The following sermon was preached on October 16, 2022 at St George’s Transcona. You can learn more about St George’s and find links to their YouTube channel by clicking here. Image credit: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable and pleasing in your sight O God, for you are our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
Our gospel and New Testament readings are set in contexts where the people of God are having a difficult time. Things are going from bad to worse, and they need to find a way to maintain their focus, their energy, and their sense of purpose.
Both readings speak of the need for persistence. In 2 Timothy we heard this line, “I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message, be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable… (4:1-2, emphasis mine.)
Be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word “persistent” as “continuing firmly or obstinately in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.”
Be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable.
On February 7, 2017, the U.S Senate was debating the confirmation of Senator Jeff Sessions to become Attorney General.[1] Senator Elizabeth Warren opposed the confirmation and spoke critically of Session’s record on civil rights.
While Warren was stating her objections, she was interrupted multiple times and told to stop talking.
But she didn’t stop.
A series of fancy political maneuvers occurred in an attempt to silence Senator Warren.
But she didn’t stop.
When he tried to sum up what had happened, Senator Mitch McConnell, looking truly bewildered said, “Senator Warren was giving a lengthy speech. She had appeared to violate the rule. She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.”
And women everywhere, regardless of their political affiliations, stopped for a moment and said, “Yeah she did.”
Even if they disagreed with her politics, many women found Warren’s persistence to be inspiring.
The line, “Nevertheless she persisted,” which was meant to be a condemnation of Senator Warren, went viral and became a rallying cry for women to persist despite the many attempts to silence or ignore them.
If you google it, you can find endless social media posts containing the hashtag #neverthelessshepersisted, countless photos of people’s tattoos of the quotation, and a wide array of merchandise.
I know this in part because I received all sorts of things that say “Nevertheless she persisted” when I was ordained. People knew it had not been an easy experience.
Nevertheless she continued “firmly or obstinately in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.”
Nevertheless she persisted.
Today’s gospel reading is a short parable that’s set in the context of the legal system.
Most people have a general sense of how our modern legal system functions. It may not be an entirely accurate sense, it may be based more on TV crime dramas than reality, but still, we get the general idea of how it’s supposed to work. People do bad things, the police arrest them and charge them with a crime, they go to court and so on.
In Jesus’ day, things were a bit different. N.T. Wright explains that:
“In the ancient Jewish law court… If someone had stolen from you, you had to bring a charge against them; you couldn’t get the police to do it for you. If someone had murdered a relative of yours, the same would be true. So every legal case in Jesus’ day was a matter of a judge deciding to vindicate one party or the other: “vindication” or “justification” here means upholding their side of the story, deciding in their favour.
This word “justification” which we see a lot in Paul ‘s writing but hardly ever in the gospels, means exactly this: that the judge finds in one’s favour at the end of the case.” (212)
Although there may very well have been more people present, there are two main characters in this story, a judge and a widow.
We are told that the judge “neither feared God nor had respect for people”– that is actually what the text says – he “neither feared God nor had respect for people” – so right away we know he’s a problematic character. (2)
The story is told entirely from the judge’s point of view. The widow never speaks, we only hear the judge’s internal monologue about her.
Through that monologue, we learn that the widow keeps coming to him and saying, “Grant me justice against my opponent.” (3) She doesn’t stop coming, the verb tense in the original Greek implies a continuous action without a break or reprieve. Even though the judge consistently refuses to grant her request she never stops coming.
This pattern continues: she makes her request, he refuses, she makes it again, until finally the judge thinks, “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.” (4-5)
We aren’t supposed to view the judge as the hero in this story, but I do have some sympathy for him. Because for all the reasons I admire persistence, it can also be really, really annoying.
I’ve fostered a number of dogs lately for the Winnipeg Humane Society and it’s incredibly difficult to maintain boundaries and establish good behaviours with puppies. Even if you know you’re right, even if you know that you need to help them establish good behaviours to avoid future problems, it doesn’t take that long to feel completely worn down to the point that you’re willing to do whatever it is the puppy wants you to do so long as he just stops whining and gives you a moment of peace.
Puppies have two speeds – full speed and fast asleep. When they are awake they want constant attention, cuddles, belly rubs and treats. They are persistent and if you ignore them, something is going to get chewed up or peed on.
Persistence can be exhausting, it makes you do things you never thought you’d do – like trying to make a bargain with a 7 week old puppy who definitely does not speak English.
Look, I will play with you in an hour OK? Just play with this toy quietly so I can have a nap. Please?
And the translation we read today really softens the original’s description of just how persistent this widow was.
Amy-Jill Levine[2] explains that the original Greek uses a boxing metaphor, so what we have translated as, “so she may not wear me out by continually coming” would be better translated as, “so that she will not give me a black eye.” (v5, Levine 243)
So who is this widow with the boxing gloves anyway?
