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Our text sounds like an item from the morning newspaper, doesn’t it? A story about a mistreated woman struggling to get a fair hearing in court. But it’s not an item from today’s newspaper; it’s a parable of Jesus. And like all his parables, this one about a widow and an unjust judge is like a beam of light breaking into the darkness of our own time. We are given a glimpse of the secret workings of God in the ordinary events of everyday life then and now. A poor widow has a grievance. She wants justice. She brings her complaint to a judge. The judge is unsympathetic. He keeps refusing to hear her case. But the woman comes back to court again and again until the exasperated judge relents. He gives her what she wants to get her off his back. Jesus then asks his hearers: If even an unjust judge might, however belatedly and grudgingly, give justice to this poor woman, how much more will God hear and speedily vindicate those who cry to him day and night?
Jesus’ question is actually a form of argument that the logicians call a “how much more” kind of argument. An example might go like this: If fans of the Chicago Cubs are happy their team continues to win in the playoffs, how much happier they will be if the Cubs go on to win the World Series! Or an example closer to home: If you are delighted when you figure out your income tax and find there is a slight reduction in what you owe in comparison with last year, how much more delighted you will be if you discover that the government owes you! Jesus employs this “how much more” kind of argument in the parable of the woman and the unjust judge. So Jesus says: If even an unjust judge might, after much delaying and griping, respond to a poor widow in distress, how much more reason is there to believe that God will hear and quickly respond to our cries for help? As we heard in the reading of our text, the evangelist Luke prefaces the parable by telling us that the point of Jesus’ story is that we ought always to pray and not lose heart.
I think, however, that there is more to this parable than its encouragement to us to keep on praying. That’s important, of course. But the possibility of there being still more to discover in the parable is raised by another question of Jesus that comes at the very end of the story. His second and final question is initially puzzling and a bit chilling: When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? So how is this question of Jesus related to the parable? Some scholars think it was simply tacked on by Luke and has nothing to do with the previous story. But let’s consider otherwise. Could it be that the parable, while certainly having to do with constancy in prayer, may also teach us something about the kind of faith that Jesus has in mind when he asks at the end of the parable: When the Son of Man comes, will he will find faith on earth?
In what way, then, might this parable have to do not only with constancy in prayer but also with the marks of authentic Christian faith? Surely the faith that Jesus speaks of here is not faith in any institution or program or ideology. Faith is faith in God. It is trust in God. Well, what is the parable trying to tell us about the character of the God in whom we trust, the God made known in Jesus Christ, by contrast with the character of the unjust judge?
As the parable makes very clear, this unjust judge doesn’t give a hoot for the desperate woman who seeks justice. He is described as someone who neither fears God nor respects other human beings. Not surprisingly, then, he has no passion for justice like the prophets of the Old Testament and no compassion for people in distress like Jesus. By contrast to this unjust judge, the God in whom we place our faith and trust is the God who wants justice to roll down from the mountain tops like a mighty stream, the God who came among us in the person of Jesus to bring good news to the poor and release to the captives. If even an unjust judge might on occasion and grudgingly do the right thing, how much more, Jesus asks, will the God in whom we place our faith and trust respond to the cry for justice?
Notice further that the unjust judge keeps on pushing away the woman in need. He delays and delays hearing her case until he is worn out and finally relents. By contrast, the God in whom we place our faith and trust is the God of the gospel who never pushes us away. On the contrary, he invites us to “Call on me,” “Come to me and I will give you rest.” Indeed, he comes to us in the flesh, in his Son Jesus to take our burdens on himself. So if even an unjust judge who regularly pushes away the people who seek his help may on occasion relent and do the right thing, how much more, Jesus asks, will the God made known in Jesus Christ be always there to stand by the needy, hear their petitions, and be ready to offer help even before they ask?
And notice too that the unjust judge, when he finally relents and hears the woman in distress, does so for utterly self-centered reasons. He’s tired of being inconvenienced. He’s worn out with these complaints, especially those coming from what he considers pathetic and whimpering people like this poor woman. He wants to get back, we might say, to his beach chair and his martini and enjoy some peace and quiet. By contrast, the God in whom we place our faith and trust is never aloof, distant, unconcerned, self-centered. He is the God who created us in his image, who calls us his children, who loves us, and is prepared to give his Son to suffer and die for us so that we might receive new hope and new life. So if a mean-spirited and self-centered judge might occasionally do the right thing out of selfish motives, how much more, Jesus says, will the compassionate God in whom we place our faith and trust act to fulfill his just and gracious purposes.
So the question Jesus asks at the conclusion of the parable is not out of place; it is very fitting: When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth—and by faith Jesus refers not to faith in just anything or faith in just any God; he means faith in the God who is our heavenly Father and whose love has been shown to us unmistakably in his Son Jesus Christ and continues to be present with us in the power of the Holy Spirit.
