Parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge Luke 18:1-8 (NRSV)

Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’” And the Lord said, ‘ Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

This has been my parable of choice lately, keeping me hopeful and diligent as I work to keep my local library open. The board of selectmen reduced a thriving town service to a decertified, eighteen hour a week ghost of the library’s former self. No matter that it’s a necessity to townspeople of all ages and a resource for surrounding towns. No matter that hundreds get a head start on learning at every story hour, are guided through their first research projects, apply for jobs on the computers, borrow books and movies, and prepare for high school equivalency tests. It doesn’t seem to affect the selectmen directly and it will be years before test scores dip because the library isn’t adequately funded.

Library supporters attend the weekly selectmen’s meetings. They speak up, telling the town leaders why the library is important – and why crippling it does the town an injustice. No yelling or name calling, just a steady, constant plea for restoring a vital service to the town. The selectmen are sick of hearing about it – when a thirteen year old spoke, they didn’t bother to thank her for her time and interest in town services. Rude behavior if not outright unjust action.

Yet, it’s working. There’s a long way to go, but some movement in the right direction. Not because of a change of heart or a sudden epiphany – it’s just something the town officials are sick of hearing about. With enough patience, justice and common sense will prevail.

It makes me wonder about the unjust judge. Does he really have no fear of God or respect for anyone, or is he just looking for an excuse to do the right thing? Perhaps the same can be said about my town leaders. I have faith that it is so.

You are the Man, 2 Samuel 12:1-7a (8-9, parts)

But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord, and the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds; but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.” Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; he shall restore the lamb four fold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

Nathan said to David, “You are the man!” (Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel…I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom…and if that had been too little, I would have added much more..You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife.)

There has been a large, white, NO in my back yard for some time, fashioned from the snow that fell in one of the numerous storms in February. My sons made it when the snow was soft; single digit temperatures and a light ice fall made it impossible to knock down with mittened hands and boot-encased feet. With no thaw in sight, the snow NO wasn’t going anywhere.

Yesterday, my sons took a different approach. They slid the blade of the grass edger into the icy snow, eventually cutting through. The letters’ own weight toppled them. After that, it took little time to turn the NO into a pile of snow lumps.

I think Nathan did the same, slipping a parable into David’s denial, knocking it over incisively – without brute force. David’s deception and denial toppled from its own weight once Nathan’s parable found its mark.

That’s why this story was told and saved: it felled the dangerous self-delusional NO of a holy flawed man when a direct blow couldn’t.

It does the same today for me and countless others. That makes it sacred.

Parable of the Two Sons, Matthew 21:28-31(32)

“What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘ I go, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.” (For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.)

Be careful what you say; you can’t take those words back.

I don’t remember when my parents told me this, or if these were the exact words. These are the words I hear when I’m about to tell a secret or a lie. I hear them when discussion starts to go south, turning into argument. And the companion that goes along with this truth:

If you say it, you mean it.

I don’t mean that words said in anger are the ones that people live by at all times. Still, when angry and bitter words come, they come from somewhere; there is a time and a place in the heart where the words are true. When they are spoken, they take on a life in the heart of the hearer as well as in the speaker, changing each. Grace and forgiveness are needed to grow past them.

When the first son said no, he meant it. Later he thought better of it and his actions show he meant a yes. When the second son said yes, he meant it. Later he thought worse of it and his actions meant a no. Neither of these sons can take back their words. They can make good on them or they can turn away from the reality they created, living out their father’s request or letting it go unfulfilled.

This parable gives me hope even as it confirms what I’ve believed about words: they count, and they can’t be unsaid. But I can think better of them and work to change the reality they created. And when I pay lip service without true service, even then, there is a place in my heart that holds the yes. With grace and forgiveness, I just may find it.