The Politics of Prayer

Some of the most profound prayer experiences I have had united prayer with social justice. I wrote an article about one such experience in an edition of The Mennonite and entitled it The Politics of the Holy Spirit. As the story goes, I was standing in the bitter cold in front of the federal building in downtown Houston during Advent. A group of Christians, predominantly Catholics, had gathered for a prayer vigil. We all stood around with wooden crosses, which represented 75,000 Salvadorans being crucified by injustice. We held signs protesting US policy that supported El Salvador's repressive regime. That week six Jesuit priests had been dragged from their beds and executed by a death squad. We prayed and sang "O come, O come Emmanuel and ransom captive..." and I heard in my praying imagination...not "Israel," but "El Salvador." The Spirit had united in my heart prayer and justice.

There's a Biblical story which can serve as a model for uniting prayer and social justice. It's Jesus' parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow. I like the title given to the parable by one New Testament scholar: You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down. (1) Before we try to interpret the parable, there's already an interpretation in the first verse of Luke 18. Luke interprets the parable as an admonition to "pray always without losing heart." Many scholars view these verses surrounding the parable as Luke's editorial comments. In other words, Luke adds his own interpretation of Jesus' parable to the text. If the parable is about persistent prayer, as Luke presents it, the key to its interpretation is found in the action of the widow, who endlessly pleads with the judge. On the surface, there appears to be a problem with this interpretation. Is the parable presenting prayer as wearing down an unwilling God with our nagging prayers? If we believe in persistent prayer, is it because we have a God who is hesitant or reluctant to answer our prayers? Do we have to beat our knuckles bloody on heaven's door before God will answer?

Another possible interpretation of the parable comes from the historical context of Luke's gospel. The church is under stress and Christians are not receiving justice. Luke uses Jesus' parable to encourage Christians not to give up in the midst of injustices, but to continue to pray until the empire of God comes. Verses 7-8 at the conclusion of the parable point to God's nature in the midst of the saints who cry out for justice. God is presented as one who hears the Christians' cries for justice and doesn't delay in answering their prayers. Understood in this way the key figure in the parable is the judge. But, the judge serves as a counter example, an antitype. God is not like the unjust judge. Luke's gospel directly points to the unjust judge as the key character of the parable. After the parable Jesus says, "Listen to what the unjust judge says..." We would probably like Jesus to have said, "Don't listen to what the unjust judge says." Nevertheless, if we interpret the parable from the statements following the parable, then God is not like the corrupt judge needing to be badgered and nagged to death in order to get justice. The parable becomes a "how-much-more" argument. If this unjust judge, who doesn't care about God or anyone else, reluctantly hears the widow's cry for justice, how much more will God hear our cries for justice.

From each of these perspectives the parable can be about persistent prayer in the midst of injustices, praying for justice, or about God who is not reluctant to hear our prayers. So, with these several approaches to interpreting the parable, which do we choose? Or can we interpret the parable from a combination of these perspectives? I believe we can interpret the parable in a way that will address the need for a wedding together of spirituality and politics, prayer and justice.

The parable itself, excluding what appears to be Luke's commentary, deals with a widow who seeks justice. The other character in the story is a corrupt judge. Judges were Israel's magistrates appointed to try the cases of people in an expedient and just manner, according to the law. Inconsistent with his role, the judge is described as neither fearing God nor respecting people. In honor-shame societies of the ancient Mediterranean world these descriptions mark the judge as shameless, without honor, an "outlaw judge" (2) Being a judge in the city may indicate that he was among the urban elite, a "cityfied fat cat."

In the Biblical world widows, along with orphans and foreigners, were among the most vulnerable in society. Widows were an easy target for exploitation. In patriarchal societies women were highly dependent upon men for their well being. A woman's place in society was defined by the household of father or husband. A woman not contained within the bounded roles of daughter or wife was a threat to the social order. A widow without family support was in a precarious social and economic position. There was no welfare system, no Social Security benefits, no Medicaid, no economic safety net. Many widows ended up impoverished. Therefore, the laws of Israel placed a high priority on the protection of widows. God is depicted in the Psalms as "the Protector of the widow" (Psalm 68:5).

