God is a chronic condition.
Like rain on Noah’s ark.
Like Jonah trying to out swim that whale.
Like Jacob wrestling that angel.
Like forty years in the wilderness.
Like gum on the shoe. Like smoke on a pig.
Like a tenacious widow pestering a corrupt judge.
God is a chronic condition.
The parable of the widow and the judge is about prayer, about never quitting, never ceasing, never losing heart. Pray always.
It is a funny story built on unexpected contrast, the powerless widow is in control, the almighty judge gives in, covering a bloody nose. Have you ever noticed how humor often works? That sudden juxtaposition of the unlikely?
It’s supposed to be a funny story.
Prayer is like that, a funny story.
God is like that, a funny story. Playful, creative, enjoying the humor of persistently contrasting the unlikely and the unexpected, the surprise of justice arriving from an unexpected direction. Relentlessly relentless…
Prayer is something belligerently demanding and expectant and stubborn, it is a chronic condition, never ceasing to demand justice in an unjust world, but don’t let the humor of the situation escape you.
Do you get it? Demanding justice in an unjust world? It’s funny.
Are we giving God a bloody nose by our persistence? That seems to be the expectation!
Or, is God driving us crazy by never quitting, never going away?
A funny story.
A chronic condition.
In the parables of our own lives, have we ever not been heard? Have we ever not listened? Have we ever lost heart? Have we lost the humor of God’s relentless pestering?
In the face of the impossible never quit. Do you get it? Standing up to the impossible? It’s funny.
Life is a parable of the cross and the resurrection, the humor, the contrast, of something amazing happening out of something so dark.
The laugh of surprised joy, the side-splitting hoot of resurrection, Jesus leaping out of the tomb with a belly laugh.
In the face of the impossible, laugh with joy.
God is a chronic condition. The Almighty Lord of Creation cares for little bitty us, wanting us to open our hearts. It’s funny. Do you get it?