Luke 18:1-10
Today’s story is called “the persistent widow.” I’m thinking about the traditional interpretation of this story: if you pray long enough and hard enough, God will give in and give you what you want. There’s an unspoken corollary to that interpretation which says: if you don’t get what you want, you didn’t pray long enough or hard enough. I don’t know about you, but my “pray into existence” average isn’t so great. There are a lot of times I ask for something that doesn’t happen – world peace, the end to addiction, everyone to be healed. That may be true for you.
Many years ago an older woman was tired of being sick and tired and asked for me to pray for her to die. I did the best I could in a round about way. The next day I went to see her and she was furious that I had prayed and she was still alive. Overall, I think that’s probably a good thing. None of us has a win/lose prayer record that’s perfect.
Overall, I don’t think this interpretation of the story is very helpful and I generally think that Jesus meant to BE helpful, so I wonder if there’s more to the story. What else might it mean that gives us hope?
I mentioned that this is the story of the persistent widow – a woman who needed an unjust situation fixed and pestered the local judge until he relented and did the right thing. In her honor today I’m wearing my “persistent” t-shirt. It’s a reminder of when Elizabeth Warren got in trouble on the floor of the Senate for reading from Coretta Scott King and challenge to the status quo. Eventually the powers made her stop, but she didn’t stop talking about it and she inspired a lot of folks who want more justice in our country. I’m not wearing this as a political statement but because I’ve been inspired to be more persistent myself.
I think this story is telling us a couple of things about persistence. First of all, this woman isn’t pestering God with prayers, she’s pestering the judge who’s supposed to be acting lawfully and isn’t bothered. She’s dealing with a situation in her life by sticking with her request for justice to the people who have the power to do something about it. Jesus says her persistence paid off. I wonder if he’s telling us to keep pestering about things that need to be changed until they are rectified. The story tells us that persistence is a virtue that can have real life results.
When has that been true for us? When we’re ill, persistence can lead to healing. We keep on taking the medicines and doing the PT and putting one foot in front of another and eventually we feel well again. Not always, but often.
When we’re trying to learn a new skill, persistence leads us to keep practicing. We through a football or turn a cartwheel or knit a row over and over again until it comes more easily. Eventually we become good at something that matters to us.
When we want something to be changed, persistence wears down the opposition and inspires the supporters. When we started cooking for LaGrave on First, we realized that two meals a week wasn’t going to do the trick. So I asked everyone I could once, twice, over and over until we found enough partners to fill seven nights each week. When the volunteers got tired, Taylor went to the last legislative session week after week testifying, and they funded a part-time cook to relieve the load. Persistence paid off and the program is making a difference.
Persistence is why we write school board members and legislators about things that need fixing. It’s why we complain about potholes and neighborhood weeds. It’s why we repost on facebook messages that support positive change. The noisy wheel gets the grease because it squeaks persistently. We can be noisy wheels when we care enough to keep at it. Jesus encourages us to do just that.
But being persistent can be discouraging. There are lots of times when our good vision for the world doesn’t match what’s really happening. This is election season and folks on all sides of many issues are determined to elect people who think and act like they do. We’re all going to vote and results aren’t going to be even close to unanimous – because we don’t all see things the same way. What we think is important differs. That’s part of living in human community.
I think this story is also telling us that God/faith/hope can give us the strength to keep going when the going is hard. Certainly Jesus and his disciples were trying to make hard changes in their day. Clearly Jesus was sustained by prayer. How? I wish there was a clear and easy answer. But he kept at it, so there must be something to it.
If we believe that God is a being, a force, or an energy that is benevolent – that wants what is good for life and the creatures who live it – then when we are working for good, we can believe that God is on our side. That the lifeforce of the universe wants good things to happen and will lend support and encouragement to them.
We find that support when we work together to accomplish something important. When we feel good about making a difference. We find that support when we’re surprised by a word of encouragement. When someone says “thank you” or “I noticed you cared.” We find that support when deep within us we pull up a strength we weren’t sure would be there and keep going. We find that support when a friend or even a stranger gives us a hug. We find that support when we’re convinced that we’re working in partnership with God and God’s people – even if we don’t all define that in the same way.
Think about the times when persistence has paid off in your life. When did you do something hard? When did you accomplish a task that took time and effort? When did you win a victory that was in doubt?
This story about persistence is telling us at least two things:
Persistence matters
Persistence is possible
When you persist, you never do so alone.