A NEW TAKE ON AN OLD PARABLE
Luke 18:1-5
Rev. Paul Wrightman 5/12/24
OCCASIONALLY A NEW HYMN COMES ALONG
WHICH IS TRULY MEMORABLE.
JUST BEFORE OUR SCRIPTURE READINGS
WE SANG THREE VERSES OF A NEW HYMN
CALLED “BRING MANY NAMES.”
THE BIBLE ITSELF DOES NOT IMPRISON GOD
INSIDE OF A MALE STRAIGHTJACKET,
BUT MAKES MANY REFERENCES TO
GOD’S FEMININE, AS WELL AS GOD’S MASCULINE, NATURE.
SADLY, UNTIL QUITE RECENTLY THEOLOGY
HAS NOT MIRRORED THE COMPLEXITY OF GOD’S NATURE
NEARLY AS WELL AS SCRIPTURE.
THIS IS BEGINNING TO CHANGE,
AND CONTEMPORARY HYMNS
SUCH AS “BRING MANY NAMES”
GIVE US A MUCH MORE BIBLICALLY ACCURATE
PORTRAYAL OF GOD THAN DO SOME OF OUR
CLASSIC HYMNS, WHICH TEND TO LIMIT GOD
TO MALE STEREOTYPES.
I’D LIKE TO READ THE WORDS TO “BRING MANY NAMES”
TO YOU AS A POEM, A POEM WHICH DISPENSES WITH
LOOKING AT GOD SOLELY THROUGH “WARRIOR-KING”
LENSES, AND WHICH BEGINS TO SEE GOD IN TERMS
OF THE MANY DIFFERENT AND CREATIVE WAYS
THAT GOD IS PICTURED IN SCRIPTURE.
THE AUTHOR OF OUR POEM IS BRIAN WREN, WHO IS A PASTOR
OF THE UNITED REFORMED CHURCH IN ENGLAND.
HE WRITES:
BRING MANY NAMES, BEAUTIFUL AND GOOD,
CELEBRATE, IN PARABLE AND STORY,
HOLINESS IN GLORY, LIVING, LOVING GOD.
HAIL AND HOSANNA, BRING MANY NAMES!
STRONG MOTHER GOD, WORKING NIGHT AND DAY,
PLANNING ALL THE WONDERS OF CREATION,
SETTING EACH EQUATION, GENIUS AT PLAY:
HAIL AND HOSANNA, STRONG MOTHER GOD!
WARM FATHER GOD, HUGGING EVERY CHILD,
FEELING ALL THE STRAINS OF HUMAN LIVING,
CARING AND FORGIVING TILL WE’RE RECONCILED:
HAIL AND HOSANNA, WARM FATHER GOD!
ON THIS MOTHER’S DAY 2024,
THE MOST IMPORTANT VERSE FOR US IS VERSE 3,
WHICH REFERS TO GOD AS A “STRONG MOTHER.”
THERE IS ACTUALLY A LOT OF PRECEDENT
IN THE TEACHINGS, PARABLES, AND ACTIONS OF JESUS
FOR SEEING GOD AS A STRONG MOTHER.
THIS MORNING I’D LIKE TO SHARE WITH YOU
A NEW TAKE ON AN OLD PARABLE,
THE PARABLE WHICH HAS BEEN CALLED
“THE PERSISTENT WIDOW.”
IN JESUS’ DAY, AS IN OUR DAY, THE PEOPLE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE
KNOW STORIES ABOUT BIG CITIES.
EVEN MORESO IN JESUS’ DAY THAN IN OURS,
BIG CITIES WERE SEEN AS IMPERSONAL PLACES
WHERE HARD AND CYNICAL PEOPLE TOOK ADVANTAGE
OF THE POOR AND DOWNTRODDEN.
SO THIS CITY JUDGE IS IMMEDIATELY RECOGNIZED
BY JESUS’ RURAL AUDIENCE.
APPEALING TO HIS BETTER SIDE IS A WASTE OF TIME.
HE DOESN’T HAVE ONE.
HE DOES NOT FEAR GOD.
NO APPEAL TO LAW OR COVENANT OR DIVINE COMPASSION
WILL MOVE HIM.
HE DOES NOT RESPECT PEOPLE.
NO APPEAL TO HUMAN NEED OR DECENCY WILL HAVE ANY EFFECT.
THIS CORRUPT JUDGE IS AN IMMOVABLE OBJECT.
BUT THERE IS ALSO AN IRRESTIBLE FORCE –
A WIDOW WHO IS NOT PUT OFF
BY HIS PUTTING HER OFF.
THIS WIDOW CANNOT COUNT ON THE JUDGE’S ADHERENCE
TO THE COVENANT COMMAND TO CARE FOR
THE WIDOW AND THE ORPHAN TO HELP HER.
NOR CAN SHE LAY BEFORE HIM THE EXTENT OF HER NEED.
SHE HAS ONLY ONE THING ON HER SIDE:
SHE IS ASKING FOR JUSTICE,
AND HE, BEING A JUDGE, IS SUPPOSED TO GIVE IT TO HER.
