When I’m at the hospital visiting with someone who is critically ill, the one thing they want most is prayer. People see my collar and ask me to pray for them. I’ve had people say to me, “I haven’t prayed in years; I’m not sure I remember how; will you pray with me?”
God is not the unjust judge, but the widow who wears him down. Where then is the unjust judge to be found? Listen carefully. That judge is inside each of us, and the purpose of our prayer is to wear him down, to force him to do justice. Prayer is the widow's voice, strident yet sane, insisting that things be different.
A magazine cartoon has a little fellow kneeling beside his bed for his bedtime prayer and saying, "Dear God, Uncle Jim still doesn't have a job; Sis still doesn't have a date for the social; Grandma is still feeling sick - and I'm tired of praying for this family and not getting results."
Wouldn't you love to have been there on the boat that morning out on the lake and heard Jesus' words and seen Simon's face? It was what we call a "Christological" moment – Simon seeing in the face of Jesus the Presence of God; and seeing himself as a poor unrighteous sinner.
Not a lot has changed in 2000 years. We are still the people in the crowd. We still have our own set of misguided expectations of who God should be. We still place demands on God and threaten God with "leaving him" if he doesn't meet our demands.
Jesus offers this story to give us hope. If ordinary, tired people will get out of bed in a situation like that, then don't you think that the Holy One, blessed be his name, whose mercy endures forever—don't you think that this Lord God may be at least that approachable by those who pray?
Fred Rogers used to ask the children on Mister Roger's Neighborhood: "Have you ever noticed how the very same people who are good sometimes are the very same people who are bad sometimes?" We're a curious blend of saint and sinner, and there's no getting around it.
Jesus promises all those who are seeking: you will find. It may not be the exact answer you were looking for, but it will be God's answer for you. That's what prayer is, isn't it? Seeking God's answers for the struggles of our lives?
Jesus was intentional about selecting an untamed donkey. This was his way of symbolizing that he came to "tame" the world. He understood his mission to bring harmony, peace and love to people who were in conflict with each other and with God.
When I was a child growing up in a Methodist Church, I knew of three religious holidays-- Christmas, Easter, and believe it or not Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday was the time that we sang the song which went: "Hosanna, loud hosanna the little children sang."