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The Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Almighty and everlasting God, who in Christ hast revealed thy glory among the nations: Preserve the works of thy mercy, that thy Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of thy Name; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 24)
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The Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost
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Scripture citation(s): Genesis 32:22-31; Luke 18:1-8
A Sermon by
The Rev. Canon Carl Turner
on
Genesis 32:22-31; Luke 18:1-8
✛
Actions, not blood, are indicators of loyalty.
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At our wedding, over 35 years ago, my wife chose a song to be sung by the music group of her old college – it was called ‘the Song of Ruth.’ The refrain after each verse were the words of Ruth to her mother-in-law, Naomi: “Wherever you must go I’ll be always at your side. Wherever you live you’ll find me there, for your God is mine.” [1]
I smile as I think of that now because my mother (Alison’s mother-in-law) was, at first, the epitome of all those ‘mother-in-law’ jokes that are so beloved of stand-up comedians. My mother was, at first, suspicious of welcoming my wife into the family, and still saw me as her blue-eyed boy (even though my eyes are green) but Alison didn’t give up and, to my horror, by the end of my mother’s life the two of them seemed to have a secret bond and were a force to be reckoned with!
In The Hobart lecture, last Wednesday, Pádraig Ó Tuama, opened our eyes to the Book of Ruth and how it is a book so relevant to the world we are currently living in – a world of border crossings and arguments over immigration: Who belongs; who can stay; who can be trusted. I have to say that he opened my eyes to a deeper way of reading the Book of Ruth. I was struck by something that Padraig said:
There are questions about loyalties of citizenship: the Book of Ruth proposes that action, not blood, are indicators of loyalty. Actions not only of kindness, but also of deep knowledge, intellectual and legal challenge. [2]
Actions, not blood, are indicators of loyalty.
I remember when my dad was dying of a horrible cancer, and how my wife practically cared for him and helped my mum through some very difficult times. She kind of put into practice the refrain from that song from our wedding all those years before: “Wherever you must go I’ll be always at your side. Wherever you live you’ll find me there, for your God is mine.”
Actions, not blood, are indicators of loyalty.
So, intellectual and legal challenge brings us to today’s Gospel reading. The judge, in today’s gospel parable, was unjust. According to the Torah, he should have been impartial, attuned to the commandments of God and not open to bribery or corruption by powerful people. In particular, the judge was to protect the weakest in society; the poor and the marginalised; and that included the aliens and the refugees, as well as Jewish widows and orphans. But Jesus describes a judge who was unfaithful to that tradition and had a disconnect with the very people that he was called to serve: “There was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people.” Enter the widow. Widows, as I have already suggested, were some of the weakest and poorest in society; in fact, they were often considered to be the most in need. The Torah places them alongside the orphans as needing help because, quite literarily, in a patriarchal society, they had lost everything. Think of the pitiful story of the widow of Nain; she was grieving, with a large crowd accompanying her to the cemetery. Luke tells us “He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow.” (see Luke 7:11-17) Luke has no need to say any more.
The Torah placed strict instructions on those who had power and authority, and those who were chosen to sit as judges over the people in their affairs. We read in the Book of Deuteronomy, “You shall appoint judges …You must not distort justice; you must not show partiality; and you must not accept bribes, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those who are in the right. Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue…” (Deuteronomy 16:18-20)
How significant that Pádraig Ó Tuama suggested that it was Ruth the Moabite who acted like one of the Judges in her story. How poignant it is that it is a widow, an immigrant, and one who had to navigate a border-crossing who became the grandmother of King David.
One might think that this parable of Jesus is all about the contrast between power and poverty; injustice and people’s rights; but Luke tells us that the parable is not so much about the exercise of power as persistence in prayer: “Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.” So why the widow? Why not someone experienced in prayer, such as a priest, or a Levite, or a scribe, or a pharisee? In choosing the widow, Jesus turned the concept of power and status on its head for the widow asserts herself and is the one who, ultimately, claims the power denied to her by the unjust judge – the one who has nothing, knows her rights under the law, and asserts herself so that the unjust judge in the end, although reluctantly, affords her respect and dignity.
Actions, not blood, are indicators of loyalty.
Imagine if Winston Churchill had admitted defeat and appeased Hitler when Britain became so isolated at the beginning of the Second World War because Nazi Germany was more powerful and winning the war. Imagine if Martin Luther King Jr. had given up the cause for racial justice and equality because those in power had no respect for him. Imagine if Rosa Parks had given up her seat on the bus, or, more importantly, had lost hope during the yearlong boycott of Montgomery buses as the challenge to her arrest went through the courts. Imagine if Oscar Romero had avoided preaching against the death squads of El Salvador because of the threats to his own life. Imagine if Nelson Mandela had thrown in the towel as he languished for 28 years in a damp prison cell. Imagine if Harvey Milk had stayed quiet about discriminatory practices in San Francisco because gay, lesbian, and transgendered people should have no voice; imagine if Mother Teresa and her sisters had given up washing and feeding the poor unfortunates they found on the streets of Calcutta because most of them died anyway.
Actions, not blood, are indicators of loyalty.
In our first lesson we heard of Jacob striving with God. He did not give up; he held on; he would not let go. Now, he was a pretty shady character when we think about it, having stolen his brother’s birthright, but his journey was one of striving and not giving up. Striving is hard and costly; at the end of his night of anguish, Jacob left Peniel limping. Perhaps, though, that helped him come to terms with his mistakes.
In the Baptismal covenant we read “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people,’ – not some people, not my people, but all people; it goes on to say ‘and respect the dignity of every human being?” Not some human beings, not the human beings that I like, or who look like me, or agree with me, but all human beings which takes me back to the sermon I preached on our Feast of Dedication and the words of Bishop Michael Curry: “we are called to become the Beloved Community whose way of life is the way of Jesus and his way of love.” [3]
Notice that the Baptismal Covenant does not suggest that it will be easy or that we will see success. We are asked if we will strive for justice and peace; and it is hard; and we will make mistakes along the way; but Jesus tells us never to give up and to be persistent: “Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.”
Some more words of Pádraig Ó Tuama:
To lead a place of reconciliation is to think of the stories that have been disregarded, that have been discarded, cast away, considered peripheral, or
ignorable, and to know that people who have lived fragmented lives need
to have their edges re-enlivened. Stories of hatred and stories of survival,
stories of hope and stories of dreams where dignity is a reality. Reconciling
involves making mistakes while trying to do good. Sometimes bad mistakes. [4]
Question: Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
Answer: I will, with God’s help.
To which we could add:
And actions, not blood, are indicators of loyalty.
Sermon Audio
References
| ↑1 | Hymn lyrics ‘The Song of Ruth’ by Anthony Sharpe |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | The Hobart Lecture, New York, October 15, 2025 |
| ↑3 | ‘The Most Rev. Michael Curry: Statement on the 20th Anniversary of 9/11 in New York. |
| ↑4 | The Place Between’ by Pádraig Ó Tuama from ‘Neither Here no There – The Many Voices of Liminality’ edited by Timothy Carson, p.17 |
