The Parable of the Unjust Judge and the Persistent Widow
Remember the unjust judge from last week? “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’”
Over the years, I’ve heard preachers and teachers explain to me that God is like the judge; and we need to keep coming to God in prayer the way the widow kept coming to the judge demanding justice.
Those of you who have studied this parable: have you heard it taught that way? God is the judge, and if we are persistent, then God will eventually grant the requests we make in prayer just like the judge eventually granted the widow’s request, after she “kept coming to him” over and over, day after day.
But the thing is: God is NOT like this judge. This judge does not want to grant justice. This judge is slow to grant justice. This judge only grants justice reluctantly, and after being pestered and annoyed and intimidated by the widow.
This judge would rather not grant justice at all, and delays granting justice as much as he can, until he is finally forced into granting justice against his own desires.
This is not a good model for God. In fact, how this judge acts is the exact opposite from how God acts. This judge doesn’t show us what God is like at all; this judge shows us what God is not like. The judge himself even admits, outloud: “I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone!”
Our God is a God of justice. And God’s justice is rooted in mercy. It is rooted in kindness. It is rooted in compassion.
If this judge were God, or if this judge followed God’s ways, he would grant justice to that widow, and he would grant justice without delay. He would show compassion to this widow. He would show kindness.
And she wouldn’t need to pound on his door and threaten to assault him and demand over and over, “Grant me justice!” - because justice would be granted. Justice would have already been granted… if this judge was anything like God, or followed God’s ways.
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
If you remember, last week I told you that the parable about the unjust judge and the persistent widow was only the first half of a parable double-header. Today, we pick up right where we left off. “He also told this parable,” are the first words of today’s reading. Doesn’t that sound like this parable is connected to the one that comes before - the one we heard last week?
Let’s explore this parable (the one we have today), and compare it to the one we heard last week, about the unjust judge.
In today’s parable, we have a pharisee and a tax collector.
Pharisees were widely respected. They were thought of as the most righteous, most deserving, most holy people around. You might live a righteous, holy life, but you’ll never be as good as the Pharisees.
When Jesus mentions the Pharisee, those listening to him would immediately identify the Pharisee as the good guy in the story.
Tax collectors, on the other hand, were hated. They were hated because they collaborated with Rome in the oppression of God’s people. They cheated people out of their money, charging even more than they were required to charge, because everything “extra” that they charged, they could keep for themselves.
When Jesus mentions the tax collector, those listening to him would immediately identify the tax collector as the bad guy in this story.
So when the Pharisee and the tax collector come to the temple seeking justice, seeking mercy, the audience would obviously assume that the Pharisee is the one who deserves justice. The Pharisee is the one who is right with God. The Pharisee is the one who has earned God’s favor.
But the tax collector - no one listening to Jesus would say that the tax collector deserved mercy, or justice, or compassion.
Yet there they both are, in the temple, seeking justice and mercy just like the widow, who kept seeking justice and mercy from that unjust judge.
And all together, between these two parables, we have three characters seeking justice and mercy: the widow, the Pharisee, and the tax collector. The widow is unjustly denied justice, until she persists and eventually, after a lengthy delay, gets justice granted to her.
But what about the righteous Pharisee and the unrighteous tax collector?
Who is justified (“made right”) with God?
The Pharisee was not granted justice. He was not right with God.
And all the people listening to this parable went, “huh?”
Why did God - the God of justice - not grant justice to the Pharisee? Why did God - the God of mercy - not act mercifully toward the Pharisee… who, by all accounts, was the most righteous person?
But the tax collector - he was granted justice. He was made right with God.
And that justice was not delayed. He was made right with God immediately. He hadn’t even reached home yet when he was made justified. I don’t think he had even left the temple. Justice and mercy came to him without delay.
So, to summarize what we know so far:
The widow, who surely deserved justice, was denied justice until she persisted and was finally granted justice.
The Pharisee, who everyone would agree was most righteous, was denied justice.
And the tax collector, who everyone would agree was most unrighteous, was granted justice without delay.
Dang, these parables! Nothing ever happens the way we expect!
