Thoughts on the Parable of the Unjust Judge
The Parable of the Unjust Judge is a parable of Jesus found in the Gospel of Luke.
Luke gives it a little preface that says, in essence, "Jesus told us a story to get us to pray and not give up." And then comes the story:
So there's this judge who is as corrupt as possible. He doesn't care about God, people, morality, or justice.
Under his jurisdiction is a widow who keeps asking him for justice in some matter. (Widows in that time had very little social status, no financial security, and no connections.) Now, the widow knew that being right was not going to do her much good, so she just bugged the judge day and night, making herself into a royal pain in his rear.
So, eventually, the judge realizes that even though he doesn't care about justice, and cares even less about this nasty, annoying widow (even admitting it out loud), he does care about being able to get a decent meal in peace now and then, so he does what she wants to get rid of her.
Jesus then adds a little epilogue. He says that what the judge says is important. He says that God will grant justice to the people who "cry to him day and night." And furthermore, Jesus assures his audience that it won't take long. So why does everyone act like it won't?
Now, the usual way to look at this story is something like this: "OK, so this parable doesn't quite hit on all cylinders, but we're like the widow, and God is like the judge, only not really, but it's still good to just keep bugging God about what's troubling us, asking God for justice, because if it works for an over-privileged lout like the judge in the story, then it's sure to work for God. And while looking at the story this way might imply that God only helps the downtrodden when they interfere with God's Netflix night too much, that's not true, so don't go down that road."
But last week, when I heard this sermon in church again, another approach to the story came to mind, and it's compatible with the preface and epilogue as well. It goes like this:
Instead of the judge being God, maybe the judge is an actual judge: a person of power and privilege that acts as if God does not matter. Worse yet, it seems to be working for her or him. They have enough power and privilege that they can do pretty much whatever they want, with no consequences.
The stuff that would get most people thrown in jail, or shot dead would be no problem for this person of power, privilege, and connections. They might even get an apology from those whose job it is to hold them accountable.
There are lots of people like that around today, and there were lots of people like that around in Jesus's day: Herod, Caesar, Pontius Pilate, various wealthy merchants or landowners, etc.
So the judge is a judge and the widow is ... God.
God will not cease to work for the poor, the downtrodden, the hated, and God will not let some lout who thinks they own the world to stop God's cause. God will wear them down, and God is good at that. It will happen quicker than we think imaginable.
So don't lose heart.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Luke gives it a little preface that says, in essence, "Jesus told us a story to get us to pray and not give up." And then comes the story:
So there's this judge who is as corrupt as possible. He doesn't care about God, people, morality, or justice.
Under his jurisdiction is a widow who keeps asking him for justice in some matter. (Widows in that time had very little social status, no financial security, and no connections.) Now, the widow knew that being right was not going to do her much good, so she just bugged the judge day and night, making herself into a royal pain in his rear.
So, eventually, the judge realizes that even though he doesn't care about justice, and cares even less about this nasty, annoying widow (even admitting it out loud), he does care about being able to get a decent meal in peace now and then, so he does what she wants to get rid of her.
Jesus then adds a little epilogue. He says that what the judge says is important. He says that God will grant justice to the people who "cry to him day and night." And furthermore, Jesus assures his audience that it won't take long. So why does everyone act like it won't?
Now, the usual way to look at this story is something like this: "OK, so this parable doesn't quite hit on all cylinders, but we're like the widow, and God is like the judge, only not really, but it's still good to just keep bugging God about what's troubling us, asking God for justice, because if it works for an over-privileged lout like the judge in the story, then it's sure to work for God. And while looking at the story this way might imply that God only helps the downtrodden when they interfere with God's Netflix night too much, that's not true, so don't go down that road."
But last week, when I heard this sermon in church again, another approach to the story came to mind, and it's compatible with the preface and epilogue as well. It goes like this:
Instead of the judge being God, maybe the judge is an actual judge: a person of power and privilege that acts as if God does not matter. Worse yet, it seems to be working for her or him. They have enough power and privilege that they can do pretty much whatever they want, with no consequences.
The stuff that would get most people thrown in jail, or shot dead would be no problem for this person of power, privilege, and connections. They might even get an apology from those whose job it is to hold them accountable.
There are lots of people like that around today, and there were lots of people like that around in Jesus's day: Herod, Caesar, Pontius Pilate, various wealthy merchants or landowners, etc.
So the judge is a judge and the widow is ... God.
God will not cease to work for the poor, the downtrodden, the hated, and God will not let some lout who thinks they own the world to stop God's cause. God will wear them down, and God is good at that. It will happen quicker than we think imaginable.
So don't lose heart.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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