Words 2.5.23

 Words Once A Week             2.5.23

Some introductory thoughts on some of the lectionary texts for this Sunday – Fifth after Epiphany

Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)  

+ Israel complaining that God does not seem to be responding to their piety!

+ fasting, valid and invalid

+ invalid is self-centered, oppresses others (workers), leads to quarrels and fights, puts on sackcloth and ashes and acts humble (so as not to do anything?)

+ valid is confronting injustice, freeing the oppressed, feeding the hungry, housing the poor, clothing the naked, not hiding yourself from your own kin.  (That last seems a little different – worth thinking about.

+ the result of valid fasting (worship) would be to transform Israel into a watered garden, a re-builder of ruins, a restored of the streets.  Wow – where are the gardens that need to be watered today?  What ruins in our culture, community, government need to be rebuilt?  If the streets were restored, would we know and connect with our neighbors?

+ PRCL: a critique of worship, not to do away with it, but to allow worship to shape the rest of life.  So – does our worship help us live out or faith, or is it merely going through the motions. Is it sometimes one and sometimes the other.  Do we have to do a certain amount of “going through the motions” to be ready for the transformation when it comes?

+Texts 

+ Israel might be doing elaborate and passionate worship, but it disregards the character and intention of God – so what is the “character and intention of God”?  I think love and a longing for conversation, community.

+ the wrong kind of religious busyness.

+ note “yokes” represent “power arrangements”.  What “power arrangements” are part of our lives?

+ Note both here and in the psalm – the issue is a life rooted not in ritual but in justice and compassion.

+ note that the new spirituality is really quite material!

Psalm 112:1-9 (10)  

+ an acrostic psalm, as was Ps 111 before it.

+ blessing leads to getting rich leads to fairness, kindness, good.  Unless it gets short-circuited along the way.  What causes that to happen in our lives – greed, desire for comfort, laziness, fear of scarcity?

+ John Wesley said “earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can.”  Again, we too often stop someplace along the way!  I knew a person – not particularly a church person, either – who was just always quick to hand out a $20 bill whenever an issue came up.  I think it probably created a nice attitude of gratitude and generosity in his life.

+ “those who freely lend and are honest in business – bad news won’t bother them”  -  the stock market news will not trouble them.  Or, those who drive the speed-limit never have to worry about passing a parked police car!  Set the cruise-control at the speed-limit and relax!

+ lending to meet human need – through Kiva?

+ light and darkness – we are reading how those are all mixed up in Barbara Brown Taylor’s book, Learning to Walk in the Darkness.

Matthew 5:13-20 

+ you are the salt of the earth – but salt can loose it’s saltiness.  Actually, the chemical compound is remarkably stable, but in early days it was often gathered with and polluted by other stuff that could spoil and make the “salt” unuseable.

+ light – can’t be hidden.  Well again, Barbara Brown Taylor is deep in a cave where “physical light” is hidden, experiencing different kinds of “light experience”.  Can kindness bring “light” to a lonely person, even in the daylight, even at night?

+ so discipleship is not meant to be private piety, but obvious to all.  (Does this conflict with words about prayer, fasting, giving alms that are coming up?)

+ what about good deeds done by unfaithful people?  “Whoever gives a cup of water…..”

+ how does this mountain experience resonate with Moses on Mt Sinai – a fulfillment, a completion, not an abrogation?  The good news is that we can keep the law, not as “religious busyness” but as practices that resonate with the character and intention of God.

+ PRCL -

+ “you are the salt” - both an observation and a commission;

+ “you are the light” – simply be what we are and we will be recognizable.  Personal faith must be lived out with noticeable consequences, but such a life is not possible without personal piety.

+ a confession – we come to church too often to be served, rather than to be made servants. Again, something short-circuits the process somewhere along the line.

And finally, a prayer -

Eternal God,

you make us salt 

  to season conversations with all people;

you make us light 

  to shine for those suffering loneliness, injustice, and discouragement;

Let this prayer spill over and out of our thoughts

to water the garden around us, 

  to restore the ruins, 

    to rebuild the streets.

And may all the attention, praise, glory reflect from our lives to yours.

That’s what I got for now……..

Words 1.26.23 Fourth Epiphany

Words Once A Week                1.26.23    

Some introductory thoughts on some of the lectionary texts for this Sunday – Fourth after Epiphany

Micah 6.1-8   What does the Lord require of you?