Widows are interesting characters in scripture. As a group, we know that they are vulnerable and lack power. They are regularly included in lists of people who the dominant society needs to remember to care for. As such, we tend to think of them as people we should want to help, not people we want to be.
And certainly not people who might give us a black eye.
But being a part of an oppressed or marginalized group isn’t the same as being weak. And widows in scripture prove this over and over again.
Levine notes: “Biblical widows are the most unconventional of conventional figures. Expected to be weak, they move mountains; expected to be poor, they prove savvy managers; expected to be exploited, they take advantage where they find it.” Tamar, Naomi, Ruth, Opah, Abigail, the wise woman of Tekoa, the widow of Zerepath, Judith] – all of these woman “manifest agency, and all defy the convention of the poor and dependent woman. The [widow in tonight’s gospel reading] similarly shatters stereotype, even as she epitomizes the strength, cleverness, and very problematic motives of many of her predecessors.” (239-240)
As a group, widows were vulnerable, but like the other women I just listed, the widow in this parable does not passively allow herself to be exploited. Like a fighter in a boxing ring, she fights for her rights. She persists, willing to give the judge a black eye if that’s what it takes.
So is the moral of the story that a faithful Christian life should pack a punch?
We are told in the opening of today’s gospel text, that Jesus chose to tell this story because the people “need to pray always and not lose heart.” (1)
How does this parable reinforce this idea?
What does the story of a persistent woman capable of making a judge fear her and her fists to the point that he is willing to do whatever she asks of him teach us about prayer?
First, one of the things this parable is trying to tell us about prayer is that, while we will encounter unjust judges, God is not an unjust judge. God, we are told, is the opposite of the unjust judge. We do not need to pace the ring and threaten God with a black eye in order to be heard.
Second, this parable is telling us that prayer might not always look like what we think it should look like.
I spend a fair amount of time talking to people about prayer. Together we try to figure out what prayer is and how it fits into our lives. One of the most common things we have to work through is our tendency to have a narrow view of prayer.
We tend to think that prayer is a thing that only happens when we are on our knees with our hands folded, or in church.
We tend to think prayer is a quiet thing, it’s a passive thing, it’s a safe thing.
But in 1 Thessalonians we are told to “pray without ceasing,” and I don’t know about you but I can’t kneel with my hands folded talking to God 24 hours a day seven days a week. (5:17) Eventually I need to eat, or sleep, or go to the bathroom.
Which must mean that when we define prayer as something we can only do kneeling with our hands folded we are defining it too narrowly. Certainly prayer can look like that, but it can also look like a walk in the woods, or a nap, or cooking nutritious food or a fierce boxing match against injustice.
Because in today’s parable there is a comparison being made between prayer and a persistent woman who can make a man who has “no fear of God and no respect for anyone,” do exactly what she wants him to do. (4)
That’s not passive, that’s not safe. That’s prayer.
Earlier in this sermon I told you that the Oxford dictionary defines “persistence” as “continuing firmly or obstinately in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.”
At the beginning of this parable, Jesus says that this parable is about the “need to pray always and not lose heart.”
Maybe that’s a better definition of what it means to persist. Pray always. Don’t lose heart.
I’m not sure how many people in this room know what it’s like to feel like the widow in the story. To fight and to fight and to fight and to never give up until one day, the judge grants your request.
I hope you know what that feels like.
But I suspect all of us know what it feels like to be in the ring and to get knocked down. To feel someone else’s knuckles connect with your nose, to lose your balance, and to crash onto the floor.
With this parable, Jesus is telling us that we live in a world filled with injustice. We’re all going to be in the ring for a very long time, and we’re all going to get knocked down.
Jesus is encouraging us to persist. To get back up again. To wipe the tears and the sweat and the blood out of our faces and to just keep fighting.
And he says it like this, “don’t lose heart.”
When you encounter systemic injustice and oppression. Don’t lose heart. Just keep fighting.
When the reality of climate change seems overwhelming and you don’t know where to begin, don’t lose heart. Just keep fighting.
When you’ve tried and tried and tried to make a change for the better in your life and it just doesn’t seem to be working, don’t lose heart. Just keep fighting.
When… whatever it is that you struggle with…. Don’t lose heart. Just keep fighting.
But remember, that sometimes fighting looks like treating yourself with compassion. Even world class boxers regularly need to go sit in the corner of the ring to take a break and let their coach take care of them. That’s not giving up, that’s an essential part of the fight.
Persistence may look like having a nap. Walking in the woods. Sitting in silence. Having fun with a friend.
So don’t lose heart. Just keep fighting.
In the strong name of the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.
[1] Paraphrased from Wikipedia
[2] Amy-Jill Levine’s chapter on this story in her book “short stories by jesus” is excellent and shaped a lot of my thinking about this parable. The whole book is well worth reading.