Luke 18:1-8 “Justice Matters”
When my children were little,
they would frequently implore: “Tell me
a story!”
Or if I wanted to get their
attention, all I would have to do was say
“Let me tell you a
story.” Children love stories. Adults love stories.
We remember stories.
Jesus was a teller of
stories, parables we call them.
The best kinds of stories are
complex, a little layered.
They don’t necessarily end
with “and so, the moral of this story is . . .”
They don’t end that way
because there is more than one meaning to be to the story.
The story requires some
peeling back of layers, like an onion.
There are several layers to
the parable we heard in today’s scripture.
As we begin reading, we’re
told this story is going to give us a lesson about prayer.
But that’s just the first
layer. There’s another layer.
Persistence
and not giving up. Not losing heart, as one translation puts
it.
But if we keep peeling back
the layers, as we get to the main characters of the story,
we come to lessons about power.
It’s only then that we get to
the core of this story.
This is a parable about
justice.
It is a reminder and a reassurance that God seeks and
works for justice.
And because God is concerned with justice, we need to
be too.
The issue of justice as a
central purpose of our Christian faith
sometimes comes as a surprise or even a shock.
It can seem so subversive to
speak out against injustice,
especially when people with power, and privilege, and position
are being unjust.
Who wants to be the one to
speak out against people with the authority?
Or sometimes we have been the
ones with the power and the privilege
and we know what a hassle it is when someone is badgering
us about their rights.
Still one of God’s central
concerns is justice for the least, the lost, and the left out,
and this theme weaves throughout the OT.
In Micah 6:8, we hear from
the prophet, “What does God require of you
but to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly before
your God.”
The law of Moses found in
Deuteronomy and Leviticus
puts an extraordinary emphasis on justice for those who
were least likely to get it. Special
mention is frequently made of widows, orphans and strangers
and how the Israelite people were to treat them.
There were instructions to
ensure that those on the margins wouldn’t be forgotten.
For example, if you owned a
field, or a vineyard, or an olive grove,
you were to make sure to leave some of it unharvested so that
the stranger, the orphan, or the widow who came along
could find something to eat.
And in the New Testament, as
Jesus begins his ministry,
he names justice as his central purpose
when he arrives in
“The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me, because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim
release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of
the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18)
And so, many of the parables
Jesus told, many of the lessons Jesus taught,
in fact, many of the people Jesus interacted with,
are reminders that God is concerned about matters of
justice.
In today’s parable there are
only two characters - a judge and a widow.
The judge had power and
position, then and now.
With power and position, came
the responsibility to exercise it wisely,
on behalf of those who sought justice.
The other character in the
story is the widow.
Widows in Israelite society
had no power and no position.
They were vulnerable and
easily victimized.
A good judge was the best
hope for justice
for the weak and powerless members of the community.
But just like there are
layers to this story, there are layers to these characters. Unfortunately for the widow and others like
herself in that city, this was a bad judge.
He had no respect for God or people.
What do you think his story was?
Self-centered, full of pride,
willing to step on anyone to climb the ladder,
manipulative, controlling.
His position was probably a
political appointment of sorts -
a payoff for some deal he had pulled off with
someone.
There was no compassion or
righteousness as he handed out his decisions.
And even as he found himself
dealing with this pest of a woman,
his heart never softened.
He just got tired of her badgering him.
And he had a reputation to
hold up, and he didn’t want it damaged by her talk.
The widow on the other hand,
had nothing left but her voice.
Her story would have been
typical for widows of that time and culture.
More than likely she had been
living destitute for years.
She had no inheritance
because her deceased husband’s estate
would have been passed on to sons or brothers.
More than likely she didn’t
have a job.
We don’t know what situation
she kept bringing to this judge -
she would have been easily exploited by nearly anyone
with a little position or power. And
knowing just how vulnerable she was,
we have to wonder how she even got the courage to speak
up for herself.