+ a conversation -

   vs 1  God calls Israel

   vs 2  God calls the creation (mountains and foundations of earth) to witness

   vs 3-5  God’s complaint about Israel’s behavior

   vs 6-7  Israel’s response – fear, progresses from reasonable to ludicrous

   vs 8  Micah’s proclamation of what God really wants

+ what has God done for Israel?  What has God done for us?  How is our life today what God wants it to be?  How is it lacking?

+ note specific complaints are not listed in this passage?  Assume from the “justice, kindness, righteousness” of vs 8?  Look elsewhere n Micah?  “wicked scales” of vs 11?  “violence, lies” of vs 12.  Look up Balak, Balaam, Shittim, Gilgal?  Apparently reading through Micah (and/or some good commentary!) would at least be a good place to start.  

+ does the setting mirror a courtroom, or international treaty situation, or disturbance in the worshipping community?  (PRCL suggests the latter! - noting cultic images of vs 6-7.  So the underlying issue might be “who is allowed to approach the Lord if apostacy and wickedness are rampant in cult and community?”  Can we think of contemporary issues?)

+ justice, kindness, and humility are not deeds we can do to meet qualifications, but are qualities we acquire (through worship?) in God’s salvation.

+ so “there is no salvation outside the worshipping community”(?)  Does “nature worship qualify?”

+ salvation is not ethics but transformation.  Note that Ps 15 presents ethics as “the other side of the coin”, or “the rest of the story”!

Psalm 15   Who is righteous?

+ a list of 11 qualifications.  Lists like this don’t really work so well for me, even when they get developed into a sermon series!

Matthew 5.1-12  The Sermon on the Mount begins with the Beattitudes

+ context: Jesus gets baptized, goes into and comes out of the wilderness, begins his ministry (to fulfill what Isaiah had said) by proclaiming “Repent, the time of God’s Peace is beginning/has begun”, calls four disciples (who leave nets(tools!) and family), goes about through Galilee preaching/speaking, healing, attracting crowds.  Then (5.1) “seeing the crowds he went up the mountain, his disciples came to him.”

+ so, is this just a few folks?  Or have the crowds followed even here?  Note 7.28 (the end of the sermon as Matthew has fashioned it) – “the crowds were astounded…”  [or Swanson “were driven out of their minds”!] Who are these people?  Where did they come from?  Is Matthew’s narrative meant to be taken literally, or does this represent development over the whole of Jesus’ ministry, even death and resurrection and birth of the church?

+ Jesus “blesses” the hearers.  This is blessing, not exhortation.  We don’t need to try to become poor in spirit!

+ note “you” is plural throughout – this is communal.

+ “They will be”  -  “divine passive”, God wills this to be done?

+ the word translated blessed, happy, fortunate is apparently not as clear as we might hear it.  Swanson translates “Godlike in happiness…”  Awkward, but throught-provoking.

+ verses seem to vary between “more spiritualized” and “more reality-based”

+ the whole list develops from “poor in spirit” to “being persecuted, hunted down, killed”

+ merciful shall receive mercy – does not mean “this for that”, rather that “grace begets grace, violence leads to violence.”

+ those who mourn – will be comforted, will be told to cheer up, will be called as witnesses.  Apparently they are all valid translations.  Just goes to show that we do not understand as completely as we thought!

Finally a prayer -

God of the Mountains, of the foundations of Earth, and by extension, 

of the brilliance of stars and galaxies, 

of the darkness and emptiness of space -

come to us as we stumble through life,

confused, self-concerned, even wicked.

Turn us towards justice, kindness, and humility,

that we might walk in confidence and in peace

with you.

That’s what I got for now……..

Words 12.18.22 Fourth Advent

 

Words Once A Week 12.14.22

Some introductory thoughts on some of the lectionary texts for this Sunday – Fourth of Advent

(And I am on this cruise and don’t have any books, so it’s mostly just a few thoughts and more questions than I like, but there you are!)

Isaiah 7:10-16

+ so who was Ahaz? Why won’t he ask God for a sign when God tells him to?

+ the “young woman” is pregnant – nothing to see here, except that any pregnancy is a wonderful, sacred event.

