Prayers and Justice
October 16, 2022 + Lectionary 29c + Pr. Michelle Sevig
It’s election season, so you know what that means–endless ads on television, radio and social media news feeds. It’s also time to ask for our support–a commitment to vote, which of course I’m happy to do and a commitment to give money to support your party’s candidates. It’s rare that I answer a call if I don’t recognize the phone number, but when I do and the caller tells me they're calling on behalf of a politician, I cringe. Because I know they are going to ask for money, and even though I say no, they ask again and again in several different ways, until I just can’t take anymore pushing, pleading, coercing and hangup, or give in and do what it is I’m being asked to do.
Once there was a woman who would not give up. She wasn’t asking for political contributions, but I imagine the back and forth was much the same. She was desperate for justice against her oppressor. Day after day she appeals to a judge who “neither fears God nor respects the people” and day after day the judge refuses to help. But she persists. She keeps asking for what she needs. She bothers the judge until he grows sick of her and eventually grants her justice, so that “she won’t wear me out!” he says to himself.
Are we really expected to pester God in prayer the way the widow pesters the judge? Are we supposed to wear God out until God finally gives in to our persistence? Does God really answer our prayers to get us to shut up? -Debi Thomas
Thankfully, God is not like the judge in this parable. Jesus explains that the parable works by way of contrast. Unlike the heartless judge in the story, God will grant justice to those who cry out. Jesus' parable is about the need to pray always and not lose heart.
But how are we to pray? Usually when people talk about prayer or request a prayer, it’s to ask for something. From the playful “Sweet baby Jesus, find me a parking spot,” to the much more serious, “please lord, bring healing to this broken body.” However, God is not a magical prayer genie who’s head we rub and get what we want.
What the widow asks for–over and over and over again–is justice. Prayer and justice are two words that I rarely think of in the same breath or even the same sentence. I don’t think of my friends who are passionate about justice as being passionate about prayer. Likewise the people I know who are passionate about prayer, might stare at me blankly when I talk about justice.
Pastor Barbara Lundblad in a sermon titled, Nevertheless She Persisted asks, “Is it a parable about prayer, justice or faith? Yes,” she answers. “If we pray without working for justice our prayers are empty. If we work for justice without prayer we will think it all depends on us. If we pray and work for justice without faith, we will fall to despair when justice isn't done. Prayer and justice and faith- what Jesus had joined together,” she says, “let no one set asunder.”
Today’s gospel shows that prayer can and must be so much more. Like the persistent widow who doesn’t give up, and like our ever-present God who hears the cries of the weary, authentic prayer is faith in action.
The communal prayers we pray in the liturgy each week are emboldened requests like the widow’s pleas–seeking justice, longing for transformation, crying out to be heard, pleading for all things to be made new.
We pray for God to provide sanctuary for all who are in need; and we work to welcome immigrants and refugees, the outcasts and the marginalized.
We pray for the healing of creation; and we commit to recycling, composting, using less fossil energy and appreciating and respecting the gifts of the earth.
We pray for an end to gun violence in America after another senseless mass shooting; and we work to change laws and hold our public leaders accountable through voting, signing petitions, organizing and working for peace.
We pray for healing, for an end to suffering, for pain to be relieved; and we tend to those in need with persistent love and care.
You see, our prayers and actions go together to manifest the reign of God. When we beg and plead with God for justice, we may not be changing God, but we are likely changing ourselves. Changing our outlook. Changing our energy. Changing our focus.
Our lectionary readings this week are about persistence. The widow persists in her belief that good things will come to her, even when the odds look wretched. Jacob, wrestling the angel in total darkness, persists until the blessing of a new name and a new future are granted to him. 2nd Timothy encourages persistence, “whether the time is favorable or unfavorable.”
And the psalmist reminds themself — and us — that the reason we can be persistent is because God is. God is our powerful and relentless keeper who neither slumbers nor sleeps, who watches over our comings and goings and guards our days and nights. Our persistence can never be in vain, because it is rooted in God’s persistence.
Persistent faithfulness. Persistent hope. Persistent love. For you, for me and for all creation.
