Loading...You’ve heard the saying, “Nevertheless, she persisted.”[1] And I bet we’ve all sang out with Aretha Franklin, “R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Find out what it means to me.”[2]
Sometimes we don’t just want to be heard, we want to be seen. As a woman, I have realized first hand that it sometimes takes asking for what we want and what we need, over and over again to be heard, to be respected, to be acknowledged for who we are and to express what we need from our loved ones, from our systems, from our society.
And I expect that yesterday some of you experienced the persistence of crowds (consisting of all kinds of people from all walks of life) as they cried out their desire to be seen, heard, and respected.
It’s curious, and maybe a bit of a God-wink that we heard this story from Luke’s gospel today.
She was a widow, a person who would have been tucked away, perhaps struggling to survive, especially if her husband’s family or if one of her sons and his family could not take her in. But we don’t know if she was tucked away, struggling to make ends meet, or if she was well cared for. Either way, here she was, coming before a judge, begging for justice.
We don’t know what exactly brought her to the judge. We don’t know if she was being accused of something or, as I have always interpreted it, she was waiting for the judge to make a ruling on someone who did something to her. “Grant me justice against my opponent” is ambiguous in its meaning.
Honestly, the ins and outs of this case are not important. Jesus did as Jesus does, and he chose to create a story hoping to help people see possibilities through a story that may be an amalgamation of incidents but is most likely not an actual event—a parable, therefore. In it he puts this woman, this widow, at its center. And that is important.
Here we have a judge—a man who would be known to have authority and privilege—holding literal court over a woman. It is possible that this was a rare situation. Here was a woman, a human with no clout, often considered owned by her husband, set aside, tucked away, often with no voice in circumstances that would directly impact her life.
The judge, the story implies, has continually dismissed this woman, not deciding her case, leaving her in a place of limbo, a place of insecurity and uncertainty. Expecting her to walk away, crawling back into whatever living situation she came from. He didn’t care how she felt, or if he humiliated her. He just wanted her gone from his sight.
This woman demanded dignity. She demanded to be seen, heard, and to have justice in this situation. She persisted. She was bold, expecting to receive respect and the courtesy of a response from this man who held power over many, many people.
Finally, he provided what she was asking for because he was tired of her asking.
I struggle with the thought that the judge made his decision simply because she was persistent. Not because he cared for her well-being, but because she was, in his opinion, pestering him like a hungry gnat. He gave a decision because he was afraid that his reputation could be smeared by the widow.
Our version of this story states that the judge says, “I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.” But in other versions, he fears she will “give him a black eye.” That’s a whole different interpretation, right? Whether he received a literal black eye, or even if it was figurative, the judge expected that his reputation could be affected by this woman.
Persistence seems to be the point of this story. Persistently asking for what is needed, what is right, what will help this woman, and maybe others, survive in a community.
It fits with how this parable was set up. Jesus told the disciples this parable to help them learn the importance of their need to pray always and to not lose heart.
He bookends the parable by saying that God will grant justice to those who cry to God, day and night. That God will respond to their prayers. To our prayers.
I could make this easy and just talk about how if we pray with integrity, with persistence, with trust, we believe God will, as the Gospel says, “grant justice to his chosen ones.”
But as I look around this room, there are many here who may not feel their prayers were answered with justice, or mercy, or kindness. Some people whose hopes have been dashed when the outcomes have not been what they prayed for. Others who have wondered why some prayers seem to be answered for some people, but for others, they are not. At least not in the desired way.
Yet, as people of faith, who feel our relationship with the Holy is integral to our very lives, we still pray. We still hope for a just and loving God to provide for our needs.
I wonder how many of us, who still faithfully pray even when the outcomes don’t feel fair or right, take that one little line in the Lord’s prayer as our hope. That line? “THY WILL, or YOUR WILL BE DONE.”
I know that this is one of the most important lines in my prayer life that has buoyed my faith. Knowing that even if my persistent prayer is not answered in a way I had hoped, I trust that it is God’s Will that will be done. Not mine. I don’t know the big picture. I don’t know so many things. I must, in my own faith journey, in my own persistence, relinquish my desires for a certain outcome to God’s Will.
So, when, at the end of this Gospel Jesus says, “And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” I actually have hope that Jesus will find faith on earth.
Why? Because I believe more people of faith, who have any kind of prayer life, will continue to persistently pray to God, even if the outcome of their desires ends up not being what was hoped for.
We’re still here, we Jesus Followers, aren’t we? Over two thousand years have passed and we still pray. We still worship. We still study. We still spend time in community. We still receive Holy Communion. We still trust in the almighty power and love of God. We still trust that God’s will be done. On earth, this amazing creation, and as it is in heaven.
We still trust that God is in control. Even many of those who might be “control freaks” will relinquish themselves to God’s will.
So be persistent in prayer, no matter your prayer style. Trust that your voice, your heart, your soul is being heard by your Creator. Trust that God feels you: your hopes, your dreams, your fears, your joys, and embodies them, giving you strength to journey each day, even when every step is hard or even if your joy is so complete you skip along the way.
Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. That is the message of this Gospel. Be persistent in prayer. Use words if you must. Sing, if that is your jam, because, as the saying goes, when you sing, you pray twice. Walk in this life in constant conversation with the Holy. But, most of all, do not lose heart. For when you pray, God listens.
Amen.
[1] "Nevertheless, she persisted" is an expression adopted by the feminist movement, especially in the United States. It became popular in 2017 after the United States Senate voted to require Senator Elizabeth Warren to stop speaking during the confirmation of Senator Jeff Sessions as U.S. Attorney General. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made this remark during his comments following the vote. The expression went viral as feminists posted it on social media with hashtag references to other women. Its meaning has expanded to refer more broadly to women's persistence in breaking barriers, despite being silenced or ignored. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevertheless,_she_persisted.
[2] 1967; RESPECT; Artist: Aretha Franklin; album: I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You
