Patrick Comerford
Next Sunday, 20 October 2019, is the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XVIII).
There are two sets of readings in the Revised Common Lectionary as adapted for use in the Church of Ireland, the continuous readings and the paired readings.
The Continuous readings: Jeremiah 31: 27-34; Psalm 119: 97-104; II Timothy 3: 14 to 4: 5; Luke 18: 1-8. There is a link to continuous readings HERE.
The Paired readings: Genesis 32: 22-31; Psalm 121; II Timothy 3: 14 to 4: 5; Luke 18: 1-8. here is a link to paired readings HERE.
Introducing the Readings:
The continuous readings on Sunday offer an opportunity to reflect on what we mean by law and justice.
In the Old Testament reading, the Prophet Jeremiah speaks on behalf of God, when the people have been restored and know about justice and mercy, and he says:
‘I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts’ (Jeremiah 31: 33).
The appointed portion of Psalm 199 talks about love of the Law, which is called by several names. In the stanza, the writer declares:
‘Lord, how I love your law!
All the day long it is my study
Your commandments have made me wiser than my enemies,
for they are ever with me’ (Psalm 119: 97-98).
Knowing God’s law and commandments, he says:
‘I am wiser than the aged, because I keep your commandments’ (Psalm 119: 100).
In the New Testament, Saint Paul continues to encourage and mentor Saint Timothy, who is feeling isolated and under pressure from his opponents in Ephesus, and reminds him that they are ‘in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead’ (II Timothy 4: 1).
The Gospel reading tells us the well-known parable of the ‘Unjust Judge,’ a judge who neither fears God nor has respect for people,’ and how he is forced to grant justice to a widow who keeps coming to him, saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’
Does the judge abandon his sense of impartiality when it comes to the administration of justice? Or is he forced to realise the difference between what is legal and what is just, and the difference between justice and mercy?
Jeremiah 31: 27-34:
We have come to the end of this cycle of readings from the Prophet Jeremiah. For generations, the people of Judah, the northern kingdom, have failed to follow God’s ways. Despite Jeremiah’s appeals, they have refused to return to his ways. They have been taken into exile in Babylonian, and the Temple in Jerusalem has been destroyed.
The people of Israel, the northern kingdom, suffered a similar fate at the hands of the Assyrians over a century earlier.
Now, through the Prophet Jeremiah, God tells the people that both Israel and Judah will be restored. There shall be a time for building and planting that will take away all bitter tastes of what has happened in the past. They will return from exile, the covenant between God and the people will be restored in their hearts, and they will know God’s law in their hearts.
Once again, they will worship God truly, they shall be God’s people, and they shall know the sins of the past are forgiven.
Psalm 119: 97-104:
Psalm 119 is the longest of the psalms. It has 22 stanzas of eight lines each, and in each stanza the lines begin with the same letter in the Hebrew alphabet.
Each line in the stanza of Psalm 119 in this reading (verses 97-104), begins with the Hebrew letter mem (מ), the thirteenth letter in the Hebrew alphabet.
This stanza talks about love of the Law, which is referred to by several names, including commandment (verse 98), decrees (verse 99), precepts (verse 100, 104), word or words (verse 101, 103) and ordinances (verse 102).
Meditating on or studying the law makes the psalmist wiser than his enemies or those who rely only on human wisdom. True wisdom breaks the barriers of education (teachers, verse 99) and age (the aged, verse 100), keeps him from following evil ways (verse 101) and deceitful ways (verse104). Through this meditation, the psalmist comes to an understanding of God’s ways.
II Timothy 3: 14 to 4: 5:
As we come close to our cycle of readings from the Apostle Paul’s letters to Timothy, who is feeling isolated and challenged by the decadence around him and the false teachers around him in Ephesus, Saint Paul urges Timothy to continue in the faith he has been taught and received from other family members and other Christians.
He is to remember that the Bible, as it has been received and interpreted points to salvation through faith in Christ.
He is reminded that all scripture – at the time, the Septuagint version of the Old Testament and perhaps also the Gospels and some New Testament letters – is inspired by God and to be used for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in faith and discipleship.
This is an opinion that Saint Paul shared with his Jewish contemporaries. Josephus writes: ‘The Prophets have written the original and earliest accounts of things as they learned them of God himself by inspiration.’
Saint Paul then begins to conclude this letter. He looks ahead to the second coming of Christ who is to judge the living and the dead and to usher in his kingdom. Saint Paul now solemnly urges Timothy to proclaim the good news of the Gospel, no matter what obstacles he faces from false teachers who are undermining the faith, even if this brings suffering.
Luke 18: 1-8:
In this Gospel reading, Christ is encouraging the disciples to pray always and to not lose heart. To illustrate the need to pray always and to keep heart, he tells the parable of an unjust judge faced with the tenacity and persistence of a widow demanding justice.
In those days, a widows were vulnerable is society (see Deuteronomy 14: 29, 16: 11, 24: 20, and 26: 12), alongside the fatherless, the aliens and the poor. They had no legal status, and had no man to speak on her behalf. A poor widow was doubly incapacitated, for she would have no money with which to bribe a corrupt judge.
We might recall widows in earlier Biblical passages about widows from Elijah and the Widow at Zarephath (I Kings 17: 7-16) and the raising of the son of the widow of Shunem by Elisha (II Kings 4) to the widow of Nain earlier in this Gospel (Luke 7: 11-17). Or we might consider widows such as Jael (Judges 4:17-24), Naomi and Ruth (Ruth), Abigail (I Samuel 25) and Judith (Judith),.
