Today's Card: A Woman's Wisdom on Your Behalf

From the story of the Persistent Widow

This is a story told . . . not a woman in and of herself, historical, who walked the earthy; rather, one who was part of a parable Jesus told. She is no less significant because of such. She deserves our attention, our admiration, and our amazement, to be sure!

Her story:

Jesus told his disciples a parable: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. There was also a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

“For some time, the judge refused, but finally said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

Jesus then said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. Will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?”

It’s a strange little story, interpreted more ways that I can count (or care to recount). Let’s just look at her, shall we? Not the teller of the story, nor the judge; the woman herself.

The obvious characteristic we witness is her persistence—her refusal to give up or back down. It is worth naming that because she was a widow (and a woman) she would have had no rights, no support, no resources, and too-often, no home. She would have been an outcast and an outsider. She could have, I suppose, just given up when she didn’t receive justice, but instead, she remains unwilling to stop asking/demanding what she deserves.