Gospel Notes by Michael Whelan SM
Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. 3 In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ 4 For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? 8 I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”” (Luke 18:1-8 – NRSV).
Introductory notes
General
This parable – and the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican that follows – is unique to Luke.
The parable is probably told to the disciples. We should remember the context of Luke’s Gospel. It is a world of chaos and violence! The Gospel is written a few years after the destruction of the temple and the sacking of Jerusalem; many people were brutally slaughtered; the Christians find themselves a tiny and threatened minority, perhaps even rejected by their families and fellow villagers. Widows were typically among the marginalized in normal times. Their plight is – especially in the chaos and violence – a powerful symbol of all those who have accepted Jesus as the Messiah.
Some commentators argue that v.1 and vv.7-8 do not belong with the parable. Fitzmyer, for example, writes: “(T)he connection of vv. 1–8 to the foregoing instruction is tenuous, and the relation of vv. 1, 7–8 to the parable proper may be looser than we realize. The parable proper includes at least vv. 2–5 and has been derived by Luke from his source “L.” Verses 6–8 form various conclusions or applications of the parable, and they too seem to have been derived from “L” (see p. 84). Verse 8b, about the Son of Man finding faith when he comes, is almost universally regarded as a secondary addition made by Luke to the preceding verses. …. I prefer to regard vv. 2–6 as the parable proper” (Joseph A Fitzmyer, S. J. The Gospel according to Luke X–XXIV: introduction, translation, and notes (Vol. 28), New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008, 1175-1176).
Specific
their need to pray always and not to lose heart: The meaning of “always” here seems to be a general one rather than a literal one. In other words, “Live a prayerful life”. Prayer should be an ongoing feature of the life of Jesus’ disciples until the Son of Man comes – see 17:30. It seems reasonable to relate this call to prayer to Jesus’ earlier instruction in which he taught them to “pray like this: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread” (11:2-3). This stated purpose of the parable does not match the conclusion in v.8, suggesting that “the parable’s original setting is lost to us” (Joseph A Fitzmyer, op cit, 1178).
a judge: The judge is portrayed as an unscrupulous person who cares little for anyone but himself. He is in stark contrast to the divine judge, the one who would be sovereign and distributer of justice in the kingdom of God.
a widow. “As she is depicted in the story, the widow is seen as a helpless woman deprived of equity and as a plaintiff in some lawsuit. Was she one of those whose ‘houses’ were being devoured (see 20:47)? She fits the OT picture of the widow to whom justice is often denied. See Exod 22:22–24; Deut 10:18; 24:17; Mal 3:5; Ruth 1:20–21; Lam 1:1; Isa 54:4; Ps 68:5; recall the OT implication of disgrace which was often associated with widowhood. This makes her but another example of the ‘outcasts’ about whom Jesus’ message is concerned at this stage in the Lucan travel account. ….. Note also the prominence of widows in the story of Luke-Acts (2:37; 4:25–26; 7:12; 20:47; 21:2–3; Acts 6:1; 9:39, 41). Cf. Mark 12:40 (= Matt 23:14), 42–43. As OT background for this parable, one may read Sir 35:12–20” (Joseph A Fitzmyer, op cit, 11788-1179).
The reign of God
In today’s Gospel – Luke 18:1-8 – the reign of God is revealed by inviting the listeners – then as now – into an experience of powerlessness. Jesus, in effect, asks us: What is it like to feel powerless before a person who is taking advantage of you? I suggest that most of us will experience this powerlessness as humiliation, we will probably get angry, though we may suppress the anger out of fear. Bullies – schoolyard bullies, domestic bullies, work-place bullies or bullies who take charge of a whole nation – use such feelings to control others.
Torah regarded such an imposition of powerlessness very seriously. In the Book of Exodus – just after the Decalogue (20:1-17) – we read: “You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry; my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children orphans” (Exodus 22:21-24).
In Jesus’ time, widows were among those who were most likely to be the victims of this imposed powerlessness. One scholar writes: “Since it was very difficult in antiquity for women to establish an independent existence, widows were often powerless and fell into the hands of others. They were especially vulnerable in the courts of law, particularly since they were not permitted to appear in person” (Gerhard Lohfink, The Forty Parables of Jesus (Kindle Locations 1811-1813). Liturgical Press. Kindle Edition). We might ask: Who, today, is most likely to have the experience of powerlessness thrust upon them?
The sense of powerlessness is accentuated in this parable because the main drama unfolds inside the head of the all-powerful and unscrupulous judge. He holds all the cards, as the saying goes. There is no conversion in the judge either. “He remains godless and without a conscience” (Ibid). It is not goodwill or kindness that, in the end, prompts the judge’s decision in favour of the widow. It is self-interest.
The judge in the parable is the very antithesis of the Divine Judge. In the Book of Sirach we read: “Do not offer him a bribe, for he will not accept it; and do not rely on a dishonest sacrifice; for the Lord is the judge, and with him there is no partiality. He will not show partiality to the poor; but he will listen to the prayer of one who is wronged. He will not ignore the supplication of the orphan, or the widow when she pours out her complaint” (Sirach 35:14-17).
In the reign of God, justice will replace injustice, love and mercy will replace bullying of all kinds. There is no humiliation for those who cry out for justice, no need for them to be afraid. The reign of God is a reign of justice.