TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME C

[cappie]

Today’s Gospel reading is the first of two parables that Jesus tells in Luke 18 about prayer. (The second will be read at Mass next Sunday.) This first parable is a lesson in persistence in prayer. (Next Sunday's parable will address attitude in prayer.)

 Our second reading from  2 Timothy is written by a teacher nearing the end of his life and imparting wisdom and encouragement for the journey to the next generation. His words are the treasure he wants his student to remember and to continue sharing because this treasure has sustained him. Hold fast to the good teaching you have received, he reminds Timothy; let it give you strength in times of suffering. Share this good news with others—they need it, too. In other words, keep alive this ember, stoke it up so that it may sustain you and be passed along.

While our holy scripture may have been written down and canonized centuries ago, it is certainly no lifeless thing. As our passage from Timothy today reminds us, “All scripture is inspired by God.” The literal translation from the Greek is more like, “All scripture is God-breathed.” It is living, endlessly relevant, and able to speak to us in every era. To have the breath of God is to have life, like the earthen forms of Adam and Eve in Genesis. And while scripture has been misused by humans in every generation, the Holy Spirit keeps showing up, guiding us, and speaking to us.

The story of God’s unwavering love is no less true now than it was at the beginning of creation. The enlivening breath of God is no less active. Scripture and storytelling shape our vision to recognize and discern God’s invitation and movement in the world. It can help us to look around and say, “How is the Holy Spirit moving here? Does this feel like the life-giving breath of God?”

As 2 Timothy reminds us, the time will not always be favourable or receptive to the life-giving breath of God but being immersed in scripture and interpreting it in our communities will help us recognize the call of the Holy Spirit to be part of helping scripture come alive for others.

Today’s gospel reading, the story of the persistent widow and the pestered judge, is, at first sight, confusing. It seems as if Jesus is saying that the unjust judge is like God.

He isn’t, of course; in fact, Jesus is saying the opposite.

The widow goes to the unjust judge time and time again and only gets anywhere because the judge wants to be rid of her. With God, the widow can go time and time again and will get God’s full attention every time. Jesus isn’t saying that the widow won’t visit any the less if it’s God. He’s saying that, unlike the unjust judge, God isn’t interested only in his own comfort and getting the pestering widow out of his hair. When we go to God in prayer, no matter how persistent we are, God will always be there to listen and to give counsel. In fact, God is so unlike the unjust judge that he wants us to go back time after time to appeal to him for help. A deep and meaningful relationship with God is built over a lifetime of such meetings with Him. These meetings with God augment each previous one, building up, over a lifetime, richness in our souls that bespeaks something of God. 

 It is the final lament of Jesus that gets to the point of the parable. The lesson is about the persistence of the one who prays. God wants us to be like the persistent widow, staying in relationship with God, confident that God hears and answers prayers. Then Jesus laments, “ But when the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on earth” In this lament, Jesus notes how easy it can be for us to lose heart.

As Paul exhorts in today’s Second Reading, we need to remain faithful, to turn to the inspired Scriptures—given by God to train us in righteousness. We persist, so that when the Son of Man comes again, He will indeed find faith on earth.