twentieth sunday after Trinity

The boat was sinking; the captain called to the crew: "Does anybody know how to pray?" One man spoke up: "Yes, captain, I do." The captain was relieved.  "Phew, that's all right then," he said. "You go ahead and pray without ceasing and don’t loose heart. The rest of us will put on our life-jackets. We’re one life- jacket short!"

There's not much question as to the meaning of the parable in our gospel reading today – because the writer of Luke’s gospel says “Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to loose heart” (18:1)

Parables are stories that point to an obvious conclusion, but can jolt us with an unexpected ending. The parable we’ve read this morning, (only incidentally found in Luke’s gospel, the gospel with a particular focus on prayer), is particularly intriguing. It is a parable that’s capable of being turned upside down. It is introduced as being about prayer (Luke 18:1) but, as we shall discover, it’s not quite as simple as all that!

There was a judge, says Jesus, introducing the first of two characters. Now a Judges’ role was to adjudicate disputes fairly. But this judge, we are told is unjust, he neither feared God nor had any respect for the community he served.

In the same town there was a widow. Now we know from the Old Testament that widows were a special case in Jewish law. Widows along with the poor and the oppressed were to be protected and cared for within the community.

Luke’s choice of his second character automatically raises the stakes; any God-fearing judge would feel obliged by law to pay special attention to, and take good care of, the widow.

The widow comes to the judge saying, “I want justice from you against my enemy”. Now we don’t know what the dispute was about, but do know that the widow kept on coming to the judge, who in turn, kept on refusing her –frankly, from the judge’s point of view, she was making a bit of a nuisance of herself. The judge in our parable ignores the widow, who by law he is commanded to care for, and shows little interest in serving justice.

However, because the widow kept on coming back to the judge and pestering him, he eventually says to himself, “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps on bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming”

So, eventually, because of the widow’s persistence, despite the judges callousness and lack of integrity, he gives the woman what she wants.

The parable is an example of an argument from the lesser to the greater: Jesus says, if a wicked judge finally relents and hears the woman's case, “will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night?” (18:7).

The point is unlike the unjust judge; God is full of compassion, willing and ready at all times to hear our prayers, and especially those of or for the poor and oppressed.

So the parable is telling us to be persistent in prayer, knowing that God will answer the prayers of God's children. It's an unclouded parable with a neat conclusion.

Of course, if that is the point - and it seems to be - then we have a dilemma, if we are honest with God and ourselves. Our dilemma is that we are two millennia later and the poor and oppressed are still calling out for relief and, for the most part, don't seem to be appreciably closer to a world of justice and compassion than they were when Jesus told this parable. If we only read this parable, as encouragement to relentless prayer, there will always seem to be some lack of evidence that such prayer really makes a difference.

Please don't get me wrong. I believe wholeheartedly that persistent prayer is very important, even when such prayers are not answered in the ways we think best. It is important to be unrelenting in our prayers...not only because of the changes our prayers may elicit in God's mind, but for the changes such prayers can work in our own hearts and minds. As the American writer and theologian Frederick Buechner, once commented  that persistent prayer is key, "not because you have to beat a path to God's door before God will open it, but because until you beat the path, maybe there's no way of getting to your door." In other words when we keep on praying, God meets us.

So maybe there's more to this parable than meets the eye! What if Jesus told this parable not only as a call to persistence in prayer but also as a reminder to you and me, of the importance of praying for and securing justice for the poor and the oppressed in our community?

Another theologian, Alan Culpepper once said, "To those who have it in their power to relieve the distress of the widow, the orphan and the stranger but do not [do so], the call to pray day and night is a command to let the priorities of God's compassion reorder the priorities of their lives."

If we stand this parable on its head and hear it as testimony to the persistence of God, who wants us to grant justice to those who cry out day and night. Maybe this parable speaks of the resolute, persistent, unrelenting, determined Spirit who keeps knocking on our door, challenging us to respond, pressing us to accept God's claims, urging us to work for the good of our neighbors in need?

All through the Bible we can trace God's unwavering love for God's people – starting with Abraham’s call to follow, the giving of Law to Moses and when God's children rebelled, God sends the prophets to press God's call for justice and fairness, later when the prophets were ignored, God sent Jesus Christ into the world to demonstrate once and for all the character of God. A God who is immense, full of grace and love for all of creation but especially for the widows, the poor and the outcast in our communities.

This week, we have experienced once again the steady drumbeat of news reporting injustice after injustice, perpetrated by one group or another. Some of the worst offenders have been brought to justice. Celebrities may have staged worldwide concerts raising awareness, trying to end poverty in our time. Perhaps, seeing and hearing these things, we have lamented but then have gone back to our dinners or whatever else it was we were doing.

But God calls us, as followers of Jesus to continue to champion the cause of the widows, the poor and the outcast in our community. Here in Stafford.

So we can give thanks for the show boxes that were filled and sent via International Aid, to those poorer than ourselves. It is good that over £900 received as donations last week and will be sent to Tanzania for the widows and orphans we support there. But what about buying fair trade goods at home even though they cost us a little more? Or responding to the Rectors letter about reviewing our giving? Or how do we feel about the homeless who sleep in our porch or come to eat a meal in the hall? Or the person we’ve never spoken to in church because, well they are a bit different – maybe a word of kindness or encouragement would be an answer to their persistent prayer this morning. Or maybe, it’s just being open to God, listening in our prayers and conversations with God, waiting on God to hear where we are being prompted to show love and justice to the poor and those unjustly treated in Stafford, where we live, in our wider community and in God’s world.

So, I wonder: if this parable this morning offers a mirror for my life and yours, when I hold it up,  whose face do I, do we see in it? Is it the face of the judge who, as Jesus said, "Neither feared God nor had respect for people." Or do I, do we see the widow, who reveals God’s nature; being persistent in prayer and seeking justice.

The parable, as I said at the beginning, isn’t quite as simple as all that!