Sermon 10/20/2019: Who, really, is the persistent One?

The lessons for October 20, 2019:  Jeremiah 31:27-34Psalm 119:97-1042 Timothy 3:14-4:5Luke 18:1-8



We call them “Darwinisms” because, my Dad, Darwin, is the master of quirky sayings. Some of you might call them Howard-isms or Drew-isms.  It might be something that comes with being an octogenarian.  These three men seem to have one for every occasion.  Jeff and I talk about collecting my dad’s in a book so that we have them for all of posterity.

            Dad tells me he learned some of them from his grandpa and others from his dad.  Some are quick quips he uses to answer questions like, “How old are you, Darwin?”  His response?  “I’m as old as my tongue . . . and a little older than my teeth.”
            Truth.
            Or this one.  “How Long is a Chinaman.”  It took until I was nearly an adult to hear that as a statement rather than a question.  My kids caught on much more quickly.  Apparently, our kids are truly smarter than their parents.
            Some are gross, others are crude, there are cute ones, silly ones and some that are not meant for delicate ears. 
Others are embedded in my psyche.  Like this one: “Silence is golden.”  And this: “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” 
More truth.
Both statements are valuable, but if you put them together, you get this: “Silence may be golden, but the squeaky wheel gets the grease.”  Honest truth.

She was squeaky, that widow was.  Day after day she went to the judge asking him to provide “fair treatment in court.”  Day after day, the judge ignored her, called her a pest and brushed her off.  But eventually, he grew weary of her persistence, of her daily demand for fair treatment.  According to his own words in this Contemporary English Version of this Gospel text, he said, “Even though I don’t fear God or care about people, I will help this widow because she keeps on bothering me. If I don’t help her, she will wear me out.”
I want to pause here a moment to read this section of the Gospel from The Message:
“A widow in that city kept after him: ‘My rights are being violated. Protect me!’  He never gave her the time of day. But after this went on and on he said to himself, ‘I care nothing what God thinks, even less what people think. But because this widow won’t quit badgering me, I’d better do something and see that she gets justice—otherwise I’m going to end up beaten black-and-blue by her pounding.’”
There are a couple of distinct differences in these two readings.  While in neither of them does the widow use the word “justice,” each describes the widows desire for justice.  She wants “fair treatment.”  She describes her situation as her “rights are being violated.”  She is hoping to not only be recognized and heard, she wants her situation to change.  The judge, in The Message, recognizes her request is for justice.
She is a squeaky wheel.  She shows us this as she pesters the judge.  She persisted until she got what she needed. 
The judge doesn’t care about God, or about God’s Law.  He doesn’t even care how people feel about him.  What he does care about is his image, his role.  He doesn’t want this woman to keep bothering him.  In its original Greek, the judge is afraid that the woman is going to punch him and give him a black eye.  How would he explain that? 
“Yeah, um…this widow punched me in the eye because I wouldn’t listen to her.”
So often, when we read or listen to Jesus telling a parable, these stories help illustrate and teach what he wants his followers to learn and know.  It’s not uncommon for us to look at each person in the story and try to figure out who Jesus is really talking about.  We might place God or even ourselves in a role.
In this story, how many of you see God as the judge? 
It makes sense, of course, because the beginning of this Gospel talks about the persistence of prayer and it ends with God protecting God’s chosen ones who pray day and night.  Good message.  Perfect reminder to be faithful members of the Body of Christ and in solid relationship with God.  Right?
But . . . what if God is the widow?                        

That’s the question I asked a group of people in a Facebook Live Bible study on Monday afternoon and it got a lot of people turning this story upside down in their minds and hearts. 
Really.  What if God is the widow?

The widow is persistent in seeking justice for a specific, un-reported reason.  She wants fairness.  She wants to be seen and heard and respected.  She is fierce and fearless and relentless in her persistence.  She does not stop until she is acknowledged.
In many Bibles, this parable is called the Parable of the Persistent Widow.  The story made me wonder:  is there Anyone more persistent than God?
Seriously.  God is ever present AND often neglected, ignored and forgotten. 
This story reminds me of children who are trying to get the attention of their distracted parents:  mom.  Mom.  MOm.  MOM!  dad.  Dad.  DAd.  DAD!  And finally, the parents respond with an exasperated, desperate, exhausted, WHAT???  And what happens next?  We stop, listen, acknowledge and make a decision, right?
If the widow is God, then the judge is us.  If the children are God, then the parents are us.
The widow, God, is looking for justice, equity, fairness.  An end to bigotry, violence, hatred.  The widow, God, goes to the judge—to us, repeatedly, over and over, and over again, trying to get his attention.  She squeaks her wheel louder and louder until the judge realizes that he – that we – can no longer ignore that he – that we – are being called to oil that wheel, to end hatred, violence and bigotry, to exhibit fairness, equity and justice. 
All this makes perfect sense when we consider the final sentence in today’s Gospel: “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find on this earth anyone with faith?”  Good question.  When Jesus returns to earth, will he find people who believe?  Did we hear God?  Did we act in faith?
Because, as a people, we can get distracted, we can forget Whose we are, we can deny God’s presence in ourselves and in one another.  We lose faith—maybe not forever.  Maybe rarely.  And maybe there are some of us who never lose it. 
This parable challenges us to remain in faith, but also reminds us that we are expected to do a few things that exemplify that faith.  Put simply, will we, can we, hear what is written in Micah 6 verse 8, from the Contemporary English Version: 
The Lord God has told us what is right
    and what he demands:
“See that justice is done,
let mercy be your first concern,
    and humbly obey your God.”

God persistently has faith in us that we will co-create a world that is perfect in God’s sight.  So, God gives us every new day to live into that perfect world.  God gives us reminders, by the minute, by the hour, by the day, by the week, by the month, by the year, that God IS and WAS and ALWAYS WILL BE.
Our job, if we are the judge in this story, is to help this widow.  Our job is to help God create a fair, just world so that those who are marginalized—the widows, the orphans, the immigrants, the addicted, the differently-abled, the mentally frail, the persecuted, enslaved and dying—that people like these can live in a just and equitable world—the world created by God for all of God’s beloveds.
And as we say when we renew our Baptismal promises to do these things, we can only do them faithfully “with God’s help.”

Let us pray.  The Word shared this morning is one that turned our vision of the story upside down, God.  How can we understand the story so differently?  What can we do to help the world become more just and equitable?  What do we need to do to change the world?  Can we be squeaky wheels?  Is our persistence enough?  Can we change the world?  Only with your help, O God.  For this we faithfully, fervently and constantly pray:  Only with your help.  Amen.



This poem was shared with me following the Facebook live conversation I mentioned early in this sermon.  I did not read it during the service, but wanted to put it here, as it reiterates my ponderings about who is whom.

"Pleading Widow"
Our gender and power stereotypes told us to assume
the judge is God, which would make us the poor widow.
But wait. Who judges? Who cares neither for God or people?
That would be us. And who continually demands
that we do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God?
Sorry, we don't get the high ground here, denying our privilege,
pretending we're faithfully imploring God
with our persistent quest for justice.
We're the ones deaf to the cries of the poor.
God comes in the voice of the vulnerable, the easily ignored,
while we in our arrogance easily ignore.
How disconcerting that in this story
the ball is in our court, not God's!
The demand has been made, over and over.
Jesus warns us: God can outlast us.
But when God comes, will God find us listening?

Written by Steve Garnaas-Holmes
October 15, 2019