Reflection: We hear Moses in our first reading praying to win the battle against Amalekites.
When his hands grew weary and are lowered he begins to lose the battle. When his hands are held up Moses wins. Our gospel, when I was growing up, was named the parable of the unjust judge. Today we call this parable the persistent widow. We might want to Sing-a-Song about "you can't keep a good woman down" parable. Prayer, persistence and justice are part of God's message today.
Homily
It was the archdiocese celebration for those married 25 and 50 and 60 years. The Archbishop has singled out Luigi, a Golden Jubilarian, to come up to the microphone and answer a few questions. “How had he managed to stay married to the same woman for 50 years”? Luigi responded, "I treat her well, I spend money on her and the best is that for our 20th anniversary I took her to Italy. The Archbishop immediately ask, "Luigi, you are a remarkable man. What are you going to do for you your wife for your 50th anniversary?" Luigi proudly responded "I'm going to go and get her!"
The Archbishop nor did we expect that response! There is certainly an unexpected twist to the story.
Jesus told a parable today that is as unexpected.
Luke talks about prayer more in his gospel and any of the other three Gospel writers. The original parable as told by Jesus is most probably verses 2-5 and not necessarily about prayer.
Both of the characters that Luke introduces to us are not stereotypic. The judge who does not fear God nor respects human beings is not acting as Scripture prescribes for him. It would be alarming to encounter such a judge who does not act according to the prevailing codes of shame and honor. He is unmoved by the widow’s unrelenting pleas. What does move the judge is that the widow ‘will come and wear him out’. What that really means in the Greek is that she will give him a black eye...as the Greek word used implies. It is a boxing term. There are lots of subtleties in this story.
Widows are often portrayed as powerless, meek, without resources and defenseless throughout Scripture. This widow boldly faces the judge and returns every day again and again to plead her cause. She is relentless and does not fear retribution. She has nothing to lose because she has nothing.
The judge does not have a conversion of any kind. He just wants to get this woman out his court and out of his life. He does the right thing for his own peace. He simply wants to get rid of her.
Now there is a theological problem of casting God as the unjust judge. The problem is if we badger God long enough God will give in because we wear God down and we get what we want.
With the widow seen as the God figure she names injustice, faces it, denounces it and acts as God acts. We are invited by this parable as disciples of Jesus, to take a stance in the face of apparent weakness. We can take this widow and emulate her by persistently pursuing non-violent confrontation for justice. Rosa Parks and many others are modern day widows who do the same.
Our widow gives us an example not to weary as we work for social justice, justice in our government in the face of incredible odds. In our weakness is our strength. Jesus certainly showed us that way.
Nancy L. Meyer, RCWP
When his hands grew weary and are lowered he begins to lose the battle. When his hands are held up Moses wins. Our gospel, when I was growing up, was named the parable of the unjust judge. Today we call this parable the persistent widow. We might want to Sing-a-Song about "you can't keep a good woman down" parable. Prayer, persistence and justice are part of God's message today.
Homily
It was the archdiocese celebration for those married 25 and 50 and 60 years. The Archbishop has singled out Luigi, a Golden Jubilarian, to come up to the microphone and answer a few questions. “How had he managed to stay married to the same woman for 50 years”? Luigi responded, "I treat her well, I spend money on her and the best is that for our 20th anniversary I took her to Italy. The Archbishop immediately ask, "Luigi, you are a remarkable man. What are you going to do for you your wife for your 50th anniversary?" Luigi proudly responded "I'm going to go and get her!"
The Archbishop nor did we expect that response! There is certainly an unexpected twist to the story.
Jesus told a parable today that is as unexpected.
Luke talks about prayer more in his gospel and any of the other three Gospel writers. The original parable as told by Jesus is most probably verses 2-5 and not necessarily about prayer.
Both of the characters that Luke introduces to us are not stereotypic. The judge who does not fear God nor respects human beings is not acting as Scripture prescribes for him. It would be alarming to encounter such a judge who does not act according to the prevailing codes of shame and honor. He is unmoved by the widow’s unrelenting pleas. What does move the judge is that the widow ‘will come and wear him out’. What that really means in the Greek is that she will give him a black eye...as the Greek word used implies. It is a boxing term. There are lots of subtleties in this story.
Widows are often portrayed as powerless, meek, without resources and defenseless throughout Scripture. This widow boldly faces the judge and returns every day again and again to plead her cause. She is relentless and does not fear retribution. She has nothing to lose because she has nothing.
The judge does not have a conversion of any kind. He just wants to get this woman out his court and out of his life. He does the right thing for his own peace. He simply wants to get rid of her.
Now there is a theological problem of casting God as the unjust judge. The problem is if we badger God long enough God will give in because we wear God down and we get what we want.
With the widow seen as the God figure she names injustice, faces it, denounces it and acts as God acts. We are invited by this parable as disciples of Jesus, to take a stance in the face of apparent weakness. We can take this widow and emulate her by persistently pursuing non-violent confrontation for justice. Rosa Parks and many others are modern day widows who do the same.
Our widow gives us an example not to weary as we work for social justice, justice in our government in the face of incredible odds. In our weakness is our strength. Jesus certainly showed us that way.
Nancy L. Meyer, RCWP
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