The Gospel for the The 20th Sunday after Pentecost (October 17, 2004)
Luke 18:1-8
Then he told them a parable about the need to pray continually and never lose heart. ‘There was a judge in a certain town,’ he said, ‘who had neither fear of God nor respect for anyone. In the same town there was also a widow who kept on coming to him and saying, “I want justice from you against my enemy!” For a long time he refused, but at last he said to himself, “Even though I have neither fear of God nor respect for any human person, I must give this widow her just rights since she keeps pestering me, or she will come and slap me in the face.” ’ And the Lord said, ‘You notice what the unjust judge has to say? Now, will not God see justice done to his elect if they keep calling to him day and night even though he still delays to help them? I promise you, he will see justice done to them, and done speedily. But when the Son of man comes, will he find any faith on earth?’ -- The New Jerusalem Bible. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1995, c1985
A Study
There is some discussion among interpreters, translaters, and commenters regarding the Greek word ekdikçson used for "bringing justice." Its roots are found in thoughts of vengeance or "to avenge." Use of such a word brings thoughts of an avenging God when, at verse 8, we are given the picture of a God dispensing justice, "and done speedily."
Counter to these thoughts is a God full of mercy and slow to chide, we like to think. With Jesus in his Glory, how is justice dispensed when "the Son of man comes"? And, will there be any faith found?
Others wonder at the entire chapter, as its language is both very much like the rest of Luke, and somehow quite unlike Luke in the choice of words and constructions. Some comment on later verses as if they were used to combat gnostic thought, although gnosticism (vs Jesus) was so much in its infancy in mid-first-century that such an argument is suspect.
A Reflection
Speedy Justice. What a concept!
In America's old west, there was speedy justice. Often, an innocent man was hanged or his property burned by those in pursuit of speedy justice. In pilgrim America, witches were burned or drowned. Torquemada's inquisition brought speedy justice to those suspected of non-conformist thoughts.
When I access one of the stereotypes that the 1950s South tried to brand into my memory, usually as an undesired artifact of thinking about culture and religion, I can drag out lazy illiterate black men lusting after pure (white) virgins, and penny-scrounging jews cackling around a cauldron. What kind of speedy justice would those thoughts have ensured?
I would be wealthy beyond measure if paid for every wrong conclusion swiftly arrived at, and every judgment completed before knowledge could replace conjecture.
Jesus on the cross is a picture of "speedy justice."
That picture of Jesus is used by Christians as the illustration of God's love for us. Imagine: we rush to judge Jesus as a disturbing influence in Jerusalem, threatening the social order; God responds by taking our sin on Himself, including the sin of rushing to judgment.
Luke's writers ask at the end of this text, "But when the Son of man comes, will he find any faith on earth?". Does God's forbearance of our wickedness provide us time to build our faith?
Or shall we wait until the next tomorrow to think on becoming better Christians?
The Collect
Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
9:43:00 PM 
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