“Give Thanks!” For What Exactly?

Now that we’ve looked at our lazy, stubborn judge, let’s consider the widow. All we know is that she is relentless. Convinced of the merits of her case (again, a case about which we actually know nothing), she returns again and again to this judge on whom she is forced to depend. Maybe this time . . . maybe next.

We know this woman too, do we not? Our mothers and grandmothers who kept food on the table and a roof over our heads even when they seemed to have no resources. Those like Harriet Tubman who refused to remain safely free while others toiled in bondage. Those like the suffragettes who claimed women’s full citizenship and equality, including the right to vote. Those like Rosa Parks who have challenged unjust laws. Those like Stacey Abrams who continue the struggle still against voter suppression so that our democracy works for all citizens. The mothers of the disappeared and the incarcerated, and those killed by state-sanctioned police brutality too. And so many more—most of them nameless. They refuse simple comfort; they want to be heard; they want the particular injustice to be acknowledged and rectified: “Say Her Name!” Just so, “in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more” (Matt. 2:18).

We “need to pray always and not lose heart.” So that’s what we try to do. The question is this: For what and for whom do we summon the tenacity and resilience to cry continuously, to act strategically, to petition effectively both divine and earthly powers?