+ so the child is going to grow up, which God identifies as “knowing the difference between good and evil and choosing good”. Before that happens the two enemy kings will be gone, and so the land will produce milk and honey for the child to eat.

+ does this have anything to do with Jesus?

+ does this have anything to do with us? What about the young men and women who are having children, or considering it, today? What will the world be by the time they grow up?

+ does “learning to choose the good” describe “growing up” for you? And then, how grown up are we?

+ what kind of signs does God show us today?

Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19

+ “stir up your might and come and save us”! On the one hand, we certainly have in mind “Come and bash the Russians, or at least Putin, for what is happening in Ukraine. Because anything we do seems fairly ineffective. On the other hand, we don’t really understand that God “comes to bash people”, no matter what we might wish. So….what do we want God to do? What does God want us to do?

+ how might this sound different to us and to people getting bashed in Ukraine?

+ who is eating the bread of tears today? What kind of bread are we eating? Well, on this cruise we are eating really good breads – it’s hard to stop. It’s definitely not the bread of tears – at least not our tears. Do we eat the bread of someone else’ tears?

Matthew 1:18-25

+ Margie just started reading a book (Without a Map) about a teenager, good kid, good student in the 60’s who got pregnant and was ostracized by her community and family. At least that’s what Margie has told me it is about. Sounds rugged.

+ So we hear about Joseph’s reaction and response – how is Mary feeling about all this?

+ does this really sound like a fulfillment of what was “spoken by the Lord through the prophet”? Or is that kind of a stretch?

Stir up your might, Lord;

come and bless all of your children

with the knowing of good from evil,

and that all might eat bread of health and happiness,

help us choose the good.

That’s what I got for now……..

Words 11.3.22

 Words Once A Week          11.3.22

Some introductory thoughts on some of the lectionary texts for this Sunday - Nov 6, 2022  (Proper 27)

(and just some of my initial thoughts this week.  And I might not make it for next week – we are going to be gone - )

Haggai 1:15b-2:9 

+ vs2:3 “Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing?”  Wow – an interesting word for the church (and country) today in a couple of different ways.  How does it strike you?  Interesting that the “Daily Dig” email bit from Plough this morning was a piece by William Willimon about how the disciples were essentially “yokels”.

+ God will “shake the nations” so that the silver and gold will come to Israel – kind of like tipping someone over and shaking the money out of their pockets!  On the other hand, maybe it’s time to pass on the silver and gold and go right to the other “rare earth metals” used in batteries!

Job 19:23-27a  from the alternate track, just because we don’t often read from Job

+ “O that my words were written down on rock, in lead, with an iron pen…”  My words are written down on flash drives and in the cloud.  Don’t know which is more permanent.  I remember one writer talking about how in the early days he was always concerned to get everything copy-writed and protected, then in later years he felt like standing on the street corner and trying to give his pages away to anyone who would read them.  Some of both in me, I guess.

+ then I spent an hour or so this week trying to take the “write protected” property off of some labels!

+ I know that my Redeemer lives!

Luke 20:27-38

+ the Sadducees – they were “sad, you see” – because they didn’t believe in the resurrection. Of course this was before Jesus rose.  (Or did the story maybe come from after the Resurrection?  I don’t know; I’ll have to look that up.)

+ Anyway, “One bride for seven brothers” – and if she has anything to say about it, she is not going to be anyone’s wife in heaven!  (Or maybe that’s to cynical a view of marriage – maybe she would enjoy being with all seven!  Let’s hope so!)

+ what do we think about the resurrection?  About an afterlife?

That’s what I got for now……..

Words 10.27.22

 Words Once A Week          

Some introductory thoughts on some of the lectionary texts for this Sunday - 21st after Pentecost

Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4 

+ context – The verses are a conversation between Habukkuk and God.  Habakkuk laments/pleads with God that civilization is coming apart.  Violence, lawlessness, cruelty, crime are all around.  “God, if you are righteous, why is this happening, whjy are you letting this happen?”  God responds (in vs5-11) that God will send the Babylonians (who are already threatening Israel) to destroy (to punish?).  Habakkuk notes (in vs 12-17) that the Babylonians are even worse.  Why would God support them?  As Habukkuk waits (to see) on the watchtower, God replies that he should write the message/vision clearly, simply, “bumpersticker-style” so that even someone running by (escaping from the Babylonians?) could read it – “The future is secure for those who live by faith.”

