Sunday Homily - October 20, 2019 - The Wrestler and the Widow

The Persistent Widow 

by James Tissot

I.

Young Child: "Mom.
                         Mom.
                          Momma!
                           Mahhm!!"

Mom: "Oh my goodness child,
             I heard you the first time.
             What do you want??"

Young Child: "Can I have a snack?"

Mom: (sighs) "Yes, what kind of snack do you want?"

Young Child: "Marshmallows!"

Mom: "Marshmallows aren't a snack!"

Young Child: "Please please please can I just have 5 marshmallows?"

Mom: (sighs again) "Okay, just THIS ONCE. No more marshmallows for a snack after this."

_________________

Teenager: "Hey Dad.
                  Dad.
                   Daaad!"

Dad: "Dude, I'm literally underneath the car right now!
          What do you want?"

Teenager: "Can I borrow the truck to go to Sonic?
                  Literally all of my friends are going out tonight
                   And if I don't go, I'm going to be the only one left out!"

Dad: "You need the truck right now? Ya don't think ya could have told me a little sooner??"

Teenager: "I didn't think about it, and besides, I was afraid you would say no."

Dad: "...how does waiting until the last second help me not say no?"

Teenager: "Dad, come on, I promise I'll be back in, like, 30 minutes."

Dad: "You know there  ain't no way you'll be back in 30 minutes."

Teenager: (grunts) "Ugh, I knew you would be this way."

Dad: (calmly) "Hey. I didn't say no. I just wanted you to understand
                         that you could have asked me sooner."

Teenager: "You mean I can actually go??"

Dad: "Yes yes, you can go. But seriously, no one else rides with you in the truck,
          for any reason. Ya got me?"

Teenager: "Yeah, I gotcha."
_____________

Has anyone been involved in any of these scenes before?

Maybe you been the mom or dad!
 Or, even better, maybe have you been the young kid or the teenager!

Regardless of who you mostly identify with,
 the reason why these stories are funny
  are because we at least understand a little bit
   of the perspective of both the kids and the parents.

For the kids,
 the question is,
  "Mom, are you really paying attention to me?
    Do you really hear me?
     Am I important enough to listen to?"

And for the parents,
 when the kids come to ask something of them,
   their reaction in these stories are:
    "Can't you see that I'm doing something important?
      Can you wait just one second?
       Can you give me a heads up about your request
        maybe a little sooner than at the last minute?"

How often do you think of God as the parent in these stories?

Do you think of God as the parent who is too busy to listen to you?
 Is God the parent that keeps telling you, "Just give me a minute, okay?"
  Do you think of God as the parent who just wishes you would have asked sooner
   than at the last minute?

Guess what, friends? If you think of God this way,
 you are in really good company with some of our ancestors of the faith!

II.

In the Old Testament reading this morning,
 Jacob,
  who is the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham,
   physically wrestles with God.

In this fascinating account from the book of Genesis,
 God comes to Jacob in human form and wrestles with him,
  from the late evening until daybreak.
   [Genesis 32]

Jacob doesn't know it is God yet,
 but Jacob definitely knows how to wrestle.

This is the same Jacob who snookered his older brother Esau out of his birthright
 over a bowl of soup,
  and then deceived his blind father, Isaac, by dressing up as his brother Esau
   and received his father's blessing in Esau's place.
    Jacob is a pretty good wrestler, striving against others to get what he wants
     [Genesis 27 and 28]

And similar to how Jacob wrestles, contends, fights with others to get what he wants,
 so also Jacob gets into a wrestling match with a person who challenged him
  and they wrestle until daybreak.

Jacob realizes, in some way,
 that this stranger was at least sent by God,
  and contends with him until the stranger has had enough
   and attempts to leave.

Jacob, the wrestler, isn't going to let this holy stranger get away
 without receiving a blessing.
  But what Jacob receives was not just a blessing:
   Jacob receives a new name!

Jacob, who contends with others,
 struggles to get what he wants,
  receives the perfect name from this holy stranger:
   the name Israel,
    which translated means, "God contends"
      or, more likely, "One who contends with God."

