A Voice for the Voiceless

Homily for Saturday of the Thirty-Second Week in Ordinary Time

Parables usually help us to envision an image of God or an image of God’s kingdom. Consequently, when we proclaim this particular Gospel text, we are immediately struck with the fact that Jesus does not begin this parable in the usual way. We are simply told the very beginning of the parable that the story is about a woman, a widow, who by very definition is a voiceless person in the culture of first century Israel. She is seeking a just decision in a suit that she has brought against her adversary.

The customary way of settling such suits would be for the defendant to choose a judge as the accused would also do. A third judge would be selected at random from the community. These three would then deliberate about the decision. Because each of the individuals would have selected a judge, each of them could presume that they would have at least one person agreeing with them. It is the third judge who is most important in this kind of situation.

St. Luke, who is the only evangelist that includes this particular parable in his Gospel, tells us that this third judge does not fear God or respect any other human being. Consequently, he really does not care which of the parties prevails in the suit. In all probability, he simply wants to dispose of the issue as quickly as possible.

St. Luke goes on to say that the dishonest judge chooses to accede to the wishes of the widow because he is fearful that she will strike him. The Greek text is somewhat more humorous in that the judge actually says, “she would give him a black eye.”

St. Luke tells us at the very beginning what we are supposed to learn from this parable; namely, persistence in prayer. However, I believe there is an even more important lesson to learn here.

Let us be honest about it. We have all known people who are persistent in prayer; but because they are only human, and because no human is perfect, no one is perfectly persistent. Indeed, the widow is almost certainly an image of God who is relentless in the pursuit of justice and righteousness, who persistently asks us to be just and righteous. Consequently, not only does this parable teach us about how to pray, it also offers us another way to look at God’s presence in our midst. Just as the very word “widow” means “voiceless one,” God is voiceless in our human world unless we speak for the needs of the poor, the widow, the stranger, the orphan, and