A doctor, an engineer and a judge were discussing whose profession was the oldest.  The doctor said, “Remember how God removed a rib from Adam to create Eve?  Obviously, medicine is the oldest profession.”  The engineer replied, “But before that, God created the heavens and the earth from chaos, in less than a week.  You have to admit that was a remarkable feat of engineering.”  They both turned and looked at the judge.  The judge looked right back at them and said, “Who do you think created the chaos?”

Jesus tells a parable about an unjust judge and a persistent widow so that “we might pray always and not lose heart.”  Imagine these characters.  First, the judge; far, far from our own judge Jeff Sutton; imagine a sleazy jurist, someone who doesn’t change.  Imagine the chaos he created.  He’s corrupt at the beginning of the parable and he’s corrupt at the end.  He’s ruled by self interest from first to last.  He neither fears God nor has respect for humanity.  He has all the power, and his heart is hard.

Thinking broadly, the judge is a symbol of the impenetrability of social systems.  In one form or another, most of us have had occasion to bump against one of the systems that shapes our lives – whether it is the legal system or the health care system or the social welfare system.  We bang our heads against such systems personally or communally, our attempts to bring justice get frustrated by these monolithic institutions because they hold lots and lots of power.

Our particular judge might have been moved by a bribe.  But the woman who petitions him has no money to offer.  She has nothing, actually.  She’s a widow.  Without a husband a woman in the first century had no political protection.  She had no rights over her late husband’s property.  She was thrown on the mercy of her in-law’s.  She has nothing - except the ability to pester.  Imagine her persistence: leaving messages on the judge’s answering machine, banging on his door, calling to him in the marketplace.  She is probably embarrassing, an irritant.

If you’ve had a persistent pet or been around a persistent child, or, (regardless of your age) have a persistent or pestering parent, you know what I mean.  Whether it is yapping at the heels or repeating the same question dozens of times; we all know what it feels like to be worn down, ground down.  Pestering is a powerful form of persuasion.

What is a realistic outcome one might expect between the judge and the woman?  In reality, the woman would most likely just give up.  She’d wear out.  She’d stop.  She’d absorb the injustice, shoulder the burden and disappear from view.  Another realistic alternative would be that the judge would get angry and lock her up.  Silence her that way.  But this is unreal; the judge gives in and grants her request, for no other reason but for her persistence.

        Jesus told the disciples to pray always and not to lose heart.  But how do we do that?  In the face of all that worries us and scares us, in the face of all the chaos that causes us stress and strain in our lives and in the world, how do we keep on praying?  How do we not lose heart?  God knows, there is enough wrong with our world, there is enough injustice and discouragement in our own country and state.  There is enough dis-ease in our families and even in ourselves.  Add to that war, the environment, the stock market and illness.  And then throw in our own questions on top of our particular circumstances.  Does God really hear my prayers?  Am I really talking with God or am I only speaking to myself?  The act of praying at all puts our faith on the line:  Is there a God who listens, who cares for us, who hears and responds?  These are big, cosmic questions.  No wonder some people prefer not to pray at all; that’s one way to deal with these questions; avoid the subject and keep our vulnerability intact.  But Jesus says pray always and do not lose heart.  The question remains.  How do we keep praying?  How do we not lose heart?

How does the parable help us pray without losing heart?  It sounds like a lesson in “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”  That is one of life’s lessons, but Jesus isn’t saying “be persistent and things will eventually work out for the best.”  Instead, he directs us to pray always and not to lose heart.  The story is about our persistence.  It is also about the character of God.

Our parable is not only about someone who pesters, but also about One who sits still for the pestering.  If this corrupt judge will open himself to someone seeking justice, how much more will God answer the cries of the people?  In that sense, prayer is not so much asking God to do this or that for us, but asking God to be God, to be who God is.

At times we are half hearted or brokenhearted or disheartened.  At times we ourselves are hard-hearted, sometimes we are the ones with hearts of stone.  Prayer is our human way of acting courageously to let God be God.  Prayer sustains our belief that change is due, that change must come.  Jesus taught the disciples to pray always and not to lose heart.

A remarkable thing about our parable is that the widow’s story connects private prayer with public action.  Private prayer alone would not deliver the justice that she needed.  There is a relationship between our longing in prayer and the way we act in public.  We don’t pray passively and then hope God will change the world on our behalf.  There are times when we have to track down the answer to our prayer in person.  When we have to be the one we’re waiting for.  Praying and doing are often two parts of one purpose.  An African proverb puts the relationship and the challenge well, “When you pray, move your feet.” (Christian Century, October 2, 2007, p. 19).

Here at Broad Street we have an opportunity to move our feet, in at least two important ways.  One is on Commitment Sunday, which is next week.  Many of you have been praying for your church and its leadership on the Session and the Pastor Nominating Committee during these transitional months.  Those prayers have borne fruit and are bearing fruit.  They are important and have upheld us through the summer and into the fall.  Now the time is coming to make your annual pledge, to participate in your own prayer by walking up this center aisle next Sunday and placing your pledge card in the basket.   Your prayer involves the stewardship of you.  When you pray, move your feet.

The second way you can move your feet is to participate in one of the seven House Meetings described in your bulletin.  Come, meet others.  Talk about social justice.  Share your story, and if it is hard to move your feet, wiggle your toes!  On the whole, folk at Broad Street tend to be doers.  Maybe our challenge is to continue acting and doing and to also open up, build community with one another, and to pray.  What Jesus said to his disciples he also says to us:  pray always, and do not lose heart.

The widow’s actions remind us that prayer is a way we refuse to believe that the way things are is the way things always have to be.  For Christians, reflection and prayer are ways of imaging how the world could be.  Through prayer we gain wisdom and energy to live toward those dreams.  At times our fears rob us of our tranquility and the will to endure.  In precisely those places, prayer is a simple yet profound way of expressing our trust in God. 

The God in whom we trust is not like the harsh, unjust judge, but is the God we have come to know through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  If a poor widow can squeeze justice out of a judge without honor, how much more will you, God’s own children, be heard by a God who hears and answers prayer.  This God, our loving Father, our nurturing Mother; is active through the power of the Holy Spirit in our world and in our lives, receiving our prayers day and night, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  Jesus’ self-giving love hung on the cross, was vindicated on the glorious day of resurrection, and is made real and shared, through the lives of believers like you and me, each and every day.  Disciples of Jesus, pray always, and do not lose heart.  Amen.

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