16 October2022
You would think after years of women’s lib and the recent ‘Me Too’ movement there would be no more incidents of injustice for women and yet we are now seeing a pushback from elements who justify poor treatment of women (and pretty much everyone else) as “Making America Great Again” or a part of their culture, or “just a bit of fun”. Of particular concern are the religious leaders, and their followers, who preach that certain toxic behaviours are part of their traditions and beliefs, and that to change would offend their god. And the sad thing is these religions include Christianity.
It seems like just when the persistence of previous activists’ results in some wins something else pops up. That no sooner we get comfortable with those successes that a new battle field appears and we have to fight for the same injustices, or new iterations of those injustices, all over again. It can make you despair – is God’s kingdom never going to come? is a just world ever going to happen?
And I wonder if that is our problem. That because we live in a society used to instant gratification we too have forgotten how to persevere. It took 300 years for the Christian church to first become a state religion in the Roman Empire. It took 70 years for communist Russia to fall. There was at least 50 years of the faithful praying before the Welsh revival of the mid-19th century. The former slaves of Egypt took 40 years to reach the Promised Land.
God’s promises have never happened quickly and they have required many people to live faithfully without ever seeing a result.
I love the story of the babushkas (Russian grannies) of Stalin’s time who stubbornly attended the few Russian Orthodox churches remaining open in their godless state. Grudgingly Stalin allowed this, saying that they would tear them all down when the babushkas died off. 70 years later Stalin was dead, and the churches were still there – ready for the great revival when the Berlin wall fell and Russians sought to explore their religious beliefs and traditions.
Now obviously the original babushkas at 60 or 70 years old at the start were not the same ones when the churches were available for the influx of seekers under the new regime. But as a group, these old ladies never gave up, and they obviously inspired others to take their place. Despite the seemingly futility of their cause, they continued their protest. What I love most about this story is that it shows that you don’t need to be young to be rebels, you just have to persevere.
A similar story is that of the mothers’ protest in Argentina in the 1980’s. In the face of brutal crackdowns by the Pinochet regime which caused 100’s of 1000’s to become “The Disappeared” women took to the streets of the capital Buenos Aires with photos of their loved ones.
Their usually silent but persistent rebellion in the face of often savage retribution fed into a number of peace movements of today including White Ribbon. Because many of those South American women wore black to mourn their losses Black Thursday was developed as a simple weekly protest against violence that anyone can take part in.
Nearly fifty years later violence against others has not ceased. We still have dictators and groups who believe abusing others is okay. But people continue to wear black and to stage protests in the belief that giving up allows evil to succeed.
Another quiet story of perseverance is the 2000 years of Christianity in Palestine. It’s not broadcast much but many Arabs in the state of Israel are not Muslim – they are Christian. They are part of a great tradition of Christianity from the first days of the followers of Jesus. Yes, the Jews were evicted from Palestine in the first century. But remember the Samaritan converts we read about in Acts and those in Egypt and surrounding lands. Left behind during that Roman purge was a faithful Arabic remnant who survived for thousands of years, developing a culture much, much older than that of our five hundred year old Protestant faith and even that of the Roman Catholic Church. And despite some other Christians suggesting these Arab Christians should get out of the way of the returning Jews, they persist in believing that Palestine is their land, and that God is with them.
All these stories come from people who didn’t give up. Who are not giving up. Yes, it requires prayerful discernment – because how do we decide what is godly perseverance and what is bull-headed stubbornness? And yes, all these stories are told glossing over the ups and downs, doubts and set-backs that years of persistence actually includes. For we need to be aware that such perseverance is never easy and to count the costs of participating.
But when Mordecai’s challenge to Esther that she has been placed in her position “for such a time as this” rings true for us, then we must rise to the challenge. And notice there are no limits on who is called to plant themselves like a tree and not move. Neither age nor income, status nor schooling, race nor ability seems to stop these movements and many like them. Their power has been in never giving up, on believing that justice will prevail – perhaps not in the lifetime of the individual but eventually.
The power of a story like the one you just heard to inspire can be seen clearly. The passage from Luke immerses the reader in a parable which tells of a powerful judge who has no interest in serving justice for the oppressed. With Jesus’ usual exaggeration his judge only cares for his own best interests. Obviously this judge is not the same as the judicial judges of today but that doesn’t really matter because the point is he is a person in power who doesn’t care about his role of dispensing justice. And we can picture anyone who fits that scenario.
We are then told a widow comes before him to plead for a ruling in her favour against those who oppose her. We are given no reasons as to why she has “adversaries” but that only allows us to fill in our own ideas. Like the open-ended wording of the psalms we can empathise with her as we have all had conflicts where what we need and deserve is not provided.
And as a widow she stands in for everyone who is marginalised by their society. In this time, with no husband to vouch for her, she is reliant on sons, who are conspicuous by their absence. Clearly ,this woman has lost any access she had to normal justice and so she approaches the judge armed with nothing but her persistent belief that justice is possible.
She may well be aware of a judge’s responsibility to be fair in cases of widows and other oppressed members of the community based on the laws of Deuteronomy. (Certainly the hearers of Jesus’ parable would have known this was the case). And so, we are told, the widow comes to the judge repeatedly.
It is easy to gloss over that sentence quickly – “she came back to the judge repeatedly” – but let’s consider that for a minute. Think of the effort it took – the effort it takes to continue bringing this back to an unwelcoming judge. There’s the sheer effort of getting to him – how far and long did she have to travel? was she weak or ill?
And what about the fear of being publicly shamed as he rejects her, let alone any fears of physical harm if he got really angry. We know that even today, people who protest injustice, can be fined, imprisoned, exiled, beaten, and killed. Why should first century Palestine be any kinder to those upsetting the powerful.
Again and again the judge refuses to relent, but she never gives up. Was she desperate? Did she have no more options than this constant plea? Is that what gave her the courage to go back again and again and face all her fears and the likely rejection of her hopes.
While Luke has Jesus equating her persistence with prayer to God, it is equally valid to see this as a story demonstrating the divisions in our world between justice and injustice, the ways of God and the ways of the world, and the power of God to overcome.
Yes, our faith communities are tired, not just because of Covid but because we are aging and shrinking. But does that mean we ignore the call to choose justice? Surely not. However what it does mean is that we choose wisely the issues and methods. Ones that give us energy, build up our courage and fit best the move of God in our place and time.
Rev Stephanie Wells