The widow? Yeah, sure. Everyone wanted her to receive justice.
The Pharisee? OK, maybe he’s a little haughty, but everyone would have agreed that he deserved to be right with God.
But the tax collector? No one wanted the tax collector to receive justice.
The idea that the tax collector receives God’s justice and mercy is a challenging one. For some, it’s a stumbling block. It’s something that everyone who heard this story had to wrestle with.
The tax collector?
Just when we think we know what is right and what is wrong, who is good and who is bad, we get… this. This story in which God’s justice and mercy are granted without delay to the one who appears to be least deserving.
Seeking Justice & Mercy
But there is one thing this tax collector had in common with the widow in the first parable. They both asked for justice and/or mercy. The widow had to ask multiple times, because the judge was unjust; the tax collector only had to ask once, because it is God’s desire to grant justice.
And we know that many people today are asking for justice.
Some ask for justice from human authority. Justice is being denied, and so they have to ask and ask and ask. They have to march. They have to protest. They have to shout.
They are demanding justice for black lives. They are demanding justice for trans lives. They are demanding justice for Asian lives, and indigenous lives. They are demanding justice for poor lives.
And some - not enough, perhaps, but some - are demanding justice for the earth, for the climate, and for all living things that share this planet with us.
And all this asking for justice, all these marches, all these voices shouting for justice - it’s all been going on for a long time. Because human justice is often delayed. Human justice is often given reluctantly. Human justice is often given, then taken back, and must be demanded of again.
And we must keep on keeping on, like the widow, who never gave up in her pursuit for justice, but just kept going back to the judge and demanding justice, until justice was granted.
God’s justice, on the other hand… God’s mercy… is granted freely to those who ask. Even to those who we, in our hearts, feel don’t deserve justice and mercy.
That tax collector got justice and mercy - he hadn’t yet granted justice to those he defrauded, those he cheated, those he oppressed! Shouldn’t he do that first?
If it were up to me, I’d say, first go and grant justice to all those you have oppressed. Give them back what you cheated from them. How dare you ask for justice and mercy when you yourself haven’t yet shown justice and mercy!
Justice and Mercy for All
Part of me is even angry at God for so quickly granting this tax collector justice and mercy. I’m angry at the unjust judge for withholding justice from that widow, and I’m angry at God for giving justice to this tax collector.
It gives me greater sympathy for the prophet Jonah. God sent Jonah to Nineveh, and told Jonah to preach a message of repentance. But Jonah knew that the people of Nineveh were wicked and evil and - in his mind - didn’t deserve justice, and so Jonah refused to go.
But with help from a giant fish, God persuaded Jonah, and Jonah eventually went and preached to the Ninevites. And they repented! And God showed them mercy.
And this made Jonah angry. “See, God!” Jonah complained. “This is why I didn’t want to go! I knew that you are a God who is gracious and merciful,” that you would show justice and mercy to the wicked and evil Ninevites!
Dang it, God! Why do you have to be so gracious and so merciful to the people we don’t like! To people who don’t deserve justice or mercy! To thieves, rogues, adulterers, and tax collectors!
It doesn’t seem just to us!
Because we’re the ones who deserve justice! Not them!
And before we know it, we’ve become the Pharisee. We’ve relied on our own goodness, rather than on God’s mercy. We’ve tried to earn God’s favor, instead of acknowledging that even we receive God’s mercy and love as a gift, given graciously and freely; and that even we don’t deserve such a gift, yet God gives it anyway.
I believe that even the Pharisee gets justice in the end. All he has to do is say, “I need justice. I need mercy.” All he needs to do is humble himself before God, and confess his need.
We are more like the Pharisee than we like to think. And, at the same time, we are more like the tax collector, as well. Because we - they - all of us - need God’s justice and God’s mercy.
And when you think about all this, what more can we say, except: God be merciful to me, a sinner.
And, finally, we can give thanks that God grants justice and mercy even to those who don’t deserve it.
God freely grants justice and mercy to undeserving sinners. Sometimes, that makes us angry. But in the end, it is what saves us.
No comments:
Post a Comment