But she not only spoke up,
she kept on speaking up.
Bothering
this judge. Badgering. Nagging even.
This widow, scraping along at
the edges of society,
wouldn’t let up, until she simply wore out the judge.
He finally said he would give
her what she wanted.
Even if it was for the wrong
reasons, justice still prevailed.
The lesson
here? Persistence. Perseverance.
To prevail, justice takes
hard work.
But there is one more
character in this story - God.
Justice matters to God, and
for God, justice and love are always intertwined.
Jesus, in his telling of the
story, reminds us that if even a corrupt judge
does the right thing - for the wrong reason -
won’t our righteous God step in and work justice
for those who continue to cry out for help?
To prevail, justice takes persevering effort -- and
persistent prayer.
Today we are marking a day
called Children’s Sabbath.
It is an ecumenical
celebration organized by the Children’s Defense Fund,
a national advocacy group for children in the
which has been around for 30 or so years.
It is an interfaith movement
united in their belief that God calls us to protect children,
especially the poorest and most vulnerable.
Over the years they have
focused on numerous issues related to
children’s health and well-being: education, hunger, and this
year, health care.
This organization believes
our faith calls us to live out God’s justice and compassion.
They do this through persevering effort -- and
persistent prayer.
Here in our church, children
have been a priority for many years.
The recent closing of our
preschool has been a big change for us.
But as we contemplate what’s
next for our ministry with children,
I hope that we consider how
God might be calling us to serve children
not just in our church but also in our community --
children who need a voice of justice and compassion.
We must guard against what is
sometimes called compassion fatigue -
we see so much need - maybe we’ve been in it ourselves -
that we lose heart.
We think what we do doesn’t
matter or we can’t make a difference.
This parable about the
persistent widow above all encourages us to stay encouraged.
To not give
up.
That’s the kind of faith we
need --
to keep trying to solve even the most serious concerns
of our time -
the concerns our young people have been bringing to us
in their prayers for the last 7 weeks as part of Light a
Candle for Children.
You may be interested to know
where they came from these past weeks.
I did not write these
prayers.
I simply asked our youth to
bring before the church something they
cared about.
A concern for children or
youth that was important to each of them.
Do you remember some of these
prayers?
Leah prayed for children in
poverty.
Kelley prayed for
Grace prayed for children in
orphanages.
Natalie prayed for her friend
and all children and youth suffering from cancer.
Tessa prayed for the children
of
James prayed for homeless
children.
Our youngest members here at
our church are concerned with justice matters.
And so we have been praying
these past weeks for children and justice.
But to prevail, justice takes persistent prayer - and
persevering effort.
There’s a story told showing
we need both persistent prayer - and our own efforts.
It’s not either/or. It’s both/and.
A devout Christian heard on
the news that there was a flash flood
within minutes of entering the peaceful valley where he
lived.
Immediately he went to his
knees, praying for safety.
The words were still on his
lips as he saw water gushing under his front door.
He retreated to the second
floor, and as the water rose, to the roof of his house.
While he sat on the roof, a
helicopter flew by and the pilot shouted thru a bullhorn, offering to lift him
off.
“No,” replied, “I’ve prayed
for the Lord’s protection.”
Moments later, the house
began to crumble, and he found himself in the water, and then clinging to a
tree.
A police boat, braving the
waters, approached him for rescue,
but he refused, assuring them that the Lord would save
him.
Finally, the tree gave way in
the flood, and the man drowned.
When he gets to heaven he
meets God and asks, “Why didn’t you answer my prayer for safety?”
God answers back: “I tried! I
warned you over the radio. Then I sent
you a helicopter and a boat.”
Justice is the same way.
It takes our persistent prayer and our own persevering
efforts.
But we’re not just saving
ourselves.
There are other people out
there - children suffering, children in need -
who need a rescue, who need a voice, who need someone to
work justice on their behalf.
“Pray as though everything
depends on God.
Work as though everything
depends on you.”