Praying Incessantly - an invitation to live justice

 

Today’s gospel reading (Luke 18:1-8) seems so straight forward. Luke tells us what the story Jesus is telling is about. God is not like the unjust judge. God will act. So be like the widow and pray incessantly. But the story is less straightforward and a little bit subversive. In Jesus’s world most widows had very little agency and were at the mercy of those around them, particularly men. But not this widow. Rather than meekly and helplessly accepting her lot she demands justice until she receives it. I wonder where those listening to Jesus, and to the story Luke tells, see themselves in the story. Where do we see ourselves? And while we hope God might act, often my experience is that God seems more like the unjust judge. Justice seems to take a long time. Maybe that is why Luke includes this story in his gospel. To remind the people of his community that God is not unjust and is acting to bring in the reign of justice and peace into the world. We join that work by, like the widow, praying incessantly in the face the injustice around us. The interesting thing is that praying incessantly changes us. It changed the widow. She became less helpless as she prayed, and she became more demanding for justice. Many commentators have noted that praying leads to a different relationship to the world—one that has borrowed the eyes of God. Like Francis and the leper last week we become aware of God’s presence and gift in creation, and our relationship with all people and all creation. Like the widow we become agents of God’s justice. We are invited to have faith, to trust God justice and to join in striving so that God’s will is done on earth as in heaven. What then do we pray for?  Do we trust in God’s justice?  How are we changed by our incessant prayer?