Flawed Humans

Luke 18:1-8

January 28, 2015

            Like any important piece of literature, the Bible requires careful reading, some knowledge of the historical context of a passage, and the assistance of a translator or scholar who knows the original languages of the Bible, Greek and/or Hebrew.  It is quite possible to give a biblical passage a meaning it never had --either intentionally or unintentionally-- by being just a little careless in our reading.  For example, I won't soon forget the spin that my good friend Virginia Covington, the Librarian for many years at Georgetown College, put on one of Paul's sentences.  Now Virginia was unmarried, a super fan of the Cincinnati Reds, and  something of a Bible scholar though she was not entirely sure that all of Paul's words were the word of God--especially those about the place of women in the church.  Virginia had a running dialogue with the male sex because none of them had claimed her as a mate.  She let it be known that when she died she wanted only women as pall bearers;  if men would not take her out when she was alive, they sure weren't going to do so when she died (and six women did the honors at her funeral).  Well Virginia was fond of quoting part of one verse of Paul's first letter to the church at Thessalonica, the thirteenth verse of the fourth chapter which reads:

But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do…..

Virginia's version of that verse was simply:  "We would not have you ignorant brethren!"  She just removed a troublesome comma and paused for effect.  Just superficial changes!

            Superficial  reading of several of Jesus' parables could easily give us a very distorted and less than helpful view of God.  The parable of The Friend at Midnight, read hastily and superficially, might lead one to believe that Jesus said God is reluctant to meet our needs when we have an emergency.  In fact when read carefully and correctly it is clear that Jesus said  precisely the opposite truth about God:  God is not  like a person who is slow to help and quick to say "No."  The parable under consideration in this session could easily be read superficially to portray God as a hard-hearted, un-caring judge who will only help the proverbial "squeaking wheel,"  the person who makes a nuisance of herself.  Since this is completely out of character for Jesus to suggest, we know that we need to read carefully lest we hear him wrongly.

The Text  (Luke 18:1-8)

            Luke places the parable of the Unjust Judge after the description of Jesus' teaching about the suddenness of the end time.  Jesus stressed to the disciples that just as in ancient ages like Noah's time, life will go on normally until the sudden end comes.  Luke introduced the parable with the note that Jesus told it to stress that the disciples should not "lose heart" if the time of the end were delayed.  After recording the parable, Luke notes something that Jesus may have said to himself, "when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:8).  Thus Luke seems to have understood the parable to deal with the problem of unanswered prayer in times of uncertainty just as the woman in the parable had to deal with numerous refusals of the judge to hear her case.  Here is the parable by itself:

² He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man; ³ and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Vindicate me against my adversary.’ ⁴ For a while he refused; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor regard man, ⁵ yet because this widow bothers me, I will vindicate her, or she will wear me out by her continual coming.’” (Luke 18: 2-5)

Following the actual parable, Luke adds the interpretation which Jesus gave to it:

⁶ And the Lord [Jesus] said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. ⁷ And will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? ⁸ I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?”  (Luke 18: 6-8)

Jesus' interpretation of the parable for us identifies the judge as "unrighteous" or "unjust."  He does not equate the judge with God, but suggests that if such a judge would respond after repeated pleas from a widow for selfish, self-serving reasons,  surely God would respond quickly.    Jesus seems to suggest that the widow plays the role of God's "elect"  (chosen ones, Christians) who cry for help constantly.  At the very end of the section a new element that does not seem to have a place in the parable is introduced.  Jesus questions whether the "Son of man" will find faith on earth when he comes.

            The parable seems fairly simple and straightforward to the casual reader, so it is something of a surprise when a learned scholar begins his study of the parable by saying, "I consider this one of the more difficult parables ... The parable itself (vv. 2-5) is brief, and without its explanation (vv. 6-8) there is little indication of its intent."[1]  Fortunately for us, Jesus' explanation of the parable is recorded but even so, there are reasons to think the parable is hard to understand.

The Widow (vv.3,5)

            Anyone who has read the Old Testament can hardly forget that God commands us to care for "the widow, the orphan and the sojourner."  Over and over again in the book of Deuteronomy we are reminded that the weakest members of society must be cared for by the strongest.  Indeed, this theme resonates through so much of the Old Testament that it may prejudice us in favor of a widow in a court case!  Since widows often were left with nothing when husbands and sons died before them and since there were so many of them, we are programmed to feel deep sympathy for the widow in any story.  But obviously, the circumstances of widows vary.  Those who were left with nothing were indeed objects of society's pity.  But was the widow in this parable such a person?

            In the last few decades women have taken their rightful place among biblical scholars, and we have benefitted from having their perspectives on our Bible.  One such scholar is Amy-Jill Levine who teaches at Vanderbilt.  Here is her description of the widow in this parable:

The parable gives no indication of the widow's economic status. She may be poor and perhaps lacks money to bribe the judge;  on the other hand, she has access to the court, she does not invoke poverty as a reason for her appeal, she addresses the judge in the imperative, and she even manages a nice pun in insisting that she be avenged ... not against an exploiter or a thief, but an adversary, opponent or foe…  . The language is juridical, not personal.  Our widow sounds less like Ruth amid the alien corn and more like Leona Helmsley fighting a hostile take-over bid.[2]

So, while we are predisposed to think of a poor widow who is being evicted by her hard-heart-ed landlord, the description of the widow in the parable itself is quite the opposite.  True, someone either has already or is about to take something away from her, but she is not a person to take such abuse quietly--she sues--repeatedly.  And while the judge in this case may be a comical character exaggerating the situation, he says she is beating him up!  The word in the phrase "she will wear me out" literally means "she'll beat me black and blue!"[3]  This is no frail damsel in distress; this is Lucy who delights in jerking the football away just as Charlie Brown is about to kick it.  With a woman like this, no husband is needed to get her case heard.[4]

Many of us have seen Charles Tyler Clark's legal ad that says most people who are truly injured and can't work "give up too soon" in their appeals for disability.  Not this widow.  She doesn't give up.  She keeps coming. She would have made Churchill proud. The judge says she is working him to death.

