Reflection on Luke 18:1-8

Living in the middle times is hard. 

What I mean by “middle times” is that it is hard to live right in the middle with trouble and injustice on one side and the promise of everything being made right by God on the other end.  It is hard to live where you clearly see the problem and experience the problem, but you have not yet encountered the resolution. 

It is hard to live in that place where the company is drastically cutting your time and wages, but you do not yet know if the hardships right now will mean a stronger future in the end, or if the struggle is just the beginning of something worse.  That is living in the middle times.

It is hard to live in that place where you and your spouse painfully know that things just are not working in your relationship, but you have no idea if the hard work to make things right again will be worth the effort.  That is living in the middle times.

It is hard to live in that place where the toddler rarely if ever uses the toil, and you have no clue if the toddler will become the historic first CEO of a company who still needs his Dad to change his diaper.  It could go either way.  That is the struggle of living in the middle times.

What do you do when you live in the boxing ring, and your opponent is ever present, waiting for the chance to lunge at you at any moment?  What do you do when you have been given the promise that the match will end in your favor, but the match seems to be unending and the stress of the glare from the eyes on the other side of the ring continues to intimidate?

Most certainly, though life can be a struggle at times, Jesus does not want you to lose heart.  Jesus desires that your faith be persistent. 

Jesus told of a vulnerable widow who was in one of these in between times herself.  She had not been given any relief from an injustice that had befallen her, and, being a widow in the ancient world, she had no way of resolving the issue herself. 

That being the case, she ran to the area’s unjust, lazy, and apathetic judge.  The judge was obviously just there for his paycheck, but the woman kept coming and coming and coming, like a boxer in the ring who is not really all that powerful, but seeks to win through multiple punches that deliver the equivalent of a thousand paper cuts.  Though the widow had little reason to believe so, the woman had faith that the judge would eventually hear and do something.  The woman had faith that things would eventually turn out right in the end. 

If the unjust, lazy, apathetic judge eventually decides to give the widow justice in order to avert a black eye in the boxing ring, will not God, who actually loves and cares, do so much more for us? 

God has not forgotten the painful struggle of you or your neighbor.  God has not forsaken those who are called children of God.  God has not ignored the cries of the hungry, the tortured, the homeless, the underemployed, the sick, or any of God’s children who pray over and over again.  The truth is that the end of the boxing match has already been decided by God.  But, until the resolution comes about, as Habakkuk says in 2:4, “the righteous shall live by faith.”  So, Jesus encourages us to continue praying and having faith until God grants some resolution.

Jesus asks if there he will find faith when he comes to deliver that promise of justice and resolution.  Biblically, this faith is not just a belief in Jesus as Lord and Savior (though that is part of it), but is also a way of life that trusts Jesus in the middle of the storm. 

Faith, in this sense, is a way of life that is like a high, elevated island, in the middle of a hurricane.   It can be beat by the winds but is impervious to the suffocation of the waves.  It is like an island of safety and righteousness in a storm of chaotic waves and destruction.  It is an island of God where the life of following God, respecting neighbor and trusting in God’s goodness and power, is preserved high even while being surrounded by dangerous storm ridden waves of injustice.

It is just like your parents always taught you: just because your friend jumps off a bridge does not mean that you should jump off of a bridge.  And, Jesus is indicating is a similar vein; just because the world is falling apart around you, does not mean that you should fall apart. 

Jesus has created you to be an island of safety in a world of storms.  Jesus has made you an island of God in a world of judges who could care less.  You are a child of God who cares about loving God and loving neighbor, even when others could care less about that love.  You are a child of God who believes that love will win in the end because that is what you see on the cross and in the empty tomb.  You are a child of God who does not know the details on how it all will end, but you just know the promise that the end will be with God, the one who redeems us all.

So, continue to pray always.  Pray obnoxiously.  Pray constantly.  But do not pray constantly because you think somehow that God somehow needs to hear your prayers over and over again.  Rather, pray constantly because that is what followers of Jesus Christ do in order to remind themselves that they are always the people of God, even when the world seems to threaten. 

Pray continually, because that is what the followers of Jesus Christ do.  Pray so that you never forget the presence and goodness of the one who is able to walk on the waters of the storm and calm the waves of the chaotic sea: Jesus Christ our Lord.