We have a tendency to think that parables teach one lesson and one lesson only. The parable of the Good Samaritan is about helping your neighbor in need. The parable of the Rich Ruler is about the total sacrifice required to follow Jesus. And we could certainly say that this parable of the widow and the unjust judge is about being persistent in prayer, especially since Luke prefaces the parable with this statement, “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” Is this parable about persistent prayer? Absolutely! But there’s many other lessons we could learn from this parable as well. So, we’re going to tackle prayer next week, and this week we are going to look at a different lesson from this parable. Rather than thinking of this parable in terms of Luke’s statement at the beginning, I want us to reflect on the parable this morning based on Jesus’ question at the end, “[W]hen the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? What do you think? We have two metaphors for faith in this parable; one in the widow and one in the unjust judge. I think if we believe that Christians in the world today are showing the faith of the persistent widow, then we can affirm that when the Son of Man comes, he will indeed find faith on earth. But if there are those who are more like the unjust judge, who have to be prodded and coaxed, that might something to be concerned about.
Let me explain what I mean. The widow and the orphan were two of the most helpless class of people in the society of Jesus’ day. A woman without a husband, particularly a woman whose husband had died, was without any resources. You see, inheritances were passed through the male lines of the family. If there were no children, a man’s inheritance would go to his brother or perhaps nephew, but never to his wife or daughter. Likewise, the husband was the voice of the family. If the husband died, the woman had no way to be represented in her community. The same was true of children without parents. Children were not a valued part of society to begin with at that time as they are now, and to be without parents to speak on one’s behalf left a child completely helpless. Thus, widows and orphans in particular were dependent on the care of their neighbors and community to get through life. That’s why James says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress….”
So we have this clear charge before us; an indisputable lesson from Jesus Christ himself that we are to care for our neighbor in need, and especially those who have no means to care for themselves, like the widows and orphans. Yet this widow comes before a judge seeking justice, and he gives her none. Over and over and over again the unjust judge ignores the plea of the helpless woman. We don’t need Jesus to tell us that he “neither feared God nor cared about men.” That’s quite obvious in his actions! Here is a man who carries the title of judge, and yet brings no justice to one who needs it most! Are we Christians who carry that title and yet do not show faith in action? When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?
I think it’s a sad truth of Christianity today that a lot of us carry a title that we can’t back up with any significant action, like the judge who would not act with justice. And this shows a lack of faith. It’s not that we don’t believe, certainly to profess Christianity, there has to be belief in Jesus Christ. But it’s that we’re not so good at following that belief up with our actions. When the widow comes to us with a need, it’s a lot easier to just ignore her than to get up and do something to help her. When it’s time to say our prayers, it’s much more tempting to just climb under the covers and go to sleep. When the offering plate comes around, it’s much easier to drop a $5 bill in than a twenty. You get the picture. This is not faith! This is not what Christ wants to find when he comes to earth. Christ calls us to devotion, to sacrifice. Christ calls us to commitment and to action. Christ calls us to be like the widow.
This widow is something else, isn’t she? I mean, not only does she have faith that she will get the justice she deserves, but she is absolutely 100% persistent in pursuing that justice. She’s like a Mack Truck; nothing is going to get in her way! What’s interesting to me is that this woman is pursuing justice before the judge, even though there is no man to speak for her. And it’s not that she just goes meekly before the judge, head bowed, hands cringed, feet shuffling, and in a barely audible voice asks, “Grant me justice against my adversary.” No, no. This woman keeps appearing; in his courtroom, in his chambers, at his doorstep. She just keeps asking, pestering, and hounding the judge. Other people at this time would have bribed the judge to get what they wanted. But you have to remember that this is a widow with no resources, no money for anything, much less bribing a corrupt judge. All she has is her persistence, and so persists she does. Until, we are told, the judge at last gives in, saying, “Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!”
Now, here we get an idea of just how persistent the widow was being. The phrase the judge uses here, the one translated as, “so that she won’t…wear me out,” comes from the sporting world; the boxing arena to be exact. The judge’s language is the same as would be used in Greek to describe the act of giving someone a black eye. Literally, what the judge is saying to the widow is that he will grant her request “so that in the end she may not come and strike me under the eye!” The widow is so determined that the judge becomes fearful that he will actually experience bodily harm if he does not grant her request. You can almost imagine the judge, hands clinched, stomping his feet, crying out, “Alright, already!!!” as he gives in and finally decides to grant the widow her request! And so the faith of the widow is rewarded. This is the kind of faith Jesus calls us to. This is the faith that the Son of Man wants to find when he comes to earth. Christ wants to find in us a faith that uses all the resources at our disposal to pursue justice. Christ wants to find a faith in us that never ever gives up or backs away, a faith that is strong and active at all times and in all places. Christ wants to find in us a faith that persists against all odds in order that God’s will might be done in and through our lives.
The challenge of this parable is that we would be as persistent in our faith as the widow. But the promise of this parable is that if we are, God, full of justice and mercy is sure to reward our faith. God always honors persistence.
With football season now in full swing, it brings to mind a well-known running back. Now, I’m not a Dallas Cowboys fan at all, but I have always appreciated Emmitt Smith. Back in 2002, Emmitt set the NFL rushing record at 16,743 yards. By the end of his career, that number had climbed to 18,355 yards. Now, Emmitt Smith was never as flashy as Walter Payton or Barry Sanders, and he never possessed true break-away speed. But his strength lies in his ability to persist–he just kept on running.
As I mentioned, when Emmitt took the all-time NFL rushing record, he had run for 16,743 yards. That’s 9.5 miles! It took him 13 years to run only 9.5 miles. What’s the big deal about that? We often run or walk more miles in the span of a few days or a week. Well, the big difference is, we don’t have 11 huge defensive players trying to take our heads off when we run! Emmitt’s average run over those 9.5 miles was 4.3 yards at a time. That means he had been tackled and knocked down somewhere around 3,983 times. And do you know what he did after every tackle? He got back up and ran the ball again. Sure, he was injured a few times, but he always returned. I’m impressed that someone would be knocked down almost 4,000 times and still they get up and run again.
Even the best of people get knocked down in life, but what sets them apart from the quitters is that they get right back up. Life is full of adversarial people who will tackle us. We will face difficult circumstances that trip our feet out from under us. We will be tempted in all sorts of ways, and our faith will be tested time and time again. The poor widow in Jesus’ parable had been knocked flat, but she refused to stay down. She got up and with unhindered faith, persistently made her request to the judge.
In the parable of the widow and the unjust judge, we meet an extraordinary woman who refuses to accept her fate. She voices opposition to injustice without relenting. As a result of her persistence, even the unjust judge is prompted to act. If an unjust judge can be moved to grant justice, then imagine how much God desires to help those who are wronged, oppressed, and in need. God looks upon the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow with deep concern for their plight. With our help, God can respond. This helpful service to God is the active faith that Christ desires to see when he comes to earth. The unjust judge refused to express any sort of faithfulness when he ignored his duty to care for the widow. We don’t want to be like that, we want Christ to find faith in us, and no expression of faithfulness to God is more deeply rooted than the duty to love and care for our neighbor in need, just as God loves and cares for us! And we must do so persistently. I don’t think it’s ever possible that we would be so persistent in our faith that God would cry out to us, “Alright, already, that’s too much!” But I sure do think we should try!