+ “a world of evil presided over by a righteous God does not admit a solution based on logic.  Rather, insight comes through faith.”  -Texts

+ so where does that leave us?  Do we believe the future is dependable enough for us to (continue to?) live well, kindly, respectfully, law-abiding?  Is that adequate for the folks in Ukraine?  In Haiti?

Psalm 119:137-144    

+ again this acrostic song of praise/thanks for God’s teachings, law, “what you say”.

+ vs 143 – “I am in deep distress, but I love your teachings” – because they reassure me? Distract me? Challenge me?

+ note “righteousness” used five times.

+ so like Habakukk, the psalmist sees righteousness of God, unrighteousness around him/her, and trusts God for the future.  What would it mean for us to do that?  Simply wait?  Work while we wait?  Understand that we don’t see the whole picture (note Swanson on the gospel below)

2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12  

+ Paul praises Thessalonians for patient faithfulness in trouble, and prays for God’s power to keep them.

+ note vs5-10 identify this as a question about the Parousia, the coming of the time of God’s peace, and if it has come, will come?  And what should be our attitude towards it.

+ “Christianity is not an individualistic existance – we live a life of faith in relation to other believers and in relation to God.  We are called as church to be located in this world, but we have true identity and live in the presence and power of God.”

+ but what is “the power of God”?

+ and just a note that in Greek, vs3-12 is all one long run-on sentence.

Luke 19:1-10

+ Zaccheus was a wee little man…  well, was he?  There has been some scholarly debate about whether “he was short” replies to Zaccheus or to Jesus!  Probably don’t need to take that tooo seriously.

+ However, this is a story that is so familiar and so laden with preconceived notions that it takes some effort to see it clearly.

+ Zaccheus was another of the collaborators with the Roman occupiers, like the tax collector for a week or two back, and like Levi in 5.27.

+ Jericho is Jesus’ last stop before entering Jerusalem.  Just the story of ten servants between Zaccheus and “Go into the village and find a young donkey…”

+ v8  Zaccheus “makes good” – is this why he is saved, or because he was saved?  And here is another little bit that almost leads to to get back to studying Greek – does Zaccheus say “I will give…” or does he say “I am giving…”, and if it is the latter, does that mean he has been doing this all along.  It seems unlikely, but then we come to the story thinking we know it already.  

+ note the rich young ruler (18.18) either didn’t give away his wealth, or gave it away with sadness.  Zacchaus gives “with joy”.  How about us?

+ vs5 – does Jesus say “I want to, I must, I am... Come to your house.”?

+ note Zaccheus starts our seeking Jesus, but then we find out that Jesus has been seeking him all along.

+ Swanson – three ritual spheres  1) separation/exclusion, 2) hospitality, 3) caring for the poor (“binding the creation back together”)

+ so has Zaccheus been caring for the poor all along and is in fact a true son of Abraham, even though we didn’t see it?  Again, unlikely, but still suggests that we do not know who people really are.   Worth thinking about anyway.  And a new take on an old story.

That’s what I got for now……..

Words 10.20.22

 Words Once A Week             10.20.22

Some introductory thoughts on some of the lectionary texts for this Sunday - 20th after Pentecost

Joel 2:23-32 

+ the aftermath of the locust invasion!

+ “the day of the Lord” – typically seen as a time of judgment.  Joel turns it to a day of salvation as well.  Preaching the Revised Common lectionary says the day of the Lord is “not a day as such, but a definite divine event in time, an action by God that determines the character of the world.”

+ “God has sent the autumn and spring rains.”  So – how much do we attribute climate and weather to God, how much to ourselves?  If we attribute drought to human activity, should we hold God responsible for the rain?  How has this idea of God active in creation since humans have pretty much overwhelmed it all?

+ some nice lines about God’s spirit coming to all – sons and daughters, oldsters and young folks.  What dreams and visions do our children have?  How much attention do we pay to them?

+ so the structure of Joel has been a warning, the response (rend your hearts), and redemption.  Nice.

+ 2 creation oracles -

  vs21  tell the soil to celebrate!  I don’t think our farmlands are celebrating, actually.  With pesticides, herbicides, erosion, dust storms.  But if the autumn and spring rains do come, that will help.  I like the image of the desert blooming after a rain!  Grain and oil and wine – sounds like a good lunch to me!

  vs25  Israel will recover from the locusts!  There was a piece (New York Times?) about how there is only one player using an ash bat in the playoffs – partly because of the emerald ash borer!  Are the ash trees recovering?

