October 16, 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

I have to confess at the start that the parable of the persistent widow baffles me. It raises more questions than it answers. Are we really expected to pester God in prayer the way the widow pesters the judge? Are we supposed to “wear God out” (in the Greek, “give him a black eye”) until God relents and does our bidding? Is it appropriate to ask for justice (better translated vengeance) against our opponents? Does God really answer our prayers just to get us to shut up?

One answer to these questions is that the parable works negatively. That is, it demonstrates God’s character by way of contrast: the whole point is that God is not like the unjust judge but is instead a just and loving God who does not delay when the “chosen ones” cry out, who “quickly grants justice” to God’s children.

The problem with this answer is that too often, our lived experience doesn’t bear it out. Too often, God does delay. Too often, our most fervent prayers—for healing, for justice, for peace, for joy—go unanswered. Too often, our experiences with prayer lead us to perceive God as an unjust judge, turned away from the urgency of our requests for reasons we can’t begin to fathom.