October 16, 2022 Sermon
Sermon title: "The Irreverent Judge"
Scripture: Luke 18:1-8
(Other lectionary suggestions are Jeremiah 31:27-34, Psalm 119:97-104, and II Timothy 3:14 - 4:5.)
Luke 18:1-8
The Parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge
1Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. 2He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. 3In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.' 4For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, 5yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.' " 6And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? 8I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
The Scripture is obviously about persistence. It even says in the first line that we should always pray and not lose heart. But there's something I learned in preparing this sermon. The judge to whom Jesus was referring was a ROMAN judge and not a JEWISH one. And that makes sense: Jesus all his earthly life lived under the heel of the Romans. So, he knew what it was like for his people to seek justice from the occupying powers. These Roman judges were NOTORIOUS! They were appointed, either by Herod or by the Romans - but that's a difference without a distinction! Herod was a puppet of Rome, so whether he appointed the judges or somebody like Pontius Pilate, the result was the same: you had - probably - a corrupt public servant who didn't give a rip about those who came before him! Anybody coming before such a judge had no chance of justice if he/she had no money to BRIBE the judge in question for the outcome that he/she wanted. (If you think about it, we are so LUCKY to live in this country. Yes, public malfeasance in office occurs - look at the L.A. City Council! - but it's possible to fight against those corrupt or racist officials. At this writing Nury Martinez has stepped down, and who knows how long the other two will hang on?)
Listen, those judges of Jesus's day were so bad that there was even a pun on their title! Their title was - in Hebrew - DAYYANEH GEZEROTH, which means "judges of prohibitions or punishments". But the popular description of them was DAYYANEH GEZELOTH, which means "robber judges"! The widow in the story is the picture of powerlessness. She had no money. She had no power. But she DID have one weapon: PERSISTENCE. And it just may be possible that the judge DID fear her, believe it or not! The word or words used to say she bothered the judge or exhausted the judge could also be translated "give the judge a black eye"! Now that can be understood in two ways: "give the judge a black eye" may have meant to besmirch his reputation, but it can also mean physical violence and a literal BLACK EYE! So, in the story, the judge thought it might be better to give this woman what she wanted, and she got what she wanted because of her persistence.
Now let's understand one thing: Jesus isn't saying God is LIKE that irreverent judge, Jesus is contrasting the two, making the obvious point that if a corrupt judge who fears nothing, not even heavenly wrath, finally gives the woman what she wants, won't the Holy Righteous God in whom we believe listen to OUR prayers? The idea is....OF COURSE! Remember that God does not always give us what we want, but if we are persistent enough, Jesus is saying, God will give us what we NEED. And, as we have noted before, our prayers should always say or imply, not MY will, but THY will be done.
There is an interesting final verse in today's reading. Jesus is quoted as saying, "And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" Why did he say that, or why did Luke have him say that? One answer could be that when Luke wrote his Gospel, a persecution of the Christians may have started, and Luke and the early church at that time may have feared that some believers might fall away. You have heard it said that when the going gets tough, the Tough get going. (Or you may have heard it THIS way: when the going gets tough, the Tough go shopping!) Seriously, what about the Not-so-tough? When the going gets tough, sometimes people leave. or join the other side. Maybe that was what was going on here: a fear that persecution would drive some people away from the young church. Still, after a parable about being persistent in one's faith, this seems a strange place for a line WORRYING about the faith of some people.
One of the other lectionary suggestions for today is from II Timothy, chapter 4. The Apostle Paul urges Timothy to be persistent. He says, "(P)roclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully."
What are Paul and Luke saying to us? Be persistent in our faith, both in good times and bad times. And being persistent in our faith may mean we embrace the truth, regardless of the cost to us. We know how Jesus's life ended, and tradition has it that Paul died around 64 A.D. in Rome as a martyr for his faith. Can you and I be that persistent in OUR faith? I hope so. Amen.
Pastor Skip
