-- Sirach 35:13-26)

Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, 'Grant me justice against my opponent.' For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, 'Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'" And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

-- Luke 18:1-8

There are many types of prayer:

• those uttered in football stadiums and family rooms and Olympic venues as sports fans cheered and groaned this weekend;
• those uttered by drivers seeking a parking place when late for an appointment;
• those whispered by parents as sons and daughters go off to college; and
• those murmured by students as they prepare to take a test.

Like incense, fervent prayers go up to God from:

• those who are facing surgery and those whose loved ones are ill;
• those whose hearts grieve the death of a dear one;
• those whose relationships are broken or strained; and
• those who pray for wisdom and those who pray to survive another day.

There are prayers of confession and contrition when we know we have been or done wrong and we do humbly repent.

There are prayers of joy and thanksgiving, prayers when our hearts are so full of gratitude we cannot help but say thank you to the One from whom all blessings flow.

But the prayer that I want to focus on today is the type of prayer found in the parable of the widow and the unjust judge. In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people. This probably means that he took bribes and sold justice to the highest bidder. Since there was no jury, his word was final.

In that city there was also a widow who, in spite of being thrown out of court repeatedly, kept coming back and crying out, "Grant me justice against my opponent." She had no money to pay off the judge and must have had no male family member who would advocate on her behalf. She had no voice except her persistence and courage gave her voice to plead her case continually.

The judge kept ignoring her. Maybe he had even been bribed by the other side. Maybe her opponent was his tennis partner. Finally he said to himself, "Even though I don't fear God or anyone else, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice or she'll wear me out by her constant nagging." Then Jesus says, "If even an unjust judge will respond, will not God, who is so much more holy and merciful, grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?"

Of all the people Jesus could have chosen to be a model of faith and prod for faithfulness, he chose a widow. That is no accident, no insignificant detail in the story. He did not choose a farmer praying for rain, although that would be an important prayer in the desert. He did not choose someone praying for wisdom and guidance, although we see by Jesus' own prayer life that those should be our frequent prayers. And he did not choose someone praying for riches or success, prayers that never seem to bear good fruit in the Gospels.

Jesus chose someone crying out for justice from the bottom of the power pyramid. Jesus chose to make the main character a widow, a person with no power, no resources, no voice in ancient society. In Jesus' day, women were not allowed to work for income or to own property (e.g., a field that you could farm or a shop where you could sell goods) or to inherit their husband's estate. When her husband died, she had absolutely no way to earn money or have a house, or put food on the table for herself or her children still at home unless a family member or neighbor took her into their home and provided for her. Widows and orphans were, therefore, the most vulnerable of Jewish society, and were often taken advantage of. When that happened, they had no standing in court to plead their own case. The Hebrew scriptures are filled with commands from God and pronouncements from the prophets that the righteous will care for the widow and orphan and answer their pleas, and judges were to be as impartial as God in listening to disputes, as we hear in the passage from Sirach. Such admonitions would have been in Jesus' mind and that of the ones who heard this story long ago.

There is an old legend that Joseph died when Jesus was young, leaving Mary to care for a hungry family. Perhaps the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus waited not only for the preparation of his spirit, but also for the fulfillment of his duty as a breadwinner for the family. Perhaps Jesus experienced first-hand the plight of widows, in his own family. Or his concern for widows and orphans may just as easily have come from his closeness to the heart of God, where the poor and the oppressed, those without voice or power have a particular place in the heart of God.

Whatever the source of his concern for widows, the fact that Jesus chose a widow for the main character makes this parable not only about the need to pray always, aggressively and persistently, but particularly about God's response to those who cry out for justice. "God will answer the prayers of those who cry out day and night for justice and help and rescue," says Jesus.

Yet this parable is also troubling. For if God always responds quickly to such prayers, why are people still starving? Why are millions dying of AIDS in Africa? Why do people die of cancer from polluted air and water? Why are more people of color than Anglos on death row? Why are women, men and children abused day after day with no where to turn for help? Didn't people in concentration camps in Germany, Serbia and the United States cry out for justice and release from oppression? Yet many died before freedom came. Are the prayers of people in this city who struggle with systems of oppression just not good enough for God to respond?

Fred Craddock tells of being in a large gathering of persons concerned about certain unfair and oppressive conditions in our society, where an elderly black minister read this parable and gave a one-sentence interpretation: "Until you have stood for years knocking at a locked door, your knuckles bleeding, you do not really know what prayer is."

This parable not only speaks of God answering prayer, it also reminds us of the silence of God. Prayer, says Jesus, is to be continual and persistent, and at times, we will hurl our petitions against long periods of silence. In a world of DSL internet connections, the silence and delay we experience from God is frustrating and puzzling beyond words. Where is the God who answers prayer? We ask, seek, knock and wait, trust - sometimes fainting, sometimes growing angry. Persons of such a prayer life can only wonder at those who speak of prayer with the smiling ease of someone drawing answers from a hat. Luke says even Jesus sometimes prayed all night and according to scripture, as he prayed on the night of his arrest his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down upon the ground.

Have you prayed like that for the end of some injustice, for the coming of peace, for a good night's sleep free of fear, that a child's hungry stomach would be filled, that abuse would end or that someone would hear your cries for help?

Have you prayed with sweat like great drops of blood that the justice system would be truly just and not favor the rich and the white, that despots would fall, poverty end or racism be eradicated?

Have you knocked at the judge's door until your knuckles are bleeding and your voice is hoarse from shouting?

Surely the faithful have cried out for vindication and rescue from the beginning of time. Yet massacres continue around the world; millions of children have been orphaned by war and disease spread by human evil; and people live in abject poverty both in this city of plenty and across this land of opportunity. Where is the God who answers prayer for justice, vindication and mercy?

This summer I was talking with someone about the prayers of children who are sexually abused, children who are taught that Jesus loves them, but when they cry out night and day for him to rescue them, the abuse still continues. "Where is the God who answers their prayers," I asked. If even an unjust judge will grant the plea of the widow, why won't God grant theirs?"

I have no words that fully answer the silence of God we experience on occasion in your life or mine or the world's. But I hold onto the truth and, therefore, the hope spoken by the wise person with whom I was in conversation. Jesus needs people to be his hands so he can rescue those children and answer the prayers of the billions who cry out each day. Jesus needs people in this world to be his eyes and ears and hands to answer those prayers that are lifted up to God.

God doesn't swoop down on a magic carpet to slay the monsters or wave a magic wand to turn ghettos into decent housing or wiggle a magic nose to teach children to read. God gives us hands to pound on the doors of justice for those who knuckles are too damaged. God give us legs to run for help for those who are too weak to walk. God gives us voices to cry out for justice and righteousness on behalf of those who have little voice in our society. God gives us money or connections or time or energy or love or compassion to work on behalf of those whose resources are depleted by daily survival.

I speak often of partnership between God and mortals. It is a foundational element of the Biblical faith we profess as Christians and of my own faith and theology. For I know from my own experience, that unless people put our hands and lives into the service of God's justice and mercy, the prayers of the widows and orphans, the oppressed and little ones cannot be answered

If we ourselves have felt the hard hand of oppression or injustice or powerlessness, then we are called to redeem that evil by working with God to save those still trapped and to eliminate the cause of their suffering. And if by the grace of God and the fortune of birth, we have not experienced oppression or injustice ourselves, we are called to bring all that we have to God's temple that we may be God's instruments for answered prayer.