A Poem a Sunday

Pentecost 22 – C

October 16, 2016

St. Luke 18:1-8 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Commentary:  Turning the hierarchical system on its head, Jesus tells a tale of a widow and a judge.  Widows were vulnerable and often marginalized.  Judges were to be respected.  Here you have a reversal, and the widow’s persistence brings justice.  Jesus encourages followers to persist in prayer.

The Parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge

18 Then Jesus[a] told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. 3 In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ 4 For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’”[b] 6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? 8 I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Footnotes:

Luke 18:1 Gk he

Luke 18:5 Or so that she may not finally come and slap me in the face

Losing Heart:  A Prayer

“And will not God grant justice

to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?”

I am losing heart, O God.

Look at the news:

random shootings,

loose cannon election,

U. N. paralyzed

        to stop Syrian carnage.

And our own community

        numbering near the top

                for gun violence.

…and friends in jeopardy

        losing health

                and loved ones.

So, yes, I will bother You.

        I will storm the gates of heaven.

                I will plead on my knees

                and beg as beggars will

                for mercy, justice,

                and daily bread.

I will never be still

        until all your children

                find refuge and healing

                here and now…

                not in some heaven

                far away.

Come, O Christ,

        bring in your Kingdom

        we can no longer wait.

I will pester You,

        the God of mercy,

        to rain compassion

        on our fate.

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