Isn't it fascinating that the people of Israel,
 the chosen people of the Most High God
  carry the reputation as "the people who contend with God"?

Now, keep that image of contending with God in your head,
 because Jesus is about to tell us a similar parable
  about a woman and an unjust judge.

This woman keeps coming to the judge,
 demanding that the judge give judgement for her against someone who wronged her.
  But this embarrassment of a judge
   won't even accept her case, even though justice itself demands that he hear her.

But the judge doesn't care about justice or about doing right.
 Rather, this guy just wants to quit being bothered!
  In order to get this woman, who rightly demands that justice be served for her,
   to go away and leave him alone,
    he finally grants her a court hearing
     so that he can continue to deny justice, but without someone following him around
      and pestering him day after day.

The woman wrestles with this evil guy
 and she will not be denied what she is due.
  She is willing to fight for what is justly owed to her,
   even if the judge in which she appeals is known to be crooked
    and an embarrassment to justice.

And Jesus tells this story
 to illustrate and clearly state
  that God is NOT an unjust judge.

God is NOT a God who needs to get pestered
 over and over and over again
  before God grants you a hearing.

God is NOT a God who has to be enticed or bargained with
 in order to for you to be granted an audience with the Lord Most High.

God is NOT a God who denies justice to those who cry out.
 Rather, God is a God who is swift to act and give justice and righteousness
  to those who cry out in prayer and persevere faithfully,
   having the intense hope and faith that God is a God who hears you.

And God is NOT a God far away from us.
 Because Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word Incarnate,
  came freely to us to accomplish the justice that we could not render to ourselves,
   and to defeat death and the grave by his own death and resurrection
    so that we may also live with him.

III.

The story of Jacob receiving his new name, Israel,
 "One who contends with God,"
  and Jesus's parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow,
   illustrate a central truth for us:
    God not only hears you,
     God is swift to be with you.

Jacob contends with God,
 wrestles with God,
  and yet God blesses Jacob anyway!
   Jacob is even given a new name,
    a new identity,
     Israel, "one who contends with God."

And Jesus tells this parable
 to illustrate that we don't have to bargain or bribe God
  for God to graciously hear our prayer.
   We might not get the answer we want,
    we might not understand God's answer to our prayers,
     but that doesn't mean that God doesn't hear your prayers.

Rather, when you think about it,
 isn't God much more like the child and the teenager in the earlier stories?
  And don't we react much more like the parents when God comes to talk with us?
_________

God: "Mark.
           Maark.
            Hey Mark.
             MAAARK!"

Fr. Mark: "Oh my goodness, God,
                  I heard you the first time!
                   What do you want??"

God: "Mark, we just haven't talked yet today.
          Am I important enough for you to spend time with me?"

_________

God: "Mark.
          Maaark."

Fr. Mark: "Dude, I'm literally underneath the car right now.
                 What do you want?"

God: "Have you forgiven that person who hurt you yesterday?
          Because I want to heal you from that hurt,
           and all you have to do is ask me, man."
__________

Friends,
 God deeply desires for you to know
  that praying and talking to God
   is not just one religious activity among many.

Prayer is actually connecting with your Creator
 who loves you and cares for you more than you ever know.

And the life-giving thing about prayer
 is that prayer is not something that begins with us:
  prayer is something that begins with God!

St. Paul by the Holy Spirit says in his letter to the Romans
 that none of us know how to pray as we ought
  and that rather the Holy Spirit intercedes for us in our weakness
   and continuously offers up prayer on our behalf,
    eternally connecting us with the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit.
     [Romans 8:26]

And my prayer today, friends, is that we don't become discouraged when we pray.

I deeply hope that we all can maintain that faith and hope in God
 that reveals the vital truth
  that God is a God who hears you and wants to be with you.

God hears your cries when you are hurt.
 God hears your laughter when you are joyful.
  God binds your wounds when you are injured.
   God teaches you the right way when we wander.

And God does that constantly,
 even when we don't pay attention to how Jesus shows up every day.
  Because he does.

So do not grow weary in your prayers, brothers and sisters.
 Because, when we attend to our relationship with God,
  you will find that God has been with you the whole time
   and so much closer than you ever could have imagined.

In the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.