair and compassionate acceptance of sexual orientation begs for a sign of hope from the Church and society. Then there is the engulfing conflict in government where we see the politicians further and further removed from the common good by the parallelizing partisanship that is devoid of compromise. It locks everyone into a senseless stagnation. These are just a few examples how we all share some of the widow’s’ desperation whether we are aware of it or not.
The widow shows us that for the person of faith and trust, prayer is not the last resort. It is the first resort and always joined to our effort to make a difference. Prayer exposes a sense of God’s loving allegiance to all. In the end, God will have the last word. That word is uttered in the victory of Jesus over evil and death In the Pascal Mystery of his death and resurrection.
Like the widow, we are urged to both pray and act for the justice of God. When we are faithful in our commitment to prayer and action, the Son of Man will truly find faith on earth when he comes again. (Lk 18:8)
