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| Image by Pexels from Pixabay |
At church this morning I was leading the kids group for the five- to seven-year olds. We are studying parables at the moment - the short and punchy stories that Jesus told. Today's was about the persistent widow, who kept on going to the judge's house to demand justice.
As I read it, echoes of The Very Hungry Caterpillar came into my head: "...and he was STILL hungry!" as well as images from We're Going on a Bear Hunt: "Mud! Thick, oozy mud!"
So here is the version of The Persistent Widow that Jesus would, I am sure, have told, if his audience had been a group of infant school kids. They seemed to enjoy it. I hope you do too.
If you have a small child to help with the knocks and the "No!"s, so much the better.
The Very Persistent Widow
Lydia was a widow. That means her husband had died. She didn’t have any children, so she lived all by herself.
Now someone had done something wrong to Lydia. Maybe someone had stolen Lydia’s money. Maybe they were threatening to make Lydia leave her house. Whatever it was, Lydia knew it was wrong. And she wanted to make it right. She wanted justice.
Lydia knew where the local judge lived. Surely he would make it right.
Although he was known to be a bit grumpy.
Still, Lydia was brave. She went and knocked on his door. “I need justice,” she said.
“No,” said the judge. “I won’t help you.”
But there was no one else who could help Lydia. “Right,” she thought. “Whatever it takes, I’m going to make that judge listen to me.”
On Monday, it was raining. Lydia splashed through the puddles and knocked on the door one time.
But the judge said: “No!”
On Tuesday, it was hailing. Lydia put a pillow over her head to keep the hail off and knocked on the door two times.
But the judge said: “No!”
On Wednesday, it was snowing. Lydia got out her big boots to stomp through the snow and knocked on the door three times.
But the judge said: “No!”
On Thursday, the snow had turned to ice. Lydia put on her ice skates and skated to the judge’s house. She knocked on the door four times.
But the judge said: “No!”
On Friday, the ice melted, and there was a flood! Lydia got out her old canoe and paddled to the judge's house. She knocked on the door five times.
But the judge said: “No!”
On Saturday, the floods had gone down. Lydia knocked on the door at 7:00, and 8:00, and 9:00, and 10:00, and 11:00, and 12:00 … all the way through to the evening.
But the judge still said: “No!”
On Sunday morning, it was a beautiful sunny day. Lydia went over to the judge’s house one more time. She raised her hand to knock on the door…
“All right! All right!” cried the judge. I’ll do whatever you ask. Just please stop knocking on my door!”
So Lydia got everything made right, just because she wouldn’t stop knocking at the judge’s door.
Jesus said, “Aren’t you glad God’s not like that? He’s a loving father, not a grumpy old judge. We know that he loves to answer his children’s prayers. So when your prayers aren’t answered as quickly as you’d like, remember Lydia. If she could keep knocking at that grumpy old judge’s door, you can keep praying to your heavenly Father until he does what you ask.”
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