This judge finally caves in, not because he wants to administer justice, not because he wants to do the right thing, not because he has been bribed, and not because he has pity on the plight of a poor woman, but because of her persistence and her tenacity. Quite simply, he cannot put up with all this bother.
But the Bible often praises God as the protector of widows (see Psalm 68: 5). A person who denied justice to a widow was regarded as cursed (see Deuteronomy 27: 19), and in other Gospels Christ condemns people who are unjust towards widows (see Mark 12: 40).
If an unjust judge can finally listen to a widow entreating and petitioning him, how much more likely is a just, merciful and loving God going to listen to those who faithfully pray to him day and night? How much more eager is God to see that justice is fulfilled?
Yet, Christ wonders, when he comes in judgment, will there be evidence of this much faith on earth?
Reflecting on the readings:
Sunday’s parable is a well-known parable. But, while we often know it as the ‘Parable of the Unjust Judge,’ we might also call it the ‘Parable of the Persistent Widow,’ for we are told to take her and not him as an example of how to pray, as opposed to example of how to prey.
And yet, let us take some time first to look at the judge.
Are we asked to think that God behaves like an unjust or capricious judge?
But this appears to be a judge who exercises his office without fear or favour?
Is justice about that?
Is justice about seeing that the law is enforced?
Or is it about seeing that justice is done, and is seen to be done?
How many judges implement the law without dispensing justice?
How many judges implement the law without dispensing mercy?
Is this not what happened in Nazi Germany and in apartheid South Africa?
How many judges in Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa merely applied the law?
Could a Jewish widow expect justice from a judge in Nazi Germany?
Could a black widow expect mercy from a judge in apartheid South Africa?
The woman in our parable is not asking for what is her legal right. She is not asking for her neighbour to be punished. But she may be asking for something she is not entitled to: justice.
When people say they cannot accept a judgmental God, is that because their image of a judge is of a distant figure who applies the full rigour of the law, rather than an accessible figure who dispenses justice and mercy?
These contrasting images of God are found too in the Old Testament reading (Jeremiah 31: 27-34); it concludes:
No longer shall they teach one another, or say to one another,
‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,
for I will forgive their iniquity,
and remember their sin no more. – (Jeremiah 31: 34)
Who is ‘the least of them’ in that reading?
Certainly, a widow would fall into that category at the time of Christ. She would have no man to argue her case for her, and so would go unheard. All other cases – commercial, civil and criminal – would take precedence over her request to be heard.
Who is the widow in this story?
The first part of the Old Testament reading might allow us to draw parallels between this widow and the chosen people who have turned their back on God: a people whose covenantal relationship with God has died, and a woman whose covenantal relationship, her marriage, has come to an end with death.
Without love, there is no covenant. Without love there is no true religion, and no true marriage.
Could we talk on Sunday about a true relationship with God being marked by love – God’s love for us, our love for God, and our love for others?
If that love is the foundation of our Christianity, then justice becomes more important than law, and mercy more important than rules, and God the Judge becomes a loving rather than a tyrannical image.
Luke 18: 1-8 (NRSVA):
18 Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. 2 He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. 3 In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, “Grant me justice against my opponent.” 4 For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming”.’ 6 And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? 8 I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’
Liturgical Resources:
Liturgical Colour: Green (Ordinary Time)
The Collect of the Day:
Almighty and everlasting God:
Increase in us your gift of faith
that, forsaking what lies behind,
we may run the way of your commandments
and win the crown of everlasting joy;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Collect of the Word:
O Lord God,
tireless guardian of your people,
you are always ready to hear our cries.
Teach us to rely day and night on your care.
Inspire us to seek your enduring justice.
for all this suffering world,
through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
All praise and thanks, O Christ,
for this sacred banquet,
in which by faith we receive you,
the memory of your passion is renewed,
our lives are filled with grace,
and a pledge of future glory given,
to feast at that table where you reign
with all your saints for ever.
Suggested Hymns:
Jeremiah 31: 27-34:
125, Hail to the Lord’s anointed
382, Help us, O Lord, to learn
638, O for a heart to praise my God
Psalm 119: 97-104:
383, Lord, be thy word my rule
Genesis 32: 22-31:
418, Here, O my Lord, I see thee face to face
226, It is a thing most wonderful
592, O Love that wilt not let me go
Psalm 121:
349, Fill thou my life, O Lord my God
14, I lift my eyes to the quiet hills
16, Like a might river flowing
664, To Zion’s hill I lift my eyes
II Timothy 3: 14 to 4: 5:
324, God, whose almighty word
382, Help us, O Lord, to learn
383, Lord, be thy word my rule
81, Lord, for the years your love has kept and guided
384, Lord, thy word abideth
387, Thanks to God, whose word was spoken
Luke 18: 1-8:
400, And now, O Father, mindful of the love
118, Behold, the mountain of the Lord
317, Father all-loving, you rule us in majesty
645, Father, hear the prayer we offer
353, Give to our God immortal praise
614, Great Shepherd of your people, hear
635, Lord, be my guardian and my guide
81, Lord, for the years your love has kept and guided
619, Lord, teach us how to pray aright
59, New every morning is the love
362, O God beyond all praising
657, O God of Bethel, by whose hand
625, Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire
596, Seek ye first the kingdom of God
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.
The hymn suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000).
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