The widow in the parable kept coming to the judge and saying, "Grant me justice against my opponent." The parable reflects the situation of widows in ancient times. In the Dead Sea Scrolls there's record of a widow named Babatha who was persistent in protecting the legal rights of her household. Several of Babatha's records document her legal battle against two appointed guardians of her son for control of her deceased husband's land. As with Babatha, the parable implies the widow in Jesus' parable was claiming her right to obtain support from her late husband's estate. For a while the judge refused to act on her case. We may wonder why. Some have speculated that the judge shared class interests with the widow's opponents. The judge may even have been accepting bribes from the widow's adversaries quietly behind the scenes and stalling the widow's case because she could not offer a bribe.

This widow was bold in her insistence upon justice. Women were normally represented by men in the courts. So, her very appearance before the judge would have been a shameless breach of etiquette. She didn't ask for a court date to face her opponents. She appealed directly to the judge in the public arena in a most embarrassing manner. The widow broke gender and social barriers in her pursuit of justice. This was no frail, timid lady. She was probably the first Gray Panther! Her approach was active and aggressive. But, we shouldn't confuse her action with the stereotype of the nagging female. She knows the law. This was an act of legal tenacity. The widow was calling the judge to accountability. In the domain where only men's voices are heard the voice of one woman relentlessly cried out for justice. Her public perseverance disturbed this judge. Maybe those who heard her started to raise questions about what was really going on "behind the scenes."

So persistent were the widow's cries that the judge finally gave in and granted her justice. It wasn't because he suddenly feared God or gained a new respect for human beings. The judge acted for his own convenience. The widow simply "beat him up" with her tenacious request. The text uses a boxing term. It literally means "to give a black eye." The widow's persistent cry for justice was her KO punch that flattened the judge on the canvas. The irony is that one of the weakest members of society was victorious over one of society's strongest. This widow embodies a new vision of the world where victims claim their rights and seek justice---often in an unsettling manner.

To interpret the parable at face value we'd have to say that it's a story about seeking social justice with persistence. If we come at the parable from its introductory interpretation, we would have to say it's a parable about persistent prayer. If we add Luke's concluding comments on the parable, we might even say the parable is about God granting justice to those who continue to cry out. I believe this parable can be model for uniting prayer with social justice through a politics of prayer.

This parable encourages us to be persistent in our prayer for justice. Too often we become so focused on ourselves we forget the world around us. We become so pessimistic about our society we give up praying about broader social issues. We no longer believe in the blindfolded lady who holds the scales of justice in balance. Our legal system has taken off the blindfold and judges people based upon their skin color and has allowed the scales of justice to become imbalanced with the coins of the wealthy. We have given up a political system that robs benefits from widows in order to give tax breaks to the rich and middle class. Injustice seems so ingrained in the structures of our society, change seems hopeless. When it comes to changing an unjust society, it feels like the most weak and vulnerable don't have a prayer. So, we ask ourselves, "What good does it do to pray about social issues anyway? We can't change those who have no respect for God or others." So, because of the injustice and disorder in our world, we give up and tighten the circle of our prayers to include only ourselves, our family, our friends, our church.

Karl Barth, a theologian of the Confessing Church during the Nazi regime, once said that to clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world. When we pray the Lord's prayer aren't we calling upon God to bring about a change in our world order---"Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in heaven"? The empire of God is a social reality. In the model prayer of Jesus we pray God will reign not only within our personal lives, but also in the social, political, legal, and economic spheres of life.

To unite prayer and justice, as the parable of the widow and the unjust judge has done, is to raise our voices to the heavens for those who have no bread, for those who live in cardboard houses, for orphans crammed in institutions, for people of color who are treated differently when they walk into a store, for the weak and vulnerable in our society. Pray. Pray. And continue to pray. This doesn't mean prayer is a substitute for action. Hands folded in prayer need feet ready to walk. Folded hands and walking feet joined together are empowered by their union.

