St Luke 18: 1 – 8
Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, “Grant me justice against my opponent.” For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.”’ And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’
Reflection
Sometimes it really bothers me that we never get to find out what the complaint, the injustice was all about? It is like listening in to snatches of conversation in café, and never finding out just WHAT it was that Aunty Sheila said about Susan. Maybe I’m just nosey, or I’ve watched one too many true crime dramas. Maybe I just want to judge if the widow really is worthy, in my opinion. Maybe I need to know what the newspapers would say? The right newspaper obviously, the one I read, not the ones with an agenda.
This story perhaps resonates even more in these strange times, where competing media narratives seem more skewed and biased, where institutions seem more self-serving, and where cries for justice seem to be muted and denied air time. Where do we see the unjust judge in these days of culture wars? Which institutions neither fear God nor care what people think?
Jesus stood against the religious and political systems that protected the powerful and neglected the vulnerable and voiceless. Jesus listened to those whose voices were not heard, and spoke truth to power. So, as disciples, of course we are called to do the same. That listening doesn’t necessarily mean knowing everything or making our own judgements as to someone’s worthiness. It means amplifying those who voices are not heard, speaking the truth we know boldly, persisting in prayer and doing what we can to challenge the broken systems of the world. We are invited to place our hope in God.
The passage ends with the challenge ‘when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth’ – or will we have allowed political polarization, media bias and institutional failure to make us cynical, angry, divided and despairing? Or will he find us accepting that invitation to hope?
Prayer
Loving God,
When we weary of division and falsehood,
When the truth seems buried and unheard,
Help us to hear the cries for justice.
When the culture wars rage around us,
We give thanks that we can cling to you,
A firm and persistent foundation. Amen