When the path that Jesus’s followers were travelling got difficult, Jesus wanted to encourage them to not lose faith, so he told them a story about a widow who keeps knocking on the door of an unjust judge.* We don’t really know anything about the case, except that widows in that time and place were generally poor and powerless, and powerful people often took advantage of them. We also know that despite the expectation that she would be docile and submissive, powerless widows were supposed to be, this particular widow refused to stay silent in the face of injustice, making a big fuss until finally the judge agreed to decide the case in her favor.
Turning his attention to the judge, Jesus tells us that he readily admits that he is not afraid of God, nor does he care anything at all about the widow or anyone else. What he does care about is his good reputation and getting a comfortable night’s sleep. So when the widow keeps banging on his door in the middle of the night, the judge’s exhaustion is compounded by his fear that this noisy troublemaker will make him look bad.
Lately, the news has been filled with accusations of unjust officials and the outraged outcries of innocent people who have suffered greatly at their hands. Like the unjust judge in the story, these officials do not seem to care about anything but their own power and reputations. Can marches, demonstrations, and whistleblowers make them look bad enough that they will finally do the right thing?
Jesus does not promise that every unjust judge will give in to noisy demands for a fair hearing. Rather, he assures us that God is always on the side of justice. Our job, Jesus reminds us, is to continue to pray and not lose heart, no matter how long it takes for justice to be done. We can depend on God to be just. Jesus asks whether God can depend on us to be faithful.
- In what way am I like the unjust judge?
- In what way am I like the persistent widow?
- What does it mean to me to be faithful?
–Deborah Sokolove, Seekers Church
