Readings: Jeremiah 31:27-34; Psalm 119:97-104; 2 Tim 3:14-4:5; Luke 18:1-8 

No one who has suffered, who has been in pain, or who has watched a loved one die would deny the importance of a strong and resilient faith.  What I hear so often when I minister to those who are grieving is how important their faith is to them at such a time.  Simply being a Christian does not mean that life will be smooth sailing or free of problems.  In fact the communities for which the passages of Scripture read today were written experienced terrible suffering.  They were tempted to abandon hope, deny the faith and give up their vision of God’s way.  But in each case their faith sustained them so that they were able to overcome their adversities.  They learned that God may at times seem far away, but in reality God’s faithfulness persists.  God is there on the journey every step of the way.  They learned the need to persist, to continue to ask God to meet their needs, and to listen for God’s caring guidance in their journey. 

The prophet Jeremiah continues to have great hope for the people of Israel, even though he has faced imprisonment and disaster.  He knows that God is not responsible for the terrible things that have happened.  But he insists that they have meaning.  They are the result of choices that people have made. But they are not to lose heart.  He knows that God is not abandoning the people of Israel.  God continues to call them back into covenant and into new and intimate relationship.  It is something that we all need to remember throughout our lives, especially when we become weary of praying, or feel as if God is far away and inaccessible. 

Our whole history as the people of God is about God’s faithfulness regardless of our disobedience and lack of faith.  God will never be diverted from the path, a path that leads to justice, peace and grace.  And so we come to the story in the gospel. 

What wonderful stories Jesus tells! His parables seem to turn the tables on all that is wrong in society.  He tells a parable about two very different people.  On the one hand, there is a judge who has power and influence.  He embodies the establishment.  And on the other hand, there is a woman, a widow.  She embodies the marginal, the poor, the powerless.  Because she is a widow, she is totally dependent for her livelihood on the men in the family.  There are no jobs for a woman.  There is no social assistance.  Either she gets the help she needs from her husband’s relatives, or she begs on some street corner.  She comes to the judge to ask his help in getting her rights.  She is too poor to offer a bribe.  So he ignores her.  She keeps demanding that justice be done.  The judge makes excuses.  He cannot be bothered with the widow.  But she persists.  Finally the judge is worn down and she wins her case.  Jesus, we are told, tells the story to the disciples to remind them about their need to pray and to be persistent in the faith, but it is surely a reminder that even when we feel powerless, we are called to make a stand alongside those who are truly powerless and disadvantaged.  Jesus will be right there standing in solidarity with us in every situation. 

The story of the widow is played out in our modern day world over and over again.  Africa is a continent gripped by poverty, war, AIDS and diseases that in most of the world are totally preventable.  They are not alone in their suffering.  We have heard about the terrible suffering the people of Haiti endured because of the recent hurricane, but it is a country that constantly struggles with violence and poverty.  Here in Canada we are not without human rights issues.  We are just beginning to right the wrongs suffered by our Aboriginal people.  Homelessness, lack of affordable housing, health care issues and child poverty in our cities where wealth abounds is a disgrace. 

There are good news stories brought about by people who simply will not give up.  There is Catherine Hamlin, an eighty-year old Australian doctor, who along with her husband has worked in Ethiopia for over thirty years.  She founded a hospital that specializes in surgery to correct fistulas, a problem caused in childbirth.  Because it is not a problem in developed countries, it was not treated.  Many women suffered needlessly.  Left unattended, a fistula causes tissue to rot and leaves its victim without bowel control.  Fistula Hospital provides 1500 operations a year, restoring women to health and sparing them from rejection and shame in their home villages.

In Australia aboriginal Gurindji people worked for slave wages on their own ancestral lands controlled by colonial farmers.  Vincent Lingiari led a small group of people off their jobs, demanding justice and a return of their lands.  When they were offered slightly higher wages, they quietly held out, saying that they wanted their land back.  The Australian government finally recognized the land claim.  That is a significant peaceful achievement in a world that rewards power. 

In Nigeria a group of women took on a multinational oil corporation.  They simply wanted jobs for their husbands and sons.  They did not want to see a company using their land to make themselves rich without improving the impoverished lives of the local community. Their persistent action resulted in the company employing local labour. 

As Christians we need to be like the widow, crying out for justice.  Often we are more like the judge ignoring the problem and hoping that it will just go away.  It is certainly difficult to act justly in the midst of injustice.  When is it time to settle down and work quietly for the good of the community?  When is it time to beat our fists on the door to demand justice? 

Many in our world are hoping for peace and justice.  It must seem for them a long time in coming.  There is Jeremiah’s voice, reminding us of that God of love whom we worship, calling out across the ages, “The days are surely coming! I will sow with the seed of humans and the seed of animals.”  What a wonderfully hopeful word ‘sow’ is! It speaks of future hope and possibility.  It speaks of nurture and growth.  It speaks of change brought about by justice.  It speaks of a world where God reigns.  And there too is the widow, her nagging voice calling out for justice, for redressing the wrongs of the past.  How can we fail to hear such a voice?  Let us join in her call for justice.  Let us persist in the faith, knowing that God is constantly showing us new and just ways to live.