+ another couple of nice lines about how “God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”

+ vs32 – those who call on God...and...those whom God has called.  Life is a conversation.

Psalm 65  

+ We are called to praise God.  We and “all flesh” (vs2).  Does that mean all people?  All animals?  Do animals have cause to praise God, considering the lives they are living, the way human existence has impacted them?

+ Interesting collection of images – God is strong, awesome, powerful, yet experienced in the gentle spring rains and flowering meadows.  Are those conflicting, or can gentle and lovely also be strong?

+ one writer notes the call to praise God can be an important corrective – “often times in our secular culture gratitude is actually self-congratulations.  (See gospel lesson!)

2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18  (ok – finally sat down and read it, so here are a few things that came to mind as I read the whole letter)

+ ”Have you been to jail for justice” – it’s a song by Four Shillings Short

+ “I know whom I have believed” - it’s a hymn!

+ “Turn your eyes upon Jesus” – also a hymn

+ “Onward Christian Soldiers” – well, yeah, it’s a hymn too.  Questionable one.

+ Each one tell one – social media?  Paul speaks of “followers who can be trusted to tell others.”  Does that mean “followers who can be trusted” or “trusted to tell others”?  Who do you trust?

+ 2.13  “If we are not faithful, he will still be faithful.”  Does this conflict with 2.12 “he will deny that he knows us” – or is that in fact being faithful, true?

+ “Don’t argue about words” – Ursela K LeGuin writes about playing with words.  Paul in fact spent much of his time arguing?  Was he arguing about ideas, not words? Did he finally come to think arguing didn’t work?

+ “In the last days” – do the last days come from God of do we cause them?  Or what if we cause “last days” to come before God’s “last days” happen?

+ “people will love only themselves and money” – They will be stuck-up.  Anybody come to mind?

+ “All scriptures are inspired by God”, “Everything in them is God’s word” (CEB)  Everything?

+ Preaching  !) correct people, point out sins and 2) cheer them up, patiently teach

+ “They will look for teachers who will tell them what they want to hear.”  Well, that’s why I listen to NPR instead of Fox!

+ Lectionary skips over 9-15, people and places.  But how does God come to us if not through people and places.

+ from PRCL   “Friends and colleagues have abandoned him or are a great distance from him.”  Paul is alone.

Luke 18:9-14    The Tax Collector and the Pharisee

+ another one of these stories that we have heard so often and know so well that it is really hard to actually catch what Jesus might have been saying.  Richard Swanson will help us hear it afresh below.

+ comes right after The Unrighteous Judge and “Will the Son of Man find faith” – so Luke lines up three pray-ers – the widow, the Pharisee, the Tax Collector.

+ Would Jesus’ comment be a surprise?  Who are the Pharisees in your life, The Tax Collectors, or how/when do you behave like either.  Careful now – remember we have heard this story so often that we know who the “good guy” is.  Don’t rush to judge!

+ note there is some question about the Pharisee – was he “standing off by himself” or was he “praying to himself” (and that can be taken a couple of ways.)

+ we notice that the Pharisee details his faithfulness, using a lot of “I’s”; Is he asking for God’s confirmation?

+ the Tax Collector gives a simple confession – no long line of failures!

+ so, Swanson -

  - he notes that as the story begins, the Pharisee would have been the expected hero in Jesus’ day.  The Pharisees had after all preserved the faith during Roman occupation.  And they did it by holding fast to the tradition and rules.  So is he a little boastful, perhaps.  Or perhaps we have put that label on him.

  - the Tax Collector was a collaborator with the occupying forces.  What does that bring to mind?

  - Swanson notes that both were honest and correct in their self-descriptions, and that there is no suggestion that either would change.  The Pharisee went home to continue his ultra-faithfulness, the Tax Collector went home to continue to collaborate with the occupying forces. They were both probably fairly well dressed, fairly secure in their lives.

 - so the Pharisee’s fault is – he sees a separation between himself and the Tax Collector, even though they are both Jews, both of the host of Israel.  The Pharisee “fractures the host of Israel”, just what the “divide and conquer” occupiers want him to do.

+ and it also connects with Jesus’ question about faith on earth.  

