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If At First You Don’t Succeed Keep Knockin
Luke 18: 1 – 8 |
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Summary
The Doorknocker of Heaven Some of us have had the experience of selling things door-to-door, maybe as a paper boy or girl, or selling something like Girl Scout Cookies, or something for school. It’s not as common a thing as it used to be for kids to venture out on their own to practice free enterprise, fear of strangers being what it is, but it used to be a common part of growing up. Sometimes no one answered the door. That is when the waiting game started. How long should you wait before it was socially acceptable to punch the doorbell or use the knuckle-rap on the door again? The parable Jesus tells us, in Luke chapter 18, the story a woman who stands knocking at someone’s door: knocking and waiting, knocking and waiting, wondering whether or not anyone will ever answer. The door she was knocking on belonged to a judge. The story in Luke doesn’t say the woman is actually knocking on this judges’ door, but it does say that she “kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’” This woman is a widow who is most likely living in poverty. In the male-dominated culture of the time, this widow would have no social standing of her own and no right to file a complaint in court, unless a man does it for her. She probably doesn’t know how to read, since most women didn’t back then, so she can’t look-up the law in books for herself. The law of Israel says judges are to make a special effort to hear the complaints of people like this widow; the scriptures are compassionate when it comes to people like this widow. Isaiah 1:7 reveals this ideal of justice: “... learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” But it doesn’t seem that this judge has read the book, at least not recently. He’s a man who, by his own Account, has “no fear of God and no respect for man.” He’s a tough customer: a crook, a charlatan, a completely wrong individual. Some might go as far as to say he is evil. This judge is only out to make a buck. As far as this judge is concerned this woman, who has no money to pay him, why, this old hag can knock on the door forever as far as he’s concerned! Very likely, this man is not a criminal-court-of-law judge. He’s closer to what we’d call today a civil-court judge someone who sits and listens to peoples’ complaints all day. He’s the kind of judge who works at a desk stacked with paperwork. His whole day consists of listening to complaints and moving files from the “in” box to the “out” box, marking them with a huge rubber stamp that lets everyone know, by its imprint, that a man of true authority has spoken. This judge, in other words, is what we might call a bureaucrat. He’s the kind of individual that Admiral Hyman Rickover said, “If you’re going to sin, sin against God, not the bureaucracy. God will forgive you but the bureaucracy won’t!” This judge is responsible for the kind of procedures Mother Teresa encountered as she signed into a California hospital, some years back, for heart tests. After signing her name to the umpteenth legal-release form, the saintly old missionary nun put down her pen, shook her head, and said softly, “So many signatures for such a small heart!” But here this woman is, standing on this bureaucrat’s doorstep, and after normal working hours at that. All this past week, he’s been aware she was sitting outside his office door. All this past week, he knew that, buried somewhere deep in his inbox was her file, a file that’s been there for a long, long time. Other files have made it to the top of his stack much sooner, but those all belonged to special friends of his or to people who’ve been so thoughtful as to cross his palm with silver. Does this widow think that by pounding on his door, she can get him to apply his rubber stamp any sooner? As the night wears on, the judge’s resistance begins to weaken. It’s hard to sleep when you are lying in bed with a pillow over your head and as you look out your window you see all your neighbors’ lights coming on, as they lean out to see where all the racket is coming from. Finally, the bureaucrat admits he’s beaten: “Because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.” The Greek word translated here as “wear me out” is actually an ancient sports term. It comes from the world of boxing, of all things. It means, “to give someone a black eye.” Jesus is painting a comical picture: this stooped-over old granny has a mean right hook! Understanding Jesus’ point Yet Jesus’ point here is not “how to succeed in government without really trying.” He’s only using the unjust judge as an example and a negative one, at that. In a surprising move, Jesus seems to be comparing the unjust judge to God. This is one of those places in the Bible where you have to get into the first-century Jewish way of thinking. Back then, it was common for rabbis to tell parables like this, stories that do not allow clear interpretations. Sometimes there’s a direct correspondence between characters in a parable and real people, and sometimes there’s not. Sometimes the whole point of a parable is simply to hit us where we live, to knock us off balance so we sit up and take notice. That’s very much the case with this “Parable of the Persistent Widow”. There’s a part of us that wants to make this parable into what’s called an allegory, a fable, in which every detail symbolizes something else. If this were an allegory, then the judge would stand for God, the widow would stand for us when we pray, and the meaning of it all would be very simple. But wait, there’s no way this parable can function as an allegory! If God is the judge, then God is a pretty nasty character, selfish and uncaring. If God is the judge, then God really doesn’t want to answer our prayers; we’ve got to batter God with sheer persistence, even giving God a shiner if we’re ever going to get an answer. This parable is a fine example of what could be called the “if this is so, then so much more” story. Jesus is saying, “If the most powerless widow you could imagine, mired at the very bottom of society’s pecking order, can get her case heard by an unsympathetic, crooked judge, then will not our loving God willingly listen to every plea and petition of ours?” Jesus is asking, “Is this what prayer is really like?” And His reply is “NO” even though it may seem that way sometimes. God is not like the unjust judge. God listens. God responds. But we have got to hold up our end. Persistence in prayer is still a necessity; we’ve got to keep at it. Ongoing communication Think of prayer as a form of ongoing communication. There are some things in life you can say once and have done with them. For example, giving a lost driver some travel directions. You say it once, and it’s over with. But if your husband, or wife, or special friend, says, “I’d like for you to know me better,” you can’t gain that knowledge instantly by responding, “Okay, then, tell me who you are.” No, that kind of communication, the deep sharing that’s bedrock in any relationship or meaningful friendship, has to be continous. Our relationship with God is meant to be like that. We can’t have a quality relationship with God if the only time we ever make contact is when we need something. Prayer isn’t a straightforward exchange of information. It isn’t the spiritual counterpart of handing in an order to be filled by a warehouse. Do you remember the famous scene from the musical, Fiddler on the Roof, in which Tevye turns to his wife, Golda, the woman he married years before, in a marriage arranged by their parents, and asks her in song, “Golda, do you love me?” “Do I what!?” Golda sings back. “For 25 years I’ve washed your clothes, cooked your meals, shared your bed, raised your children, and now you ask, ‘Do I love you?’” Well, of course Tevye and Golda love each other. At their marriage, they were two frightened teenagers, thrown together. Over the years, they’ve kept knocking at the door of each other’s heart and, over the years, they’ve received an answer. You can’t practice prayer in a few brief moments of half-hearted requests. You have to be like that poor, desperate widow, knocking on the crooked judge’s door. Prayer is the doorknocker of heaven. If you want an answer, there’s nothing to do but keep on knocking. | ||||
