”Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.
He said, ‘There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being. And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, “Render a just decision for me against my adversary.” For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, “While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her. . .'” The Lord said, ‘Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says. Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night?” Luke 18:1-7
TURN TO GOD IN TIMES OF NEED
Let us be persistent in our turning toward God in prayer and in knowing that God, even better than the best human (made in the image of God) parent we know, hears and is protecting each of us. Let us be persistent in our prayer and in emulating God’s protection of us in our protection of each other.
PERSISTENT RESPECTFUL NUDGING
When we, like the widow in this Gospel passage, come across a person who seems unwilling to do for us or for others what we think they should do, our first reaction is often disgust, sometime leading us to criticize that individual or to gossip about his/her perceived selfishness or lack of cooperation. What the widow saw, and what we often miss, is that the problem was that the judge never empathized with or showed “respect for any human being.” The widow’s persistent respectful nudging may have led the judge to have an experience of doing something for another. It may have been the first time he ever did that!
So the next time we come across a person who seems unwilling to do for us or for others what we think they should do, let’s skip the criticism and and, like the widow, encourage the person to do a simple act which may lead him/her to deeper faith experiences and help release the kindness that can come from an awareness of the “likeness of God” which is deep within everyone of us.
