Pastor Laura's sermon at first focused on her specialty of political history by preaching about Russell Train who, through his persistence bringing collected data to Richard Nixon, brought the issue of the environment on the presidential and national agenda in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As a result the EPA was formed under the Nixon administration when Nixon really was not an environmental proponent. An excellent example of how persistence can work.
She then referred to the persistence Jacob showed in wrestling with a manifestation of God until he was given a blessing. By tying those two scriptures together and pointing out God longs to be in relationship with us, the parable suddenly twisted in a new way. I began to see within myself the unjust judge, still living much of my life as if I neither feared God nor had respect for people because essentially that is how most of us are taught how we must live to survive.
God becomes the widow, with no inherent power in our everyday, worldly system to change things and no riches to offer us as the unjust judge. Nevertheless she persisted, as God will persist in having a relationship with us, until her efforts changed the judge's mind.
Jesus' parables are deeply engaging and really frustrating and always timely: You can meditate on them, struggle with them, enter into them, speak of them, but you won't "solve" them. The best way to suck the life out of a parable is by attempting to make them allegories or worse try to figure out the so-called moral of the story. Parables aren't about morals; they are about truth -- hidden, unyielding, disruptive truth. The kind of truth that simply can't be contained.
This twist addresses a concern I have always had about this parable. To see the widow's story as a technique to get what you want by wearing God down to answering through your persistence is problematic. When it comes down to it we know better. And when we find ourselves saying something is an "answer to our prayer," we should ask what exactly is an answered prayer? Do we only think God answers by giving us what we ask for?
We know that praying hard enough or righteously enough doesn't necessarily get us what we ask for. We know better because, even in the midst of prayer, we have seen life threatening illnesses be defeated and we have seen life threatening illnesses win. We've seen the powerful exploit the weak, and we've seen the weak rise up. We've seen teenagers who flourish, and we've seen the sullen reality of depression steal the joy of youth.
Yet Luke tells us that this parable of the persistent widow and the unrighteous judge is about our need to pray constantly and not lose hope. So maybe this is about the persistence of God. Maybe it is us who, even though we fail to fear God or care about people, are finally worn down by the persistence of a God who longs for justice. Maybe prayer isn't the way in which we manipulate God, but is simply the posture in which we finally become worn down by God's persistence in always bringing life out of death.
In this world we live in prayer is about connection. It is to live affected by what is happening in each others' lives. And since God is constantly seeking a relationship with us, these prayers all become reciprocal. To pray for each other is to live affected by what is happening in the blessed and broken and beautiful world in which God has placed us.
And establishing these threads of reciprocal prayer helps answer the question at the end of this parable, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?
No comments:
Post a Comment