Will not God vindicate his elect, who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily. (Luke 18:7-8)
 

Luke 18:1-8

It is possible that this parable appeared in Luke’s Gospel to partly explain why the expected parousia—the end of time—seemed to be delayed. People were hoping that Jesus would return, that justice would be dispensed, that the virtuous would be rewarded, and the sinners punished. But this had not happened, thirty or more years after Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension. The Christians in Rome had already been persecuted by Nero by the time the Gospel was written, and were probably wondering how long that would continue.

Clearly, God is not like the unjust judge, who keeps the widow waiting out of disdain for her pitiful state. It is not the nature of our compassionate God to watch idly as people suffer. God has not simply got up and walked away from the Earth and all its inhabitants. Perhaps there are other reasons why our long-awaited vindication is not happening as soon as we anticipate.

We are likely looking forward to the wrong things. Perhaps we are expecting the world to end when there is no apparent physical reason for it to do so. (Certainly, the way we are destroying the planet, it is becoming less habitable for many creatures, including human beings.) God put the laws of physics in place and is not simply going to overturn those laws because we are impatient for the end of time. Nor does God discernibly interfere with social dynamics or the way power is used and misused in societies.

However, every organism has a limited lifespan. So our moment of truth and justice will most likely be at our death, when our lives will all make sense with their graces and failures. Whenever or however our vindication comes, we believe that God is a God of love, compassion and justice and understands us better than we understand ourselves. In Paul’s language, we have been justified already by Jesus. So the justice of God is not something to be feared. And unlike human justice, there can be no miscarriage of divine justice.

How am I acting justly, loving tenderly and walking humbly with our God?

Reflections by Peter Knox SJ

Lord, 
God of justice and compassion,
let me be patient for your time and season, and not be impatient with your justice.
Let me trust always that my redeemer lives.
Amen.

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