BUT THE ODDS ARE DEFINITELY NOT IN HER FAVOR.
THE HEBREW WORD FOR WIDOW MEANS
“ONE WHO HAS NO VOICE.”
YET HER VOICE IS ALL SHE HAS.
HER ONLY HOPE IS THAT SHE KEEPS COMING BACK,
DEMANDING JUSTICE.
PERSISTENCE IS NOT HER FALLBACK STRATEGY.
IT IS HER ONLY STRATEGY.
(PAUSE)
AT FIRST THE JUDGE IS UNMOVED.
HIS INITIAL REFUSALS HIGHLIGHT THE WIDOW’S INSISTENCE.
INSTEAD OF LOSING HEART, SHE PERSEVERES.
EVENTUALLY, THE JUDGE CAVES.
WE ARE NOT LEFT IN THE DOUBT ABOUT WHY.
WE EAVESDROP ON HIS INNER MONOLOGUE.
THE JUDGE REPEATS THE DESCRIPTION
OF THE STORYTELLER ABOUT HIMSELF
AND SO REINFORCES THE REASON HE IS “GRANTING JUSTICE.”
IT IS NOT BECAUSE HE FEARS GOD OR RESPECTS PEOPLE.
IT IS BECAUSE THE CONTINUAL COMING OF THE WOMAN
IS WEARING DOWN HIS RESISTANCE.
THE JUSTICE THAT SHOULD BE GIVEN BECAUSE HE IS A JUDGE
IS ONLY GIVEN BECAUSE THE WIDOW IS RELENTLESS.
SO MUCH FOR RETELLING THE STORY.
IN PREVIOUS SERMONS ABOUT THIS TEXT,
I ALWAYS FOLLOWED LUKE’S CUE IN VERSE 1:
“THEN JESUS TOLD THEM A PARABLE
ABOUT THEIR NEED TO PRAY ALWAYS AND NOT TO LOSE HEART,”
AND TO INTERPRET THIS STORY AS ANOTHER INSTANCE OF
JESUS’ ARGUING FROM THE LESSER TO THE GREATER --
IF THE UNJUST JUDGE FINALLY RESPONDED
TO THE WIDOW’S PERSISTENCE, HOW MUCH QUICKER
WILL GOD RESPOND TO OURS!
BUT SUDDENLY IT OCCURRED TO ME
THAT MAYBE LUKE’S CUE
WAS LEADING US DOWN THE WRONG PATH.
I ENVISIONED LUKE WITH HIS RESEARCH IN HAND –
A FORMIDABLE COLLECTION OF SERMON NOTES,
RAPIDLY SCRIBBLED QUOTATIONS,
A BUNDLE OF PARABLES,
SCATTERED PARCHMENTS CONTAINING DESCRIPTIONS OF EVENTS
FROM THE LIFE OF JESUS.
I SAW LUKE FACING THE CHALLENGE OF HOW TO ORGANIZE
ALL THIS MATERIAL.
MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, LUKE ORGANIZED THIS PARTICULAR PARABLE
UNDER THE WRONG SUBJECT HEADING, THE SUBJECT HEADING
OF PERSISTENCE, RATHER THAN UNDER THE SUBJECT HEADING OF –
OF WHAT?
I BEGAN THINKING ABOUT JESUS’ PARABLES
OF THE LOST SHEEP AND THE LOST COIN,
THE LEAVEN AND THE MUSTARD SEED,
AND HOW ESPECIALLY IN THE PARABLE OF THE LOST COIN,
JESUS TAKES THE DARING TACTIC OF PORTRAYING GOD AS A WOMAN
SEARCHING FOR SOMETHING UNTIL SHE FINDS IT.
COULD JESUS BE DOING THE SAME THING HERE?
--PORTRAYING GOD AS A WIDOW IN SEARCH OF JUSTICE,
AND NOT GIVING UP UNTIL JUSTICE IS FOUND>
THIS WOULD TURN THE TRADITIONAL APPROACH TO THIS PARABLE
UPSIDE DOWN:
GOD BECOMES A WIDOW-WOMAN SEEKING JUSTICE,
AND WE – EACH OF US –
BECOMES A HARD-HEARTED JUDGE
TRYING TO KEEP GOD FROM GETTTING THE JUSTICE
THAT GOD DEMANDS FROM US IN OUR DEALING WITH
OUR FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS.
I HAD, I BELIEVE, SOME STRONG PRECEDENTS FOR THIS VIEW
IN THE PARABLES OF THE LOST COIN AND LOST SHEEP,
THE LEAVEN, AND THE MUSTARD SEED,
AND THE MANY OTHER PLACES WHERE JESUS TALKS ABOUT
THE RELENTLESS COMPASSION AND LOVE OF GOD.
KNOWING THAT LATIN AMERICAN LIBERATION THEOLOGIANS
HAVE A MUCH BETTER TRACK RECORD AT BEING ABLE TO SEE
SOME OF THE SURPRISING MOVES OF JESUS THAN MANY
OF THEIR EUROPEAN AND NORTH AMERICAN COUNTERPARTS,
I GAVE MYSELF THE TASK OF TRYING TO FIND AN EXAMPLE
OF GOD BEING SEEN AS A WIDOW-WOMAN FROM THE THIRD WORLD.
