An Exercise in Persistence

Luke 18:1-8

Pentecost 19, October 19, 2025

Holy Trinity Cathedral

“An Exercise in Persistence”

This story about the widow and the judge is about praying always and not losing heart.  At least, that is what the writer of Luke’s gospel prefaces by explanation.  But if we are to stop there, I have a big problem.  Looking at the parable only through that lens can lead to a conclusion that if we pray hard enough, God will get sufficiently annoyed with our constant complaining to break down and grant our request, just to get some peace and quiet.  That could be posited if we see God in the role of the judge, and ourselves as the widow asking for justice.   What Jesus actually teaches is something much deeper about justice and faith. 

The characters are not allegorical.  The unjust judge is not God.  Maybe some of the other deities of other faiths were thought to operate out of selfish interest, but that is not what the Bible or Jesus proclaims.  The very description of the judge’s activity is an oxymoron. A judge is one who is supposed to dispense justice fairly, issuing reward or punishment according to the truth of the matter.  To be unjust is not to carry out the responsibility entrusted to him by those who fear or respect his office.  Jesus is not calling God unjust, nor is he equating God’s purpose to the motivations of a flawed human being.  God does not grow weary or give up on us.

The widow’s attitude to justice and faith is in contrast to the judge’s.  She has a prophetic role.  She speaks the truth to those in power, and she does not give up even when she is not heard or received by those in authority.  Her persistence in the face of indifference and resistance is a matter of faith.  She believes in the possibility of hearts and minds changing to bring about a fair decision for her.  Some of us may identify with this woman’s struggle to be heard and received by others.  She is eventually rewarded for her persistence in the story, even though it takes time and faith.

The widow in the story gets her way by bothering the judge.  She literally ‘causes him weariness’ with her constant approaches.  Maybe you have experienced something similar: caving in to a request of a child or a friend because they have asked you so many times that it is easier to agree than to keep fobbing them off.  Resisting can be more tiresome and energy-robbing than the actual task.  This is not to condone those who bombard you with telemarketing or unhealthy demands!  But let’s recognize that even for ordinary people, it can be exhausting to hold out.  The unjust judge doesn’t have either the strength of faith or a good legal reason to turn away this bothersome woman.  If he cannot find the compassion or the ethics to do right, at least the woman’s persistence gets through his defences.  

The widow is much more like God than the judge.  The whole of our story of salvation in the Bible is about how God persists in loving us despite human resistance and sin.  In creation and the fall, in the Promised land, exodus, and exile, in the sending of the prophets, our God keeps trying to help humanity walk a righteous path.  Finally, God does not delay any longer, but sends Jesus the Son.  The life, death, and resurrection of Christ bring about reconciliation in a way that we are unable to fulfill by ourselves.  Jesus, like the widow, stands at the door and knocks, waiting for us to respond.

Our faith in the work of Jesus Christ is to persist in believing even when we come up against the injustice in the world.  When Jesus tells the crowd, “And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night?  Will he delay long in helping them?  I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them” (Luke 18:6-8).  He is speaking of God’s salvation being worked out around us, even in the midst of the suffering and pain of the present.  Humans, not God, are the ones holding up the process.  As more of us are bothersome, and fewer of us indifferent to the needs of those around us, the world will arc towards God’s justice.

Who do we need to bother? The widow wore down the judge’s barriers to her seeking justice.  We too have a job that is too big for a small committee, but as a community of faith we have resilience.  This is where you come in.  With the help of the Holy Spirit, we are discerning what God is calling us to do.  Over the last fifteen years, this congregation has been in the midst of a redevelopment process towards restoring the cathedral and building a new tower for residential and community use.  You will hear more about what we have achieved so far in the Parish Forum following the 10 am worship service.  You have representatives from the parish on a Property Development Committee.  Currently these are myself, Carla Jones as co-chair, Betty Macdonald, and Rob Smith.  We are supported by the construction experience of Meredith Hannen-Tugwete, a member of St. Cuthberts, and diocesan legal officer Don Paul.  We are partnering with Terra Society Housing.  Many more parishioners have been part of the work of the last decade and a half.

There has been much prayer, money, talent, and time poured into the redevelopment.  And for many of you, it may be difficult to see what has changed as a result of all this hard work.  Behind the scenes there are many meetings and emails and candid conversations.  We have needed advocates and allies to bring proposals and visibility to levels of government and the Church.  We have engaged professionals for specific roles, and we have lobbied for grants, donations, and investment.  At every point there have been challenges when we have come up against bylaws, rules, opinions, or resistance.  There has been a lot of bothering necessary.

If prayer alone could bring it about, we would have had a new tower and cathedral already.  If prayer alone could bring about an end to conflict, unified support for human rights, and the healing of the earth, we could sit here and pray it into being.  But prayer is not about lobbying God.  It is about aligning our wills with the Divine, and then getting out and doing what is needed, no matter how long it takes. The frustration is that the kingdom advances on God’s timeline, not ours.  Advocacy, community change and justice work is wearying.  It is a long, slow series of break-throughs, setbacks, and small joys.  We are called to be faithfully persistent.  Justice will come, and we will be a part of it.  In the meantime, persistence is a muscle that must be exercised in faith daily. Amen.