Brief synopsis of the readings: In the 17th chapter of Exodus the Israelites were at war with the Amalekites. Joshua led the attack while Moses watched from a hilltop and raised his arms. As long as Moses kept his arms up the battle went well for the Israelites. But Moses grew weary and when he lowered his arms the advantage went to the Amalekites. Eventually Aaron and Hur found a rock for Moses to sit on and they held up his arms. By sunset the Israelites won the battle. In Luke’s Gospel Jesus was teaching his disciples about the need to pray continually and not lose heart. He attempted to illustrate this with a parable about an unjust judge and a widow. The widow asked for justice against an enemy but the judge couldn’t be bothered. But the widow persisted and the judge, weary from all of this, eventually granted her wish. Jesus then explained that if she could get justice from this judge who cared nothing for her, imagine how justly God will deal with all of them. At the end of the reading Jesus said: “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on the earth?”
Whenever I read this Gospel I give a shout out to teachers all over the world for the hard work they put in while sometimes getting blank stares in return. It’s easy to overlook this but I think today’s readings hinge on Jesus last statement: “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on the earth?”
It was all supposed to be so simple: encourage his followers to pray continuously without losing heart, tell a parable so simple anyone could understand it, and watch the light bulbs go on. But they didn’t. When Jesus tells a parable we often don’t know much about his disciples’ reaction and we don’t here, at least directly. But when Jesus questions their faith I think we get some insight. There’s reason to believe that Jesus looked onto a crowd of blank stares and expressed his frustration.
Any parent or teacher recognizes this. Maybe they were bored, or distracted (or paying attention to their screens) or thought that Jesus’ words were not relevant. Whichever way, you have to feel for Jesus.
And feel for ourselves when this happens to us. Like it or not we are all, at some point, in a position of hoping to transmit a message to others. Whether it’s telling a 5 year old not to wander into the street, convincing a teenager of the dangers of Fentanyl, or hoping to persuade our coworkers that we need to change course, it’s hard and sometimes unsatisfying. It’s also tempting to throw up our arms and live with the fear of a car horn, or a midnight call from the hospital, or the announcement that our company is now bankrupt.
When Jesus talks about the need to pray continuously and not lose heart he speaks to a deep truth. Much as the parent or teacher can’t give up, neither can we in our prayer. Deep in our belief in prayer is the falsehood that prayer is cause and effect. We pray for something and either it happens or it doesn’t and sometimes the answer is no. If we don’t get what we want we either “bump up our prayers a level” or we get discouraged and give up. This is particularly true with those of us relegated to the lowest 10% of those with patience.
We can also see this in our first reading with Moses. He climbed the hilltop with some idea that standing there with raised arms would achieve victory. But it didn’t, at least right away. Maybe he overestimated his ability to stand there with raised arms, or more likely, he didn’t think victory would take so long. In any case he completed the mission only when his two friends helped him.
Perhaps that’s the hidden gem in these readings. Just as Moses wasn’t able to finish the job alone, neither can we when it comes to prayer. Last week I spoke about how praying for healing should bring us together and I think we see it here too. Victory happened on that hilltop not because three people were praying instead of one but because prayer brought them together. When Jesus talked about the unjust judge he didn’t just celebrate the tenacity of the widow but how God answers our prayer.
In talking about how God is so much more generous than the unjust judge I like to think he was wanting them to see that payer isn’t transactional, but corporate. In other words we don’t pray to get what we want (noble as that may be) but to bring us together. When Jesus was telling them about the widow and how even she got justice in the end I think he was hoping that his disciples were looking at each other with newfound understanding.
That’s Bill over there. I know he’s been unemployed for a while and I pray he will find something that will not only support his family but also bring him fulfillment. There’s Helen and Joe. From the downcast look in her eyes I can see that she is still not pregnant. In the end maybe Bill won’t find a good job and maybe Helen and Joe won’t have children. But the love behind our prayers will cement us in a way that is divine.
Given that it’s not hard to see that Jesus saw that he was being ignored and got frustrated. You have to wonder if he was thinking he needed a Jesus app just to be heard. But if we’re reading this we get this. With the benefit of hindsight, Jesus disciples eventually become the small group that eventually becomes a global religion with over one billion followers.
And so when we get discouraged, when we think we’re not making any progress, and they just won’t listen, remember this: we are not the unjust judge. We are the people who unite in prayer and find the strength to keep our arms raised, especially with a little help from our friends.