Now children, I’m going to tell you a story about a jealous woman who will destroy anyone who threatens her position as Número Uno in the palace of life.
Once upon a time there was a little girl called Snow White Storytellers rarely give the game away at the start of the story as those who hear the story like to make it their own. Yet Jesus chooses to ‘leak’ the point of this Parable before He has begun! He doesn’t give the ending away but He positions His hearers to consider the story in its fullness, as we will do now.
Knowing this story is knowing how to keep our heart in the heart of God (praying at all times) when it comes to wearing down injustice. The temptation to ‘split’ the Parable and mis- interpret it is headed off by the introduction.
Ordinary folk know well the impersonal places where ruthless, hard and cynical people take advantage of the weak. So, the unjust Judge is immediately recognised. There is no point appealing to his better side because he doesn’t have one. His weekly visit to the synagogue only masks his rejection of the Charter for Justice and the Compassion it demands. His total lack of respect for God and for people make the unjust Judge an ‘immovable object’. What he didn’t bargain for, however, was the ‘irresistible force’ of a widow who would not be put off by his ignorance. She knows she cannot count on any decency from him. As a widow, she is quite literally, “one who has no voice”, and yet her voice is all she has! How will she use it?
At first the unjust Judge is unmoved by her plea, but instead of losing heart, she keeps going. The Judge caves, but we are left in no doubt as to the reason why. Saint Luke opens a window into his mind. His reputation is at stake and up for grabs and he can’t bear it. He wants the whitewash of justice on the outside even though his heart is not in it. His hypocrisy is a vital piece of information for the listener.
As the story ends, the Beloved Son of God guides a reflection on it. As we listen to the inner dialogue of the unjust Judge, we learn that he can be defeated. What He fears most, – exposure, vulnerability and reputational damage – will drive him to do what is right even if he does so with some reluctance.
And then the teaching is driven home with full authority. The hearts of widows (of those with no voice)are sustained during their relentless quest for justice if they pray day and night. As they do this, God will pour the strength of His justice into their hearts. God suffuses the hearts of those who pray with a passion for Justice, and then, Hearts empowered, they bring Justice to bear on the affairs of the earth. God does not intervene as a separate agent but can only bring that justice which is created in the hearts of those who pray and act with Justice.
The commitment to transform the face of the earth may be difficult to sustain. Injustice is everywhere. It may be overcome here and there but is never unmasked and dissolved everywhere at once. So, the effort is endless and leads to the question of endurance.
When the Son of Man, whose passion is to transform the earth, comes, will He find the strength of God grounded widows still at work, or will they have given up the quest for Justice as a lost cause? Will the power of those who have no reverence for God and less for creation have worn down the widows?
Only those who understand this Parable have the answer. It would be a big mistake to read this Parable as a teaching about twisting Gods arm. If you don’t get an answer to your prayer, pump up the volume and God will cave in. It would be a big mistake because it separates what Jesus is trying to hold together.
My commitment to being a disciple and the quest for justice are two sides of the same coin. Praying is praying ourselves into being Justice-Makers. God answers the cry of the poor by pouring His Justice into the hearts of those who pray, and they will endure because they have sunk the root of their heart into the heart of God.
This channel is never closed and provides a steady stream of justice into the world. When the powerless at prayer take down the powerful, a careful investigation will uncover the hidden agency of God. It is mediated through the widow but it does not originate in her. Justice happens because of her communion with God. Can you pause here to consider who in our own times has done this?
Finally, as Jesus showed with utter clarity in the Garden of Olives, ‘staying awake’, sustaining communion with God, is vital if we have any chance of being faithful to His Mission. Sleeping Apostles become as violent as those who have come to arrest God.
But Jesus only allows the Peace of God to suffuse His Sacred Heart and inform his action and reactions. Widows must not just keep going when things get difficult, they must also step forward with love and keep faith with the ways of Peace.
The temptation when wearing down injustice is to become more unjust than what we are attempting to wear down. We cannot really win if we join the unjust in their violence. As the Psalmist sang, “Mercy and Faithfulness have met. Justice and Peace have embraced. Faithfulness shall spring from the earth. And justice look down from heaven”.
