Interlude: The widow and the judge

*

There is a wonderful story in Luke 18 about a widow and a judge. He is a repulsive judge but she is indefatigable and her particular nature finally wears the judge down. She gets the action that she wants.

Most of the implications -- for instance, that you must pray with great energy even against the odds -- are clear enough. But I do have some questions:

- Why does a reader automatically take the role of the widow, not the judge?

- Why does even a male reader take the role of a female character, not the male one?

- Why does a judge reading this identify with the widow not the judge?

- Why is it that a judge who has just ("in his day job") ruled against a widow and hurt her, nevertheless, when he reads this parable, will always take her part and thus thinks of himself as widow, not judge?

- Is there any reason one should think of taking the role of judge instead, and perhaps consider oneself venal and stiff and deaf, also of course a bit bored? Does any of that describe any of us? Are we really good enough people to take the role of widow so offhandedly? Would it make sense to think of ourselves instead as the ones being importuned by voices we can't quite hear, or choose not to hear, voices that don't go away?

The parable then might be speaking to the very part of us that chooses not to hear it.

*