Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:1-8)
As I read through the parable of the persistent widow, I couldn't help but think of the many determined individuals and communities I met during my time of studying in Central America. During my semester there my senior year of college, I met many people living out social change and responding to injustice in their communities. One group that practiced the highest level of persistence I have ever witnessed was a group of folks I met in the Nicaraguan capital city of Managua whose community was known as “Tent City.” (side note: I blogged about this here.)
This
“tent city” was built when hundreds of Nicaraguans marched from their homes in
the rural areas of Nicaragua some five years earlier. Traveling by foot 40 to
100 miles from their homes, most of these folks had worked on banana
plantations whose presence filled the lush lands of Central America starting in
the early 20th century. These plantations, which belonged to large
fruit companies such as Dole and DelMonte, used a chemical pesticide known as Nemagon,
which had been banned in the US in the 70s due to the harmful medical side
effects that had been traced back to it. Nemagon continued to be used in
Central America and was attributed to causing a variety of health problems
among the campesinos working the banana
fields – kidney failure, sterility, lung cancer, blindness, and much more. They
themselves are living with cancer and disease, and have lost many loved ones.
They had marched in protest of the use of the chemical, and built themselves
these homes made of sticks and random pieces of wood that held up sheets of
plastic. They established their community in silent protest right across the
street from the tallest building in Managua, which houses the congressional
offices. When we drove by, we could not miss the sight of the tall government
building or the tent city right across the street. The community’s persistence
has resulted in the loss of their homes back in rural Nicaragua, and some
support from the government, including food supplements, medical attention, and
even new houses being built for them in the city.
Although
the government has responded, the fruit companies have not. Like the unjust
judge, the companies did not have respect for people, at least not the
powerless campesinos who worked in
the fields. And like the persistent widow, the workers were not about to give
up their fight for justice. They sought more than a handout or money, or even
an apology. They sought a systemic transformation of unjust policies and
practices that have resulted in the persecution of the most vulnerable of their
population. They sought, and continue to seek, complete and transformative
justice.
It is easy to see the
vulnerable and powerless—the widows—in a new place unfamiliar to us, but we
cannot deny the presence of the oppressed within our own nation, within our
state, within our city; in our neighborhoods, at our work places, and even
within our church. We cannot ignore the oppressed on this side of the border and on the other side of the fence. Just
the fact that there are concerns about the government cutting back funding for
programs like food stamps, and that mothers—probably including many
widows—dependent on WIC have been suffering from the government dilemma about
how to spend federal money. No matter your opinion about how much we ought to
be giving to folks in poverty, the truth of the matter is that we have many
widow-types living all around us. Those who are the vulnerable and the most
powerless in our society are often the people who are also the most dependent
on everyone else; and our political and social systems tend not to favor these
folks and our policies often ignore them.
Often we label those
who are living on the margins of society as the “voiceless;” and we, if we are truly
concerned for the wellbeing of our oppressed brothers and sisters, must be a
“voice for the voiceless.” But if Jesus’ parable shows us anything it is that
the widows of society do, in fact, have a voice, and they are not afraid to use
it. The widow in the story pesters and pesters the judge until he gives her
what she demands. He grants her request probably out of annoyance; or more
likely, as a man mostly focused on himself, out of fear of his own humiliation.
The point is not that the widow does not have a voice and needs someone to
speak up for her; the point is how she can get her voice heard. Shane
Claiborne, a social activist and new monastic in Philadelphia states it well.
He says, “Everyone has a voice…We are not a voice
for the voiceless. The truth is that there is a lot of noise out there drowning
out quiet voices, and many people have stopped listening to the cries of their
neighbors. Lots of folks have put their hands over their ears to drown out the
suffering. Institutions have distanced themselves from the disturbing cries.
When Paul writes in Romans 8 that the entire creation is groaning for its
liberation…This is the chorus of the generations of seemingly voiceless people
that we have joined. And God has a special ear for their groaning, regardless
of who else is listening” (The
Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical).
Everyone has a voice, and we do not have to be a voice
for those who already have their own voice. But many voices of many have been drowned out. God
hears the cries of the oppressed and the vulnerable, but these same cries fall
onto our deaf ears. How can we use our faith in this God who hears all who cry out, and open our own ears
and hearts to empathetically hear the cries of the powerless and the suffering
among us? How much more will our God respond to the cries of all, if even just
one widow was able to stand up and receive justice from a powerful judge. Our
good news is that we have a God who will respond even more promptly and in such
greater ways to our pleas for justice as we wholeheartedly listen to one
another and work for justice together.
In our fight for justice, we cannot forget the importance
and the power of prayer. According to Luke, the reason Jesus told this parable was
to highlight the need to “pray always and not to lose heart.” Our prayers can
become support for another as we listen to each other and respond to unjust
systems that are oppressing us and our neighbor. Our prayers can empower and
strengthen us as we attempt to do
justice, as the book of Micah suggests. And we can have confidence that our
prayers do not fall onto deaf ears, rather that God hears our cries as we cry
out together with our oppressed neighbor.
Jesus was known for prioritizing justice for the rejected
and the most vulnerable of society. We witness this throughout the entirety of
the Gospels, from the accounts of Jesus’ actions, to the stories that Jesus himself
told, like the parable of the persistent widow. According to Jim Wallis of
Sojourners magazine, there are over 2,000 verses in the Bible that address
God’s justice for the poor and vulnerable. An example of modern-day persistence
was manifested through the form of Jim Wallis, his Sojourners staff, and other
Christians setting up camp across the street from the national Capitol building
during the government shutdown. For over two weeks, they did not leave their
podium and did not cease reading scripture in what they called a #FaithfulFilibuster.
They read the 2,000 verses day and night until congress ended the government
shutdown. They persisted their plea for our leaders to regard their poor and
oppressed neighbors, and to consider how their actions affect struggling
mothers, children, farmers, cancer patients, small business owners, military
families, and any and all of those whose way of sustaining their lives was
halted by the government standstill.
Our persistence and our prayers can help us to not “lose
heart” as we determinedly seek justice for our neighbors—and for ourselves—in an
unjust world that continues to persecute, abandon, and ridicule. Our world
continues to ignore the voices of the most marginalized. Our good news is that
we have a God who listens to the cries of God’s children—who does not turn a deaf
ear to our pleas for justice; and God calls us to help one another find our own
voice, rather than try to be each other’s’ voices. I imagine God’s hope is for
us to continue trusting in God’s holy presence and goodness as we continue to
listen to one another, pray together, and empower one another to bring about
justice. If Jesus tells us how a selfish judge can relent to the persistent pleas
of a powerless widow, how much more will God respond to our requests for
justice, and how much more promptly and in such greater ways. We can have faith
in a God, who through the Gospel message of Christ, has revealed to us that God
not only favors the vulnerable and marginalized,
but that God offers new life that can
overcome any powers of oppression. We have been given a message that would not
only bring a selfish judge to submit to a powerless widow—but a message that has
the divine ability to uplift, empower, and transform
an unjust world.
