Twenty-ninth Sunday In Ordinary Time
LUKE 18:1-8
This instruction on prayer and perseverance in prayer is in the form of a parable with an introduction attributed to Jesus. Luke begins, “Jesus spoke a parable to his disciples about the necessity for them to pray without become weary.” This is not Luke’s first instruction on perseverance in prayer. In 11:5-13 the story was about a man who received unexpected visitors late at night, and had nothing for them to eat. He went to a neighbor's house to ask for a loaf of bread. Neighbor and family had retired for the night, and refused to get up and help. The man kept beating on the door until his neighbor yielded to get rid of him. To that parable Luke added a saying of Jesus, “Ask, and you shall receive. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you.” That story concludes with the observation that if human beings, evil as they are, know how to respond generously, how much more will God respond to those who ask him.
In the parable of this Sunday’s gospel there is a judge described in unflattering terms, “feared neither God nor respected any human being.” Crooked judges are already condemned by Old Testament prophets. See Micah 3:11 and 7:3; Isaiah 1:23; 3:14-15; Amos 5:7, 11-12. The second actor in this parable is a widow. The Old Testament is filled with warnings against the oppression of widows. Examples: Exodus 22:22, Deuteronomy 27:19; Job 22:9; 24:3, 21; 31:16; Jeremiah 7:6; Ezekiel 22:7; Zechariah 7:10. In the New Testament widows are singled out for special care by the Christian community, Mark 12:40-43; Acts 6:1; 1 Timothy 5:3-16; James 1:27. Luke’s writings display such a concern for widows, he could be called the Evangelist for widows.
The widow of our parable kept returning to the judge for “a just decision against my ad-versary.” The judge was unwilling. Luke does not say that the judge was waiting for a bribe. That was a crime for which judges were often condemned in the Old Testament.
So it was not a bribe that eventually brought justice to the widow. It was her incessant nagging. With obvious amusement, Luke describes the judge saying to himself, “Though it is true, I have no fear of God or man, but because this widow keeps bothering me, I will deliver a just decision for her, or she will return and give me a black eye.” The Greek verb Luke uses, here translated as “give me a black eye,” is a term used in the sport of boxing, literally meaning, “hit under the eye.” St. Paul, much given to the language of sports, used the term in 1 Corinthians 9:27, “boxing my body into subjection, lest after preaching to others, I myself be disqualified.”
Luke draws a lesson from the parable. “Consider carefully what the crooked judge said.”
What is Luke teaching by the crooked judge giving in to justice? If a crooked judge will eventually give justice to rid himself of a nagging widow, “Will not God secure the rights of his chosen ones who yell to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done speedily.” (The Greek translated here as “yell” basically means “to bellow like an ox.”) By comparing God to a crooked judge who needs to be nagged into justice, Luke left God looking a bit shady. This is why he added the statements proclaiming God’s “speedy response” to petitions from his chosen ones.”
But is Luke talking about prayers of petition that we Christians present daily? Not entirely, because of the last sentence of this story, “When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Christians of the time of Luke were a harassed minority, who at least in Rome had already undergone a horrendous persecution in the sixties of the first Christian century. Their prayer understandably was that Jesus return quickly to bring justice to them. One of their prayers was this, “Maran! Atah!” Translation: “Our Lord, Come on! Even though Luke’s gospel implies a delay in the return of Jesus, he gives hope to Christ-ians that this will happen “speedily.” Because of Luke’s introduction, “to pray always,” it is legitimate to apply the parable to our daily prayers. Proverbs 25:15 says it best: “With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone.”
EXODUS 17:8-13
Moses sends his deputy Joshua to battle against the Amalekites. He stands on a hill overlooking the battle with his staff in his hand. Whenever Moses held up a hand, Israel prevailed. When Moses’ hands grew weary and slumped, the Amalkites prevailed. Solution:
Aaorn on one side, Hur on the other. They held up Moses’ arms until the sun went down, “and Joshua mowed down Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.” This amusing, gory tale accompanies today’s gospel as an example of perseverance in prayer.
2 TIMOTHY 3:14-4:2
The teacher’s advice to timid Timothy continues, urging him to remain faithful to what Paul had taught him. Notable: “From infancy you have known the Sacred Scriptures,” and “All Scripture is inspired by God.” Timid Timothy is put under solemn obligation:
“Proclaim the word persistently, whether it is convenient or not. Convince, reprimand,
encourage, but do it with patience and teaching.” Great program for homilists!
