PRAY AND PERSEVERE
In 1986, an 18-year-old white woman named Ronda Morrison
was murdered in downtown Monroeville, Alabama. The crime sent shock waves of
fear and anger through the small community. Police could not solve the crime.
After six months with no leads or suspects, their attention focused on Walter
McMillian, a 45-year-old black man. He was a self-employed logger who had
worked for many people throughout the community and had no criminal history.
Police
pressured a white man accused of crimes in another county and ultimately made
him give false statements accusing McMillian of murdering Ms. Morrison. This
set off events that changed Mr. McMillian’s life forever. He was arrested by
Monroe County Sheriff Tom Tate and eventually charged with capital murder. The
sheriff arranged for Mr. McMillian to be placed on death row before his
trial—when he hadn’t even been convicted of a crime.
Mr.
McMillian spent 15 harrowing and tortuous months on Alabama’s death row before
trial. In postconviction, Equal Justice Initiative’s Bryan Stevenson took on
the case, showing that the State’s witness had lied on the stand and that the
prosecution had illegally suppressed exculpatory evidence. McMillian’s
conviction was overturned by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals in 1993, and
prosecutors agreed that the case had been mishandled.
The
redemptive part of the story was that McMillan was released in March 1993 after
spending six years on death row for a crime he did not commit. Due to the
persevering advocacy of Bryan Stevenson, Justice was finally served for William
McMillan.[1]
William McMillan’s story is the contemporary version of the Parable that Jesus
told his disciples to show them how to persevere in prayer and not give up. Luke
18:1-8. We can learn three lessons as we focus on the three main characters
in the story: A Judge who does not fear God, a Persistent Widow, and God
Himself.
I. A Judge Who Neither Feared God Nor Cared about People.
The context of this parable concerns the coming of the
Kingdom. Jesus was answering a question from the Pharisees regarding when the
Kingdom of God would come. He said the Kingdom of God cannot be detected
visibly, but it is already within you. He explained the days before his return
to establish God’s Kingdom on earth and then told his disciples a story.
In
Vs. 2, we read about a judge who neither feared God nor cared about people. The
judge in the story represents the world’s, at times, broken judicial system.
And also those who neither fear God nor care about people. God holds leaders
and judges to a higher standard. Therefore, He dedicated a book in the Bible
dealing with Judges’ judicial prudence or lack thereof.
Here
is God’s purpose for Judges and what He expects of them. Moses first appointed
judges. He chose capable men from all of Israel and made them leaders of the
people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. They served as
judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses,
but the simple ones they decided themselves. (Ex18:25-26). The primary role of Judges was to
deliver Israel from their enemies. They were to lead people to obey and Worship
God and turn away from their evil ways. God wanted his appointed judges to
judge people fairly and impartially. When Jesus talked about the judge who
lacked fear of God and was apathetic, the disciples may have recognized this
warning of God to unjust Judges. Isaiah
10:1-3, “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to
those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and
withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and
robbing the fatherless.” Our contemporary leaders and judges everywhere must
pay attention to God’s warning. He expects them to deal with people with grace.
He deals with dictators who oppress and unjust judges who deprive Justice to
the poor and innocent. The uncaring judge in our story was annoyed with a
helpless widow, one of God’s beloved daughters.
II. PRAY AND PERSEVERE
Luke tells one of the lessons of this parable right up at
the beginning of the story in verse 1: Jesus encourages his disciples always to
pray and never give up. If this parable illustrates that we must pray and
persevere, we must pay careful attention to it. Unfortunately, less than half
of American adults pray daily as church membership declines and the ranks of
the religiously unaffiliated swell, according to a study published by the Pew
Research Center.[2]
In
Vs. 3, we read about a distraught widow who repeatedly went to a lack of
God-fearing and uncaring judge seeking Justice from her adversary. For some
time, the judge refused the widow’s plea, but in the end, he decided to grant
her Justice to stop her from bothering him.
Being
a widow in any age and culture is hard. If that widow is poor and helpless, her
situation would be even more challenging. Deut 24:17-22 reads, “Do not deprive
the foreigner or the fatherless of Justice or take the widow’s cloak as a
pledge. When harvesting in your field, and you overlook a sheaf, do not return
to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow so that
the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.”
The
persistent widow in the parable represents countless men, women, and children
who have been victimized throughout the ages. They have become victims of
social, economic, racial, and ethnic injustices both in and outside of the
Church. How do we respond when we face adversaries and fight for Justice? What
should we do when the courts and judges are not granting you the Justice you
desperately seek? Persevering prayer is the hardest thing to do when answers to
your prayers are delayed or denied. We tend to lose hope and give up prayer
altogether. Such moments call for us to trust and rely on God regardless of
whether our prayers are answered according to how we expect answers; we pray
and persevere because our God is faithful.
III. The God Of Justice.
After
explaining how the unjust judge gave in to the persistent plea of the widow,
Jesus turned the disciples’ focus to someone more powerful by saying, “Listen
to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring Justice for his
chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I
tell you, he will see that they get Justice and quickly.”
These
verses show us another aspect of God’s character: He is God of Justice who is
deeply concerned about bringing Justice for his chosen ones who cry out to him
day and night. We often think of God as loving, gracious, kind, and merciful
and seldom see God’s side of Justice.
The earthly judges may make wrong
judgments, but God is always right in His judgment.
Justice
is rooted in God’s character and creation: “He is the Rock, his works are
perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright
and just is he” (Deuteronomy 32:4). “The Lord is righteous, he loves justice”
(Psalms 11:7). “The Maker of heaven and earth … upholds the cause of the
oppressed and … loves the righteous” (Psalms 146:6–8). “The Lord Almighty will
be exalted by his justice” (Isaiah 5:16). God’s character includes a zeal for Justice
that leads him to love tenderly those who are socially powerless (Psalms 10:14-18).
Remember, while
answering the question of the Pharisees, when does the Kingdom of God come? He
said, “ It is already among you.” This means God’s children who are part of
that heavenly Kingdom must already exhibit those Kingdom qualities of
righteousness and Justice. Biblical Justice is not always punishing the
wrongdoer but also caring for the widows, orphans, the poor, the innocent, and
foreigners. Justice is central in the scriptures and Jesus’ ministry. What would the God of Justice require
of His children? To act justly and, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.
For that reason, we get involved in acts of compassion. We support our missions with
our giving. We pray and work for the peace of our communities.
