We live in an age of "information overload" and constant connection. Lots of us rightly complain about this. Still, most of us who are old enough to remember when nobody had cell phones or email wouldn't really want to go back to living without those things. Connection - and the ability to be connected when we need to be - is a good thing. And being informed - even if we've heard more than enough political information lately - is also good.
But I am really grateful for two things in the midst of my constant connection and information overload: caller ID and spam filters! I remember what life was like before caller ID, when it seemed like every other time I picked up the phone it was a phone solicitor. And my gmail spam filter shows me just how much more garbage email I'd otherwise have to sort through to get to the emails I really want to read.
Honestly, I don't understand the persistence of some of the phone solicitors who I know are trying to call me several times a day, every day, because I see the log on my caller ID. And I can't imagine that some of the email spammers who send me stuff all the time can have any time to do anything else.
And so even though it may seem odd, I have some sympathy for this judge in today's parable! Of course, he's a nasty character who doesn't care about his duty before God or the people he's supposed to be serving.
But he does know about being worn down by the spammers and phone solicitors of his day. Yet he doesn't have any SPAM filter. And there's no caller ID to help him avoid it all.
Conversely, the widow in the parable is ironically like the spammers. She just doesn't give up! Day in and day out, she's in the judge's face, even though, as far as she knows, it has a very miniscule chance of working.
And so when I read this parable, I find myself in an ethical conundrum. I know what it's like to feel like I'm being phone solicited and spammed all day long, and I don't like. So I feel sympathy for this nasty judge who I'm not supposed to feel sorry for.
And because of that, I so DON'T want to be a person who constantly bugs somebody else. So on a very visceral level, I don't want to be like this widow, who's figured out how to be a constant pain in the butt!
And maybe Jesus set this parable up like this partly so that we'd feel this level of discomfort. And I wonder that, because even though people didn't have phone solicitors or email spammers in Jesus' day, people did know what it was like to be bugged constantly. They knew what it was like to be tired and worn out. And most of them probably didn't want to feel like they were doing that to others - or even to God.
And sometimes, that's why people give up trying, even when they shouldn't.
And so Jesus told this parable to teach us not to give up, especially not on God, even if we think we're being a pain. But not giving up is easier said than done.
I don't really know what gives phone solicitors and spammers such perseverance. But as Jesus describes the widow - and shows us what Christian perseverance is supposed to look like - it's clear that the widow:
