{"id":11414,"date":"2025-10-14T18:16:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T22:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/?p=11414"},"modified":"2025-10-15T09:25:33","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T13:25:33","slug":"widow-judge-justice-persistence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/2025\/10\/widow-judge-justice-persistence\/","title":{"rendered":"Widow, Judge, and Justice: The Dynamics of Persistence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Widow,
Image by Canva<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Our reading this week is from the gospel of Luke:<\/p>\n

Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, \u201cIn 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, \u2018Grant me justice against my opponent.\u2019 For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, \u2018Though 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.\u2019\u201d And the Lord said, \u201cListen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?\u201d (Luke 18:1-8)<\/p>\n

Welcome Readers! <\/i><\/b>Please subscribe to Social Jesus Here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

This is Part 1 of the series <\/strong>The Parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

One of the interpretive lens of Jesus\u2019 parables that I appreciate is in William Herzog\u2019s Parables as Subversive Speech: Jesus as Pedagogue of the Oppressed. In this book, Herzog moves away from always interpreting the parables as allegorically about God and us, and instead offers a way to view the parables as a critique of the social injustices the marginalized, oppressed, and disinherited of Jesus\u2019 society were surviving under. The parables become a way to educate listeners and liberate them from internalized forms of oppression. They awakened Jesus\u2019 listeners to liberatory actions and forms of resistance they could practice.<\/p>\n

There are no parallels for this parable in any of the other canonical gospels. And while the author of Luke used this parable to point out a lesson about persistence in prayer, the original audience would have resonated with the story on a personal level. Many of them might have found themselves in similar positions as the ignored widow. Before Luke\u2019s author applied this story of Jesus\u2019 to prayer, it would have first taught listeners how to persevere against injustice in places of power. The widow in this story was heard by the unjust judge, not because of the justice of her cause, but because of her own continued stubbornness in not giving up. The judge is not impartial. Nor is he concerned for anyone but himself. He only grants her request because of her persistent harassment: he simply want to be done with her.<\/p>\n

This reminds me of a statement in the introduction of Ched Myers\u2019 book, Binding the Strong Man: A Political Reading of Mark\u2019s Story of Jesus about persistence. There, Sam Wells writes:<\/p>\n

The one thing everyone seems to agree on today is that there\u2019s plenty wrong with the world. There are only two responses to this\u2014either go and put it right yourself, or, if you can\u2019t, make life pretty uncomfortable for those who can until they do. When we take stock of our relationship with the powerful, we ask ourselves, \u201cDoes the shape of my life reflect my longing to see God set people free, and do I challenge those who keep others in slavery?\u201d (Kindle Location 1024)<\/p>\n

This is the first and primary lesson of the persistence of the widow: When we see injustice, we can either \u201cgo and put it right\u201d or \u00a0with persistence \u201cmake life pretty uncomfortable for those who can until they do.\u201d And there is a second lesson, as well. We\u2019ll begin there in Part 2<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Begin each day being inspired toward love, compassion, justice and action. Free.<\/p>\n

Sign up at HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we see injustice, we can either go and put it right or, with persistence, make life uncomfortable for those who can until they do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4129,"featured_media":11417,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[729],"tags":[3818,2720,284,3220,58,2881],"class_list":["post-11414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liberation-theology","tag-judge","tag-lectionary-reading","tag-liberation-theology","tag-persistence","tag-social-justice","tag-widow"],"yoast_head":"\nWidow, Judge, and Justice: The Dynamics of Persistence<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When we see injustice, we can either go and put it right or, with persistence, make life uncomfortable for those who can until they do.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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