29th Sunday in Ordinary Time [C] – October 20, 2019 [Luke 18:1-8]
The widows are one of the most disfranchised groups in ancient Israel. In those times, women, in general, were considered to be less human. Every time a Jewish man in first-century Palestine woke up, he would pray and thank the Lord for he was not born as a Gentile, a slave or a woman. Often, women were treated as the properties of the patriarchs. While adult men were working outside the house, women were expected to stay behind to take care of the children and the household. Since many women were supported by their husbands, being a widow means loss of both financial foothold and honor. They were lucky if they had mature sons who would take care of them, but those widows without sons were the most pitiful.
However, Jesus comes to bring a fresh air of transformation. Especially, the Gospel of Luke, Jesus allows women to seize the center stage, and be protagonists. Jesus calls both men and women to follow Him and become His disciples. Jesus even allows Himself to be supported by the women [Luk 8:1]. Jesus has a close friendship with Martha and Mary [Luk 10:38-42]. Jesus places women as the main character of his parables like the story of the lost coin [Luk 15:8-10]. Today’s parable is even mind-blogging. Jesus presents a widow, representing the weakest group in the Jewish community, who is persistently pushing her cause against a corrupt judge, the most powerful person in the society. Beyond any expectation, the widow won her cause!
From this parable, we may learn several lessons. Firstly, the key to success is perseverance. While the context of our parable is on how we to pray, the value of perseverance can be applied also in many aspects of our life, like study, work, friendship, relationship, family life, and happiness. If we want to succeed, we need to be persistence and persevering. There is a saying attributed to Thomas Edison, “Success is one percent of inspiration, and ninety-nine perspiration.” Another one is by Isaac Newton, “If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention, than to any other talent.” However, the problem with this view is that it is all about my persistence, my success, my glory. It is just too narrow and self-centered.
The second lesson we can draw from this parable is that Jesus empowers the women of His time and allows them to take leading roles. By doing this, Jesus introduces a wider understanding of salvation. When we encounter the word “salvation”, the first that comes to our mind is the salvation from sin, from sickness or from evil spirits. While this understanding is true, it does not capture the bigger mission of Jesus. Salvation also means to lead back into God’s original plan for the world. In the beginning, men and women were created equal in dignity despite their different roles and characters. It was because of sin that men and women were facing each other as enemies. Jesus is building the Kingdom of God, where men and women become truly the image of God. Yet, this is not easy because it is not only about our individual success and happiness. Thus, we need a lot of perseverance because if we want to follow Jesus and His mission of the Kingdom for all, we need to go even against our own selfish interest.
Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP
In Medio Ecclesiae 