Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Father Joe West and
Father David Lenz

Jesus told his disciples a parable
about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. 

Every time we return to this story of the wicked judge and the persistent widow I remember Judge Betleski of Lorain, Ohio. He was a devout Catholic who attended Mass at Saint Anthony Church every Saturday in the late 1970’s. He was also greatly respected in the community as an honest, fair-minded judge.

Hearing this gospel he would laugh and laugh because he knew how human the system is. No matter how mechanical it may appear, it is administered by human beings. Some people think the law should operate as efficiently and ruthlessly as a Rolls Royce engine, but a judge and a jury can be swayed by the whole spectrum of human feelings, from affection to fear. I think Judge Betleski not only appreciated the role of the human in the practice of law, he kept it there.  

Jesus’ story about persistence in prayer teaches us something very important about God. Despite the infinite wisdom, power, beauty, holiness and majesty of God, he too is moved by human concerns.

In fact, when we immerse ourselves in the scripture and step away from traditional philosophy, we become more and more convinced of God’s investment and concern in human affairs. Our philosophers wax eloquent about the transcendent remoteness of God but the scriptures assure us of God’s tender mercy for each and every human being. In fact that is the primary doctrine of the scriptures. Before we know anything of his infinite, creative majesty, God calls us to be “his people, the sheep of his flock.”

When God called Moses from the burning bush he introduced himself as “the God of your father… the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob."

The atheist and the criminal might prefer a Supreme Being who made the universe and then forgot about it; but through the biblical prophet He warns them in no uncertain terms, “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and I have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering. Therefore I have come down to rescue them.”

No one can commit crime and expect to get away with it because God hears the cry of the poor.

The humor in this gospel – what Judge Betleski found hysterical – is that Jesus doesn’t say in so many words the woman had a legitimate complaint! To the wicked judge it doesn’t matter. He will rule in her favor because she’s worrying him to death and he can’t stand it anymore.

Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones
who call out to him day and night?
Will he be slow to answer them?
I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. 

We must pray. We dare not assume God is going to do justice while we sit on our hands and hope for the best. We must ask and ask again of God, opening our hearts and the heart of the earth to the rushing flood of grace that is God’s justice. 

God is continually searching for us as the father waited for his prodigal son. There is nothing mechanical or automatic about God's justice and mercy. It does not belong to anyone like a government entitlement or a privileged inheritance. Rather, it is God's gift and we have only to ask.