Proper 24
Jeremiah
31: 27 – 34
Psalm 119: 97 – 104
II
Timothy 3: 14 – 4: 5
Luke
18: 1 – 8
A
homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, October 20, 2013.
“AGAINST
ALL ODDS”
(Homily text:
Luke 18: 1 – 8)
Those of you who know me well, know
that trains and railroads are one of my passions. Some years ago, a group of us got permission
to run our railroad track cars on the Gettysburg Railroad, which runs north and a little bit
west from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania toward Carlisle.
While most everyone else brought a
powered car, I brought my railroad handcar.
Fortunately, three other sturdy and healthy guys joined me for the day’s
fun.
Once we had all set our cars on the
track, we had a safety meeting, and then headed off toward Carlisle. Since my handcar would be slower than the
powered cars, we were at the back of the line.
Soon, the four of us came to
Biglersville, north of Gettysburg, where we stopped for awhile to look at some
historic passenger cars that were sitting on a siding. Once north of Biglersville, the track began
to climb a hill. I didn’t know the line
or the nature of the ups and downs, since this was the first time I’d ever been
on it. So on we went, pumping away on
the handles, keeping the car headed uphill.
For quite awhile, it seemed, the
track kept going uphill. Eventually, I
said to the other three, “I think this hill will level out just around the bend
ahead of us.” But once we’d rounded the
curve, it turned out that the track just kept climbing.
On we went. And again, I said, “Guys, I think this hill
will level out just around this curve.”
Again, it didn’t, it just kept climbing.
And on it went…I must have made the
same remark to the others in my crew a total of at least four or five times,
each time proving that there was more climbing to do. (None of them, to their credit, said in
response to my remark, “Tucker, we don’t believe you anymore!”)
Eventually, however, the track did
level out, but not after we’d climbed for five miles. Once at the top, I said, “Fellows, I think
this track now goes downhill into Carlisle.
And I know that whatever goes down, must come up again…..How about we
head back south into Gettysburg, downhill?”
They all agreed that that was a great idea….we’d had enough hard work
for the day, and had reached the top of the hill (as it turned out). So, we waited for the powered cars to meet
us, and we assumed the last place in the lineup. Needless to say, we enjoyed the ride back
down the hill we’d worked so hard to climb.
This event illustrates quite well
the uphill climb of the widow in Jesus’ parable, which is known today
(generally) by the title “The Parable of the Unjust Judge”.
Jesus paints a picture of a hopeless
situation, one in which the summit of reaching justice seems out-of-reach. Time and again, Jesus says, the widow appeals
to this unjust judge to grant her a righteous judgment. Time and again, just as her hopes of seeing
the top of the legal hill appear, it turns out there is more climbing to do.
Might we pause for a moment and look
at some of the background of the society in which Jesus lived to understand
just why it is that He told such a tale?
I believe that a review of the conditions that pertained to those who
sought justice in His day will shed important light on the hardships that many
faced in that day, time and place.
A central facet of this story
resides in the fact that women in Jewish society 2,000 years ago had no legal
standing whatsoever. It was a “man’s
world” totally and completely. (I can’t
resist making this comment: Isn’t it a
good and great thing that this aspect of society has changed!) So the widow in Jesus’ parable had no ability
to go before the court and this unrighteous judge to plea for justice. Instead, the practices of the day demanded
that some male relative make the plea on her behalf.
But Jesus says that she, herself,
makes the plea.
Jesus’ original hearers would have
taken note of this aspect of the story, and might well have concluded that here
was an impossible situation, one that was totally without hope, not only
because the woman was unable to approach the court, but because the judge
himself was corrupt.
But
Jesus makes the point that the woman keeps after this corrupt official,
pleading again and again for justice, until she finally wears him down, and her
request is granted. She is undaunted,
faithfully pursuing her goal, even against impossible odds.
Jesus is making what biblical
scholars call a “lesser-to-greater” argument.
Essentially, such a rhetorical device lays out an easily understandable
situation, then draws a comparison to a greater and larger truth. Here, we see this quite clearly as Jesus
makes the application of the parable clear by saying, “And will not God
vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night?” In this statement lies the lesser-to-greater
argument.
In a relatively rare move, Luke
precedes his recording of this parable by inserting an editorial comment that
sets the stage for understanding very clearly the way in which Jesus’ teaching
is to be understood and applied. Luke
says, “Jesus told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray
and not lose heart.”
Whenever we read Scripture, and
particularly the gospel texts, it is helpful to pose three questions:
·
What did the incident or parable mean to
those who originally witnessed or heard it?
·
What did the gospel text mean to the
early Christians who received and read it?
·
What does it mean for us today?
In answer to the first question,
posed above, we might conclude that the situation that God’s chosen people
faced in Jesus’ day seemed to be hopeless….they were under an oppressive Roman
rule, unable to free themselves of the yoke of slavery that had fallen upon
them as a result. Moreover, many people
in Jesus’ day suffered under the corrupt leadership of their own people: the Sanhedrin, its priestly caste, and the
scribes and the Pharisees, all seemed much more interested in taking care of
their own welfare, rather than seeing to the welfare of the people. At one point, Jesus laments that God’s chosen
people were “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9:
36). And to those people and to that
seemingly hopeless situation, Jesus may well have been saying, “Hang in there,
keep praying, keep climbing.”
By the time that Luke is writing
down his gospel account, perhaps late in the first century in the time frame of
the years 80 – 90 AD, the early Church had begun to experience brutal
persecution. The first organized
persecution of Christian believers took place in the year 64 AD under the
Emperor Nero. It was at that time,
traditional tells us, that Saints Peter and Paul were martyred. As the next 25 or so years unfold, most of
the original disciples-become-apostles were no longer living. Most of them, tradition tells us, were also
martyred. These early Christian
believers may have concluded that their lot was a hard one from the perspective
of the Roman government’s attitudes and behavior toward them. But then, when they surveyed the pagan
landscape of the society in which they found themselves, there seemed to be
little or no hope that those who practiced all sorts of pagan ways would ever
come to faith in Jesus Christ. The
churches in those days were small and seemingly insignificant. But to them, Jesus’ parable says, “Hang in
there, keep praying, keep climbing.”
And what of us, Christian believers
in the contemporary world? Much of what
I have said in the preceding paragraph could easily apply to us, just as it did
to the Christians of the late first century to whom Luke was writing….our
culture is beginning to mirror the pagan ways of the Roman Empire, more and
more as time goes along. The Church is
smaller now than it was in days gone by, and its influence seems to be
relegated to the sidelines of society.
Attitudes of many in power now seem bent on limiting Christian
expressions of faith, while other voices are tolerated and even
encouraged. Ours might seem like a
hopeless situation, an impossible uphill climb.
And yet, to us, Jesus says, “Hang in there, keep praying, keep
climbing.”
To those who heard Jesus teach,
those who came to Him in faith were rewarded with a new and full life in
God. To those who were descendents of
Jesus’ original hearers, an end to Roman rule eventually came. To those early Christians who read Luke’s
gospel account, in time the Roman Empire would, itself, become Christian. In each of these cases, faithful living,
faithful praying, even against impossible odds, bore good fruit.
If we are faithful in prayer and in
living, God will honor our faithful praying and faithful living. He will honor our prayers and lifestyle in
His own time, and in His own way.
And so, Jesus’ question applies to
us, just as it did to earlier believers:
“When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