+ so how does that resonate with our political environment today?  Is “the other side” doing the “divide and conquer” routine or is it the forces of evil that are doing it to all of us?

That’s what I got for now……..

Words 10.13.22

 Words Once A Week          10.13.22

Some introductory thoughts on some of the lectionary texts for this Sunday – Nineteenth after Pentecost

Jeremiah 31:27-34 

+ “sowing with the seed of humans and of animals” – interesting concept.  We plucked up the weeds and sowed our garden beds with the seed of a cover crop – rye.  We’re not sure if we are going to garden next year or just let it all lie fallow, but sooner or later with will dig in the cover crop and sow with the seed of tomatoes and beans, and potatoes and onions and squash and more.

+ from Texts for Preaching, “the land will again teem with both animal and human life.”  Well, a report on NPR said that according to World Wildlife Fund, animal populations have declined by 69% since 1970.

+ Jeremiah turns the “Day of the Lord” image from destruction (Amos) to blessing.

+ “The parents have eaten...and the children’s teeth…”  Seems to me that our kids and grandkids are still going to suffer from our climate actions, and political actions, and economic actions.

+ this “New Covenant”.  Is it really different from the “Old Covenant”?  How, besides the fact that it will be “written on the heart”?  And what’s that mean when it’s at home?  Has God written anything on your heart?

Psalm 119:97-104  

+ ok, psalm 119, a big long acrostic where most stanzas mention 7 or 8 different terms for the law.

+ the importance of knowing God’s law/vision/rules for having a happy life.  What else is it important to know – cultural practices, social expectations, etc.  What happens with folks to deviate from the practices and expectations, even if they are doing it in harmony with God’s law?

+ How has knowing God’s law made your life different?  Would following God’s law lead to a happy, pleasant, meaningful life?

+ “for the psalmist, happiness means being connected to ther true source of life.”

+ “true knowledge is not achieved through detachment and ‘objectivity’. Rather, the wisdom that ultimately matters begins with passionate involvement with God and commitment to God’s values.”  When we were going to war with Iraq, we were encouraged to “trust the people who knew things.”  But we as people of faith also know things, and maybe even more important things.

Alternate track

Genesis 32:22-31 and Psalm 121  

Wrestling Jacob – “Come, O thou Traveler unknown….”  Charles Wesley hymn

And “I lift up my eyes to the hills….”

Both really nice.

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5  Getting ready to read it tomorrow.

Luke 18:1-8   This judge

+ what do you think – dishonest, corrupt, wicked, malleable?  What word would you use? One writer notes that if the judge “does not respect one person over another”, that kind of sounds like a “just” judge!  What about “gracious”?  What kind of a world would this judge shape?

+ one writer calls this a “delightful and humorous story”, and talks about how the faithful would sometimes see their world in terms of the widow, sometimes in terms of the judge.  Do you see one or the other in your world?

+ a line in Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary – “the point of the parable is clear”. Wait – if the point is clear, either it’s not a parable or we haven’t paid enough attention to it. The interesting stories/parables are the ones that aren’t particularly clear!

+ literary context – note that this comes a little ways after 17.20 where the Pharisees ask when the Kingdom of God/the Time of God’s Peace will come.  The faithful have been praying “Thy kingdom come” for a long time.  It’s important to keep praying, Jesus says, even though the Kingdom doesn’t really seem to be getting here!  

+ And that it is followed by the Tax Collector and the Pharisee, and some other stories about people doing not just saying.  One writer says if you want to know who a person is and what they believe, watch their feet not their mouths.

+ ok, we don't get those last two points if we are just reading off the website or the bulletin insert. Important to now and then actually get out the book!

+ “Prayer is the occasion for honesty about oneself and generosity about others.”

+ “The parable is not a commitment that God will gie us what we want, unless what we want is in line with the character of God.”  The widow wanted justice, and that’s what she got.

+ the punctuation is a little unclear.  Swanson translates something like

Jesus said -

  Hear what the unjust judge says -

   “God will never avenge the chosen ones,

    God will surely delay over them.”

  I say to you, 

   “God will avenge them quickly”.

  But when the son of man comes, will he find faithfulness on earth?

+ so after all of the talk about when and how long, the real question is “will the faithful persevere?”

That’s what I got for now……(time to read 2 Timothy!)..