The No Kings Sermon

Luke 18:1-8

This is a sermon I preached this morning in Oshkosh. As you'll see, the text lent itself to encouraging protestors. So that's the way I drafted it, and added on a bit to fit it to the congregation's needs. I thought it worked well. [Bracketed text] was material I left out of the sermon as delivered.

There's a lot going on in this text, so let's dig right in. Jesus starts his parable by introducing the characters, a "widow" and a judge who "neither feared God nor had respect for people."

We hear nothing about the widow's case. It's possible that she's a total rotter herself and deserves nothing! But Jesus' audience are primed to hear a widow — someone without a male to advocate for her in court — as vulnerable and presumptively in the right.

The judge, as Jesus says (and the judge himself echoes later), "neither feared God nor had respect for people." Right off the bat, we have something interesting to notice. "Fear God" means what we think it does: this judge isn't afraid of God, and will do whatever the aitch-ee-double-toothpicks he wants.

"Respect for people" is a bit trickier, since it has a lot of possible meanings. One could translate it very loosely as "was shamed by no man."

[And who do we know that seems not to fear God, or have any sense of shame?]

The widow, meanwhile, is persistent. Day after day, she comes to the judge, saying "Grant me justice against my accuser." That accuser? Yup, accuser or adversary, the same word used as a title for Satan. It's literally someone who is anti-justice, at least from the perspective of their opponent in court.

"Grant justice," on the other hand, means to protect or defend someone, to give them legal protection, vindication...or vengeance. (This little old lady, like so many I have met, is terrifying. She doesn't just want to win her case, she wants to get even.)

The judge is at first inclined to blow her off, but she wears him down over time. Or as he says, "because this widow keeps bothering me." Except that's the toned-down version. Literally he says something like "She might hit me under the eye," like a boxer. The word in Greek is hoop-oh-pee-ad'-zo, which I think has a nice imitative ring to it. It's a metaphor for getting harassed or annoyed by someone, but it is possible he's afraid she'll give him a black eye! (What did I just say about some little old ladies?!)

So he gives in, does right by the widow, and Jesus spells out the lesser-to-greater lesson for his disciples. "Will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?" he tells them. "Will God delay long in helping them?"

If a poor defenseless widow can wear down an unjust judge, Jesus tells his listeners, then how much easier do you think you'll have it with the God of justice? You cry out, and you keep crying out, says Jesus, and you'll be heard.

That little word "cry" has huge implications. It's what tells us this isn't just a story about persisting in prayer. You see, it's the same Greek word used to translate Exodus 2:23, where the Israelites "cry out" to God under Egyptian oppression. This is not an accident. You cry out for justice and you'll be heard just like the Israelites were heard in Egypt, Jesus is saying.

This is made that much more powerful when you remember, as Jesus' listeners surely would have, that by this point in the Exodus story, the Israelites have forgotten who God is, and so they are crying out for help, but they don't even know who they are crying out to. Jesus' people, on the other hand, have a close and intimate relationship with God through him. So if the Israelites can get through, how much easier do you think it will be for the early Christians to get God on the line?

So that's the background of this story. Now, let's swing into the interpretation.

The topline, as they say, is that persistence pays off. Or as the great reggae singer Jimmy Cliff put it:

You can get it if you really want
But you must try, try and try
Yes, you can get it if you really want
You'll succeed at last

It's important to maintain that sense of optimism, because let's be honest, there are an awful lot of unjust judges out there, people who don't care about public opinion or doing what is right, but only what they can get out of you. They may have titles other than "Judge" or "the Honorable," but all the same, they are decision-makers who are not motivated by justice, fairness or equity, much less by taking care of the most vulnerable.

Yet even those judges can be made to listen to the cause of the poor and defenseless. Sometimes, unfortunately, that's because rightly or wrongly they are afraid of getting a poke in the eye, socially, politically, or even physically. More often, it's because they just plain get worn down by getting the same demands day after day.

To give you a concrete example of what I mean, take the "No Kings" protests that happened around the nation yesterday.^[1] Part of the way these things work is that organizers get enough people together to suggest that they have the numbers to make the government do what they want. That's the "black eye" part. Another piece of it is that organizers hold these protests repeatedly, to send the message that "Not only do we have the numbers, but we're not going away."

Nothing in that process is inherently violent. A group of mothers whose children were "disappeared" by a military junta in Argentina helped to bring the regime down simply by showing up with pictures of their children in a main square. They didn't say anything, they didn't do anything. They came and stood there, again and again and again. Persistence is a "weapon of the weak," in James Scott's memorable phrasing, and protesting has often been called a form of prayer, particularly during the Civil Rights movement.

The point is that [protestors] you, like the widow in Jesus' story, have agency. You can make things happen just by showing up and sticking with it. Those who seek justice for themselves and even more those who seek it for others may never be heard by the judges of the world. But God the ultimate judge hears those who cry out, and someday, their vindication will come.

[In the meantime, you've got a sign to make and comfortable shoes to get. God won't delay in helping, but it'll take more than one protest, so settle in, bring some water, and look for ways to have fun on the streets. God bless and get persistent.]

I could leave things there, but I am aware that protests and the struggle for justice are more than likely not big parts of this congregation's lives. So what can we take from this lesson?

1. This is in fact very much a story about seeking justice, and Jesus does very much take the side of the poor, the powerless, and the defenseless against the unjust and uncaring. If you want to know where Jesus' priorities are, well, there you have it, according to the gospel of Luke.
2. You may not be fighting against someone who has cheated you out of money, like the widow is probably doing, and you may not protesting against the government and for social justice. But there are times when we all have to advocate for ourselves, or for others, against some form of injustice. Think about being unfairly denied an insurance claim, or experiencing some unnecessary indignity in medical treatment, or being pushed around or talked down to because of your age. In those cases and others, there is a blessing on being persistent to achieve your outcome. Jesus is behind you! (Please don't tell your kids I said that.)
3. Though, as I say, this is a story about seeking justice, it is also a story that Jesus tells to give encouragement in prayer. In fact, the formal name in English for the widow's petitions would be "a prayer for relief." One way or another, keep praying, always! It doesn't have to be formal:^[2] just "Oh, God I hope Mrs. So-and-So is okay" is good. So is saying "Thank you, God." And so is opening up your heart to listen to the cries of other people, to listen for what God has to say.
4. Because, last, prayer is not just the way to get what we want. It is how the imperfect work of the world is begun, to be completed in perfection when the kingdom comes. It's how we come to know God, from the least to the greatest. Prayer is how God keeps covenant with us, prayer is how God writes the law on our hearts. And if the law of God were written on more hearts, maybe we wouldn't need so many protests or persistent widows, because we would know what God expects, and we would do it. So indeed, pray and pray and pray some more, until justice is granted, until the work of humanity is done, until Jesus returns to find faith on earth. Pray, and keep on praying. You can tell your kids I said that. Amen.

1. Interestingly, the congregation hadn't heard about No Kings, at all.↩︎
2. Disagreeing with that noted theologian Buck Owens here, who tells us:
   Oh, you must pray every day, pray every day
   Pray to God up above
   You've got to go all the way, get down on your knees and pray
   Show him all your love↩︎