The scripture in church where I worshipped today was Luke
18:1-8, the parable of the widow and the unjust judge. Luke introduces the
parable with the explanation that it was "about their need to pray always and not to lose heart." In the story, the widow petitioned the judge
who at first refused to hear her case.
She persisted, though, and finally he relented.
The usual interpretation is that we are the widow, and we are to persist in prayer as
she did in pleading her case. But where
this is troubling for me is that it turns God into an unjust judge -- one who refuses
to hear us, and only grants us relief because we are getting on his
nerves.
I have come to a different understanding of the parable,
one born out in my own spiritual experience.
What if God is the widow, and I am the unjust judge? What if God comes to me over and over again,
pleading God's case, and I refuse to listen?
I am the judge, weighing God's request perhaps but without what the scripture
calls "the fear of the Lord," which is, of course, the beginning of
wisdom. Instead, I judge for myself, by
myself, lacking wisdom, and I turn away from the God's pleading.
But, in a full measure of grace, God refuses to give up, and eventually I
am worn down, finally agreeing to do it God's way, which is ever and always the only true way.
It has often been my experience
that an offer or opportunity or idea or invitation comes in multiple ways or is
repeated over and over. When that
happens, I realize that the widow is at my door and the best thing to do is
open up and say yes.
Because God is
infinitely faithful and will never give up.