            What does she want?  Does she ask for vengeance or justice?  Perhaps in the ancient world these two words might have  been synonymous.  Indeed, even today many feel that injustice must be avenged--thus the violent outbursts on our streets when people feel that justice has not been given.  The word the widow uses actually means "avenge," and it is translated this way in the American Standard Version (ASV):  "Avenge me of mine adversary."  If justice is what the law prescribes, vengeance is often what the heart desires.   In the Old Testament, vengeance is what God administers when he rescues his people from the Egyptians (Exodus 7:4; 12:12), the Midianites (Numbers 31:2-3) and the Philistines (Judges 15:7; 16:28).  Obviously, Jesus taught us to forgive and not seek vengeance.  Clearly in this parable he is painting life as it is and not as it ought to be.

The Judge (vv. 2, 4-5)

            Sometimes, a title on a story or an image associated with the story shapes and colors our entire understanding of it.  Thus in the movie "Exodus" which has recently been released, the image of huge walls of water crashing down on the Egyptians will make it hard for Bible readers to ever see the biblical description of what happened:

So Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its wonted flow when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled into it, and the Lord routed the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.  (Exodus 14:27)

Thus by using the customary title for this parable, The Unjust Judge, we may blind ourselves to the judge as he is presented.  The parable presents the Judge as foolish but impartial.  The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom in the Old Testament so by his own confession, the Judge is not a wise man!  But lacking wisdom does not make him corrupt.  His candle may not have been the brightest, and he may not have  been the editor of the Law Review,  but his actions as far as they are described are not "unjust"  (unless, as some have suggested, he refused to hear the widow's case because she would not bribe him!).   In fact, the second characteristic of the Judge is that he did not "regard man."  Romans 2:11 describes God as one who does not respect persons (not the same word as "regard man," but much the same meaning).  God is impartial in judgment and so, claims the Judge, is he.  He can't be bought off.  But he is human! And this widow who keeps bringing charges against her landlord--apparently a trivial case that he shouldn't have to waste time on in his opinion--is telling everyone who will listen that he won't try her case, and his reputation is taking a beating in the court of public opinion.   Ultimately the Judge hears her case (and she wins).  Apparently justice prevails after all--but for the wrong reason.  The Judge only hears the case because it is more expedient to deal with it than to continue to delay it.  Obviously we would all like our officials to operate from principle and not from pressure , but parables show us the world as it really is.

Jesus' Application (vv. 6-8)

            So what did Jesus want us to know or do when he told the story?  As he did in several instances, Jesus used an imperfect human (two of them, really) to teach us what a perfect God will do when his people call upon him.  If an imperfect Judge will ultimately do his job and render justice for a widow, how much more will a perfect God, creator of the universe and master of it all, respond to those who call?  If a relatively powerless woman can exert enough force to make a social system work for the people it serves, how much more can the maker of heaven and earth affect the creation which he has brought into being?  Both characters in the story cry out for us to compare God to their human characters.  Both are flawed individuals.  One creates public opinion that gives her cause precedence over that of others.  One bows to public opinion at least on secondary issues, if not on matters of principle.    God, who is not a respecter of persons, hears the cry of the widow and wields the power of the Judge "speedily."

            The parable ends with a question, "when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?” It isn't crystal clear that this saying was originally attached to this parable, but we don't have it attached to a different context in another Gospel, so we must assume that it belongs here.  Remember that the parable per se  is just verses 2-5. The introduction, "he told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart," is Luke's comment and not the words of Jesus.  Is the last question also from Luke or is it from Jesus?  If it is Luke's concluding comment, it may well reflect the fact that some fifty years had passed since Jesus' resurrection and the Son of Man had not returned as early Christians assumed he would.  Luke heard the parable of the judge who put off a woman's case in the light of the delay in the second coming and wondered if when the Master did come he would find faithful servants. 

            Surely the passing of another 1900 plus years makes Luke's concern even more critical.  The parable then reminds us that some flawed humans are still pressing their cases and others are still trying to protect their reputations amidst all the competing claims for their help.  And we are reminded once again that "speedily" is a human term and does not necessarily mean the same thing to God that it does to us.  We anchor our expectation of the ultimate outcome in that term "elect."  It isn't that we are so special that God has chosen us over some others, but that God is so special that "whosoever believes" can have eternal life.

           

           

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[1] Klyne Snodgrass, Stories With Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), 449.

[2] Amy-Jill Levine,"This Woman Keeps Bothering Me," in Finding A Woman's Place: Essays in Honor of Carolyn Osiek,  edited by David L. Balch, Jason T. Lamoreaux  (Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2011),  130.

[3]  The Greek dictionary defines the word to mean: " to beat black and blue, to smite so as to cause bruises and livid spots like a boxer; one buffets his body, handles it roughly, disciplines by hardships."

[4] The so-called " 'importuning' widow of Luke similarly shatters the stereotype of the poor, dependent, weak woman, even as she epitomizes the strength, cleverness, and unclear,

indeed, problematic motives, of many of her predecessors.  No wonder that Luke, the most conventional of the evangelists, domesticates this widow: for Luke, she exemplifies the 'need to pray always and not to lose heart' (18:1) and stands for those 'chosen ones' to whom G-d grants justice and who 'cry to him day and night' ( 18:7).  Luke's concluding image is more 'woman on her knees,'  than 'woman with a fist...' "  Levine, Op. cit., 124.