Out of the depths I cry out to you O Lord

Throughout our readings in Luke we encounter several widows that Jesus selects as the focus of his parables. These women are always depicted as especially vulnerable since without a family, means of support or any prospect of marriage, they were marginalized  with little hope for survival. Yet, despite their vulnerability, Jesus portrays these women as people of remarkable determination, strength and faith. I realize widows provide unique opportunities for Jesus to illustrate his point with his audience; however, I wonder that if over the centuries, in our male dominated world and our social and religious institutions, we didn’t overlook a point that Jesus was making as to the prominence of women and pivotal role they played? In every case these Biblical characters demonstrate more than enough resolve and strength to make the case for our re-examining these stories and the role of women as leaders that can challenge our institutional hierarchies . Perhaps, I am out of my element in this venue to adequately deal with the social issues regarding gender inequality, but I introduce it here as food for thought and the subject of another conversation. Yet, I still can’t help but wonder, that given Jesus' knowledge of what was to come, what was the messages his texts and sub texts.

The widow in our story (Luke 18:1-8) is persistent and forceful enough to get the justice she demands even from an utterly unjust judge, who is, through lineage, included among the “chosen ones of God.” While the parable is framed by references to prayer and faith, the emphasis is on justice and how it figures into the confrontation between the vulnerable justice-seeker and the unjust power-broker. The powerful and just God takes the place of the unjust judge in the end, granting justice to his vulnerable, chosen ones who cry out to him day and night.

We are told that there is only one other use of this term chosen one in Luke. And this reference is reserved for Jesus who while on the cross, is mocked by the religious leaders as “God’s chosen one.” These so-called leaders, like the unjust judge in the parable, inadvertently get it right in spite of themselves. Jesus, the chosen one cries out from the cross as he petitions the Father and commends his spirit to him and breathes his last.

Finally the parable leaves us with a question that resonates beyond the cross and tomb and the resurrection: “And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” We find part of the answer in past Gospels in which a number of people are commended for their faith: the centurion who believes Jesus will heal his slave, even from a distance; the sinful woman who anoints Jesus’ feet and loves much; friends of the paralytic who are willing to dig through a roof; the bleeding, unclean woman who dares to touch Jesus’ cloak in the crowd and is healed; the Samaritan leper, whose gratitude takes him back to Jesus where he falls at his feet in thanksgiving, and the blind beggar later in this chapter who sees Jesus for who he is and cries out to him. Perhaps the lesson suggests that the willingness to persist in prayer, as in our widow, against all odds is the sign of faith we seek.