The Widow and The Judge

‘Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:1-8)

The widow annoys the judge. The judge caves in. The widow gets her justice. And all is well! Well…no!

The wealthy powerful judge's comfortable life is unhinged by the persistent insistence of the powerless poor widow. She is hungry, forgotten, outside of the circles of respectability all because of something she had little control over, her husband died. In her plight she goes and stands outside the house of the one who can do something for her and begins pleading, and doesn't stop. Like the cat who sits outside your bedroom window in the middle of the night and keeps you awake, taking no notice of your colourful language, she keeps right on, and on, and on.

You see she is stuck in the space-in-between - in between what she once had and what she is entitled to, in a word, respect. But not only is she stuck in that space, so is the judge.  He is committed to the status quo but is being pleaded to move to a place of justice, a place where he is asked to take action to put right what is wrong.

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