I LOOKED AT SOME OF THE MATERIALS THAT I’D COLLECTED
FROM BASE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES –
SMALL GROUP BIBLE STUDIES USUALLY LED BY LAY PERSONS –
AND FOUND THE FOLLOWING.
THIS COMES FROM MEGAN MCKENNA,
A FEMINIST LIBERATION THEOLOGICAN FROM THE UNITED STATES
WHO HAS SPENT MANY YEARS LIVING WITH THE POOR
IN LATIN AMERICA.
SHE WRITES:
“IN THE PAST THIS PARABLE HAS ALWAYS BEEN INTERPRETED
WITH GOD AS A BETTER KIND OF JUDGE
AND US AS THE WIDOW.
BUT IN CHIAPAS, MEXICO, I WAS SITTING IN ON A GROUP OF PEOPLE
DISCUSSING THIS SCRIPTURE AND TALKING ABOUT PRAYING
WHEN A WOMAN STOOD UP AND SAID SHE HAD A SPEECH TO MAKE.
IT WAS HARD FOR HER TO DO, BUT SHE WANTED TO SAY
WHAT SHE’D BEEN THINKING THE WHOLE TIME.
SHE SPOKE OF BEING A WIDOW, OF GOING TO A JUDGE
JUST LIKE THE ONE IN THE PARABLE, AND PLEADING FOR HER RIGHTS:
TO FIND OUT WHY HER SON HAD BEEN ARRESTED AND TAKEN AWAY,
AND WHERE HE WAS WEEKS AFTER HIS DISAPPEARANCE.
SHE HOUNDED THE JUDGE DAY AND NIGHT.
SHE WATCHED HIM, HIS MOVES, HIS DAILY SCHEDULE, HIS FRIENDS.
SHE APPROACHED HIM EVERY CHANCE SHE HAD.
SHE HAD NOTHING MORE TO LOSE;
SHE HAD ALREADY LOST HER HUSBAND AND HER OTHER CHILDREN.
SHE WAS DESPERATE.
AND THEN, AS SHE LISTENED TO THIS PARABLE,
SHE KNEW THAT SHE WAS THE JUDGE AND GOD WAS THE WIDOW!
IT IS GOD WHO IS ALWAYS IN OUR FACE,
BEGGING, PLEADING, CAJOLING, HOUNDING US TO DO JUSTICE,
TO PRAY, AND TO RESPOND TO OTHERS AS WE SHOULD.”
(End Quote)
GOD IS THE WIDOW CRYING OUT FOR JUSTICE TO US.
GOD HAS NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE.
GOD HAS LOST EVERYTHING –
INCLUDING PART OF GOD’S SELF IN THE DEATH OF JESUS –
TRYING TO CALL US BACK, BACK TO FORGIVENESS, JUSTICE,
COMPASSION, AND PEACE.
AMAZINGLY, GOD DOES NOT LOSE HEART OVER US,
OVER ALL THE EVIL AND BROKENNESS IN THE WORLD.
GOD FORGIVES AGAIN AND AGAIN AND CALLS US TO DO THE SAME.
GOD IS THE WIDOW CRYING OUT FOR JUSTICE.
WHEN SEEN THROUGH THIS LENS,
WHAT IN THIS PARABLE GIVES US HOPE?
GOD DOESN’T LOSE HEART!
BEGINNING WITH CREATION,
GOD KEEPS COMING UP WITH CREATIVE, IMAGINATIVE WAYS
TO RESPOND TO OUR DESTRUCTION, OUR REFUSALS,
OUR IGNORANCE AND STUBBORNESS AND SIN.
GOD COMES AFTER US AND WILL NEVER STOP, LIKE THE WIDOW,
UNTIL JUSTICE COMES, UNTIL WE KNOW WHO WE ARE,
WHO GOD IS, WHO OUR NEIGHBOR IS.
IT’S WONDERFUL NEWS THAT GOD CHASES AFTER US
LIKE THAT ONE LOST SHEEP, AND WILL NOT GIVE UP LOOKING FOR US
UNTIL WE’RE FOUND.
JESUS KEEPS SAYING THIS:
THAT HE HAS COME TO SEARCH OUT WHAT IS LOST,
TO FIND AND HEAL THE BROKEN-HEARTED,
TO BRING GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR.
THAT IS WHAT JESUS CAME FOR –
TO SHOW US GOD’S UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.
GOD DOESN’T STOP LOVING US
NO MATTER WHAT WE DO OR DO NOT DO.
INSTEAD, GOD DEVISES MORE AND MORE
MYSTERIOUS AND HUMBLE AND SPIRIT-FILLED WAYS
TO GET US TO BE HUMAN AND LOVE BACK.
GOD DOES NOT LOSE HEART,
SO WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO LOSE HEART EITHER.
THIS STORY TELLS US THAT BECAUSE GOD
DOES NOT GIVE UP ON US OR THE WORLD,
WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO GIVE UP
ON OURSELVES OR THE WORLD EITHER.
AMEN.