According to the gospel of Luke, Jesus once told a story about a judge and a widow. The judge, Jesus says, “neither feared God nor had respect for people.” Not a good start if you’re looking for justice. And the widow was. The judge refused to help her, but the widow is persistent and keeps after him. In the end, the judge gives in, not because he thought her cause was just, but because she kept bothering him and she wore him down.
Pretty searing indictment of the system, right? Jesus frequently pointed out these kind of power dynamics in structures and how important it is to challenge them, condemn them and fix them.
Except, that doesn’t seem to be why he tells the story. “Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.” That’s how the gospel’s author introduces it. And it’s followed by another prayer story, the one where the religious leader prays all fancy for show and the tax collector stands off by themselves and prays humbly and honestly.
Be persistent in prayer and pray often, Jesus is saying, be authentic and sincere. Really good advice, especially coming from someone who should know. I imagine that after he told those stories, someone in the crowd probably said “yes, offering thoughts and prayers is so important.”
“Yes,” Jesus says. And then he’d pause. “No, wait. Let’s make sure we all understand what we’re talking about.”
Prayer can’t just be words.
We don’t know what the issue is for the widow, just that she is seeking justice, literally pursuing it. As a widow, she has little power or status and no influence, just her persistence, not just in words, but action. Perhaps she was alone because no one else would stand up for her. But I imagine her protesting in front of the judge’s office, perhaps talking to people, the media, rallying support for her cause. I know I’ve just brought that into a more contemporary context, but isn’t that what Jesus wants us to do, bring these stories into our own time and place?
How can we offer prayer for injustice without acting to change it? Can we pray for the hungry without offering food? Or the thirsty, without offering water? Can we pray for the homeless without offering shelter? Can we pray for those who haven’t coats for the winter, without offering them clothing? Or the sick and the shut-in, without offering care and comfort?
How can we pray for a better world - that “your kingdom come on earth, as it is in heaven” - if our prayer isn’t accompanied by intentional action to make it so? That action must be persistent, unyielding and determined, it must be authentic and sincere. Words aren’t enough. John Lewis, the civil rights leader and later member of the US Congress, frequently quoted the African proverb “pray with your feet.” He participated in sit-ins, marches and the Freedom Rides, organized and attended non-violent protests, standing up to injustice and challenging the political and social powers.
What can you do? Be persistent and pray with your feet.