If we truly believe in the power of prayer, then let us wed together our prayers and our social concerns. When we pray for the widows, the weak, and sick in our congregation, pray also for a change in our social attitudes which devalue the elderly. Pray that we, as a nation, will fund those programs and support those policies that benefit those who are weak and those have given so much of their lives to support us. When we lay in our beds at night and pray our young children will be safe in this dangerous world, pray also for an end to the violence in our schools, a change in our social attitudes toward gratuitous violence on television and in the movies, and that we would stop glorifying war as a solution to our international problems. When we put on our little children's socks as they get ready to run off to school, say a prayer for those children who can't afford simple necessities like socks and underwear. When we sit down with a cup of coffee to read the bible and pray, pray that the workers who picked the coffee beans get a fair and just wage. When we pray for our missionary partner, Bonnie Klassen in Columbia, who works for just peace, remember to thank God for the five million people in more than 700 cities who marched for peace in Columbia and pray that peace and justice will roll down in that nation like a mighty stream. When we pray for our congregation and its ministry, remember to pray for those Christians who are persecuted for their faith throughout the world. Broadening our prayer will stretch the walls of our hearts.

But, what if after we have prayed and the next day we still see people of color treated unjustly? What if farmers are still losing farms and school teachers are not given their due respect and honor? What if we still have the poor with us always? Remember the widow's dogged pursuit for justice. Pray, pray, and pray some more. Work, work, and work some more. Bang at the door of justice. And don't give up. Don't give up! Churchill once gave a famous commencement address. This huge man stood up to give his speech and simply repeated one idea three times. "Do not give up. Do not ever give up. Never give up!" Jesus is telling us, "Don't ever give up!" In spite of the odds against us. When peace doesn't come. When justice seems to delay. Don't give up. The union of prayer and justice is the vision of a people who batter at the doors of justice until there's an answer. Remember the poor, weak widow and don't give up! Even when it seems like heaven is deaf. Even when it seems like we're trying to blow down a huge stone wall with only a bunch of trumpets and shouting. Don't give up! Keep on praying. Keep on working. Keep on keeping on until the empire of God raises its flag.

Remember, God hears our cries for justice. The parable tells us that though the judge may have put off hearing the widow's cry for justice, how much more will God hear and respond to our prayers. We don't have a God who has to be nagged and forced into hearing us. The ear and heart of God are open to our prayers for justice, peace, equity, and a new world. Still, we're to persist in our prayers. Maybe it takes perpetual prayer to break through the unseen force fields that block our prayers. Only through tenacious prayer may we be able effect the personal, psychic, or social forces that can bring about change. Walter Wink, writing on political prayer says, "History belongs to the intercessors, who believe the future into being." (3) Let us continue to pray until God's future, a world of justice and peace, comes into being.

Let's pray for peace and justice to flow down like an ever flowing stream. Peace and justice dwell in the heart of God. God longs for a world where justice reigns and peace dwells. God deeply desires a home for the orphan, rights for the oppressed, justice for the widow. God longs for order in our disordered world, peace in our violent society, hope in hopeless situations. We don't have to twist God's arm or nag God in order to convince God that our world is in need of justice and peace. Maybe we are the ones who truly need convincing. Maybe we need to persist in prayer so we can hear or own prayers and act upon them as God's instruments, fulfilling God's desires.

Let me share with you some lines from the ancient Jewish book of Sirach, which echo the spirit of the parable of the widow and the unjust judge.

Do not bribe God, for God will not accept it...
For the Lord is a judge
And there is no partiality with God
But God will listen to the prayer of the person who is wronged
Or the widow, if she pours out her story
Do not the widow's tears run down her cheeks
While she utters her complaint against the one who caused them to fall?...
The prayer of the humble pierces the clouds
And until it reaches God, they will not be consoled
And they will not leave off until the Most High consider them
And does justice to the upright, and passes judgment
And the Lord will not delay
Or be slow about them
 (Ecclesiasticus 35:14-22).