But my friends, this parable of Jesus tells us even more. It says something not only about the just and compassionate God of Christian faith. It also describes what faith itself looks like. For Christian faith is not only faith in God who is just and compassionate; Christian faith is also something we do; it is also our personal response to the just and merciful God. It is also a way of life, a way of being human in the world, a way of living out our trust and faith in God. So let’s return to the parable and ask whether what this poor woman does, whether her actions, her behaviors, her spirit and her passion, provide a clue to the kind of faith that Jesus has in mind when he asks that chilling question: When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?
Look then at this poor widow of the parable. Let’s look closely. She’s a widow, we’re told. Now being a widow in the society of her time means her existence is precarious. She no longer has a husband to protect her; she is probably quite poor. Maybe she has small children. In any case, she’s on the margins of society. She is very vulnerable to anyone who might want to exploit her, and this has evidently happened, which is why she comes to the judge. And on top of all this, as a woman, she doesn’t have the same standing in court that a man has. And yet-- she musters the courage to confront a court and a judge who represent the movers and shakers of her world. Now we have to admit: the parable does not call her a woman of faith. But what the parable does tell us is that this woman has astonishing courage. And if this woman--whose faith is not identified in the parable--shows great courage in the face of the powers that be, how much more should those of us who confess our faith in the God of mercy and justice show courage in the face of injustice, indifference, and cruelty?
Now look again at the woman of the parable. Even if we are not told that she has faith in God, what she is described as having is abundant persistence in her commitment to a just cause. This woman doesn’t wear out. She wears out her unjust judge. She doesn’t give up. She makes her unjust judge give in. Some of you may remember the name of Fanny Lou Hamer, a leader of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. One of the things for which Fanny Lou Hamer was remembered is her saying, “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.” She had that statement engraved on her tombstone. But even though Fanny Lou Hamer was tired of being sick and tired; she persisted in her struggle; she never stopped resisting the forces of injustice and abuse in the world that made her and a lot of other people sick and tired. So my friends, if the woman of the parable, who may or may not have been a believer, is described as being amazingly persistent in her quest for justice, in her quest for a better world, a new world, how much more should those of us who confess our faith in the God who desires life and life abundant for all people show persistence in representing God’s cause of justice, mercy, reconciliation, and peace?
And now one more time, look at the woman of this parable. As we’ve seen, she’s obviously courageous against all odds. She is amazingly persistent in her quest for justice. But there’s more. Implied in the parable--implied I say--is that in the end she is joyful. Now I know I am reading between the lines here. But reading between the lines of Scripture is sometimes necessary. God gave us reason. God gave us emotion and passion. And God gave us imagination. God expects us to use our imagination in many areas of life, including our reading and understanding of Scripture. Recall some other parables of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Luke—think of the parable of the shepherd who when he finds the lost sheep has great joy; think of the parable of the woman who finds her lost coin and rejoices: these parables and others end in joy. So with a little bit of imagination, I see this woman at the end of the parable of the unjust judge with a smile on her face. She’s received a blessing. She is on the threshold of breaking into laughter. She is beginning a new life with great joy and unending praise.
And how about us who confess our faith in God who in Christ is victorious over sin, suffering, and death? How about us who have been given us a foretaste of the coming kingdom in the sacrament of the table set before us, a reminder of the promise of a coming great celebration of life with God and one another, a celebration that begins here and now and never ends? Do we know, and act as though we know, that there is no faith where there is no joy? Do we know that there is no living, abiding faith where there is no joy at the good news of the gospel, joy that we are loved and forgiven by God, joy that the love of God in Jesus Christ is stronger than all the forces of evil and death in the world?
So my friends, how much more? If the woman of the parable, whose faith we do not know, not only has amazing courage, not only shows incredible persistence in her quest for justice, but also, I am convinced, experiences joy, if this woman has reason to rejoice, how much more do those of us who have faith in God who brings us a veritable fountain of good and joyful news have reason to rejoice as we live out our faith in the midst of life’s burdens and battles? In our struggles with all that needs to be changed, we should never forget the word of Jesus: Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
So it is totally fitting at the conclusion of this beautiful parable that Jesus asks: When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? If the way of life of the woman of the parable can be understood as a likeness of the faith Jesus had in mind in asking this question, then the question to us now becomes: How much more should our faith in God, the God of the gospel, show courage when it is up against heavy odds, show persistence in the struggle against injustice and oppression, but also and by no means least, show a deep joy that refuses to adopt the spirit of bitterness, resentment, and revenge in our quest for justice because we are confident that the love of God in Jesus Christ is, and always will be, victor over the forces of destruction and death in the world. Amen.
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