The Principles of Prayer LVII

 To understand the level of callousness the judge exhibited, we must consider that in Israel during those times, a widow was expected to be supported by both society and the governing authorities. The widow was not marginalized, shunned, ignored, or otherwise discarded, but fed, tended to, cared for, and had her needs met. It’s something that had been part of the culture for centuries, and it continued into the practice of the early church, wherein they had an active and ongoing ministry to the widows of the time.

That a widow would stand before him seeking justice, and that he chose to deny her for no other reason than not feeling like it goes a long way into understanding both the heart and mind of this man. What injustice the widow suffered is unknown to us. It could have been anything from having her land taken from her by someone with means, being cheated out of something that was rightly hers, or being sold something that fell short of what had been promised. Those who prey on the naïve and unsuspecting have always been among us, and they seem to be multiplying of late.

That we have individuals who proudly state that their occupation is that of an influencer nowadays, trying to convince people to buy things they don’t need for price points they can’t afford, should tell you all you need to know about where society is headed and how far we’ve fallen. That it’s actively taking place within the household of faith, wherein believers are being targeted and victimized by those in authority, isn’t merely troubling, but abominable and repulsive because more often than not, the name of Jesus is being used to seal the deal and convince people to part with their hard-earned coin when they otherwise would not have.

By reading the parable, going back and forth between English and Romanian, I tend to believe that it wasn’t the widow who employed lawfare against her adversary, but the adversary who brought the case before the judge, hoping to get a favorable ruling. Unscrupulous individuals using the system to get what they want is likewise nothing new. Even if they know they’re in the wrong, even if they are in contravention of the laws of the land, countless frivolous lawsuits are being litigated every day throughout the nation. Whether it’s someone suing a fast food joint for making them fat, or for hot coffee being hot, the reason it keeps happening is because, enough of the time, justice is not dispensed, and those in power do not execute true justice but pervert it in favor of their ideology. When this occurs, resentment against the entire legal system and bitterness toward those in authority are a foregone conclusion, and the more it happens, the more these sentiments increase. When a majority no longer believes in the equal application of the law or that justice is blind, societal collapse is inevitable and only a matter of time.

Looking back, there always seems to be an instigating incident, but that’s just the straw that broke the camel’s back. The resentment and bitterness built up over months, if not years, and with each new act of injustice being presented as the height of justice itself, a little more is added to the cup. Then, that one thing that on its own seems innocuous and no more egregious than the previous hundred similar events sets off a chain reaction that is so uncharacteristic of the people of that time as to be remembered in the history books for the anomaly it was.

Whether it is revolutions, peasant uprisings, coups, or civil unrest, these things build up over time, and though the average citizen may say nothing as they witness injustice being meted out, it does not mean they do not see it for what it is.

Those who are students of history and understand the danger the masses pose are quick to gaslight and attempt to rewrite it in order to either minimize or mitigate their culpability in the pain and sense of unease their actions caused. They are unwilling to take accountability for their actions because they understand the deep level of despair and heartache they were responsible for, and claiming accountability would be akin to presenting the embittered masses with a target upon which they can pour out their displeasure.

Rather than admit they were wrong about their conclusions and that they mismanaged the situation to the point of criminality, they revert to the let bygones be bygones trope, insisting we were all a bit guilty for what happened. How so? I wasn’t calling for anyone’s forced internment or insisting that if a particular chemical compound was not proven to have been injected into someone’s arm, they should be refused medical service, no matter what their malady might be.

I wasn’t the one who legislated that hard-working people with stellar careers should be thrown out like so much rubbish because they didn’t want to bow their head, bend their knee, and do what they were told by a rickety man in adult diapers who everyone who was anyone insisted was as clear-thinking and learnt as Einstein himself even though all evidence pointed to the contrary.

Can we just forget about it already? Sure, you never got to say goodbye to your elderly parents as they died alone. Sure, you were fired from your job and made out to be a pariah who reveled in seeing others suffer. Sure, we called for your removal from polite society. Sure, we called for your death and fantasized about the pain you would endure before the end came, but hey, that was all yesterday. Today’s a new day, and we can be friends again until the next thing, where we will repeat our talking points all over again, and insist that you are a danger, a blight, an invasive species that seeks to disrupt the order of things and therefore must be dealt with quickly and with irreversible finality.  

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.