footnotes.

# In the parable of the persistent widow Martin Collins begins to speak of another parable that Jesus teaches called, the parable of the persistent friend. After analyzing both there comes a conclusion more based from what is just written in the text that it is trying to teach the reader the power of prayer. It shows that no matter how a widow or friend may be in a bad spot they will always be protected by god. Now this seems of course ridiculous but sometimes we must find even the simple teachings that Jesus tried to convey rather than over analyzing. We find that prayer could be a simple answer. We see both low on the social ladder battling the hierarchy and proving themselves a true adversary.# According to Reverend Dr. Sam Cappleman we find that this parable is not to convey that we need to nag on God to have him answer our prayers but we need to be opened minded. We also are explained that this is told when the Jewish people are asking when the Kingdom of God will come and this is replied that the Kingdom is already here in each and every single one of us. We are the ones that show compassion to the ones that pray. We are the people that answer the prayers and prayers help us help others. We find people in need so we need to help those people in need to keep the Kingdom of God here on earth.# Herzog preaches that people who are consumed by power have finally given up the ability to care for one another. The judge is of the higherarchy so he has found no compassion for others who cannot influence the amount of power that he can have. The widow has been persistent to the judge which is unlike the common outcast of society. People have grown to allow themselves to hear the cries of the outcast of society and begin to have compassion for them.# Widow is feisty and frustrated. She can up set his selfish and vain world. Judge possibly scared to get black eye because he then would be taken as a joke. She is outside the system and he is a slave to it. Widow free while the judge is always paranoid about falling off his pedestal. People outside the system are in the Kingdom of God while judge is oppressed by it.# The corruption of the court made it the place or last resort to seek justice. Resolves disputes by meetings. Strongest are the best able to help themselves, weak defenseless are disadvantaged. Systems must work to reinforce the rights of those who are most powerful. Widow that she has no regard at all for social rules that would keep her invisible. Blow to the face to convey the metaphor for life’s sudden assaults and suffering. The widow could blacken the judges face by spreading rumors about him, namely that he could not hear her case as he was obliged to her adversary. Judge fears what may happen as widow comes in to him, not when she leaves.

# Martin G. Collins, “Parable of the Persistent Widow
(From Forerunner Commentary).”Jan. 2007. Bible Tools.


# The Reverend Dr. Sam Cappleman, “Sermon”. Oct. 27 1998. Church Online.


# Herzog..
# Herzog…
# Herzog….

Parable documentation

1) Read the parable once, then carefully read each verse


2) Analyze each action, object, and person while thinking of how these images would be interpreted by Jesus’ followers. This is reading in between the lines and will expand the meaning of the story. It also will require some research.

3) What is the problem and how do the characters respond (or instigate) it? Pay close attention to the rich and powerful and how they abuse their power and expect too much out of the lower people.

4) Identify what the parable is about. What prompted Jesus to tell the story? What is Jesus saying about society and/or KoG and how does the problem need to be solved? How does it relate to our lives today (this isn’t yet the actual modern situation, but I think it helps to understand if you replace ancient images with modern ones. This might later help with identifying a modern situation though) apply the parable to a current event.

5) Identify a modern situation with similar characters and actions (learn a lot about it). What is the problem? How is/was it solved? What are its parallels? According to what Jesus’ message in the parable is, how should this problem be solved?

6) Study the behaviors or commonly accepted behaviors of the characters in the story. Also identify the core values/central idea of the parable.

7) Know your shit, make a killer presentation with costumes and props and videos, get A’s. But most importantly MAKE SURE YOU LEARNED SOMETHING!!!!!!!!

2)The earliest interpretation of a judge is found in the saying attached to the parable where he is called "a judge of unrighteousness/injustice." The judge's problem is "his inability to sense the evil of his actions in the presence of the one ego should make him ashamed." The parable depicts a widow who has avoided the customary Torah courts and has gone straight to Hellenistic judge, because she thinks that she can expedite her case in the administrative court. Property means, disputes arise out of loans, inheritances, sales and the like. Because the claimant is identified as a widow, it makes sense to infer that her case concerns her inheritance rights. Scott takes the description seriously because it marks the judge as one of the urban elite. A widow was in a particularly vulnerable situation, and for that very reason, she was a target for exploitation. We think that Jesus is talking to the people who don't have good faith and the ones who are inpatient when praying to God.

3) The problem Jesus is trying to state is that people in power will think they will always stay in power but the people in power are so arrogant that even if the spotlight is upon them they still won't concede to people beneath them.

4) Then He told His disciples the story of the persistent widow. His point was that if even a corrupt judge could eventually be persuaded by the persistence of a widow, someone without standing or influence in their day, how much more likely would the Lord be to respond to the persistent prayers of his followers. The background for this parable is found in chapter 17. "When will the Kingdom come?" some had asked. In response the Lord told them that one day soon they would long to see one of His days (days like this one when He was with them) but would not see it. First He had to suffer and die. Then there would be a succession of false Messiahs and still it wouldn't be time. But when He finally did come it would be suddenly and it would catch many people off guard. They would have given up and stopped praying. Jesus is saying that society. The judge prefers to favor her adversary (either the adversary is influential or he has paid bribes). The parable poses a dilemma. A desperate widow is caught in the usual power play accompanying her husband's death, and she is further enmeshed in the complexities of a Torah court. At first glance she appears hopeless. Everyone knows that the court will decide in favor of the party offering the most appropriate emolument that is bribe. Her reward is justice at the gate. She was able to analyze her limit situation and design a limit action that broke the spell of inevitability cast by the ruling elites. You have to be persistent in your faith and not just

5) Homeless people have always been there but their numbers are starting to grow so now it's starting to be a problem that the wealthy can't ignore any longer. Now the wealthy have had to deal with the situation by paying taxes since the problem is too large to ignore. And just like the parable homeless people are always asking or are in need of help and are persistent when wanting help.

6) People who are consumed by power have finally given up the ability to care for one another. The judge is of the higherarchy so he has found no compassion for others who cannot influence the amount of power that he can have. The widow has been persistent to the judge which is unlike the common outcast of society. People have grown to allow themselves to hear the cries of the outcast of society and begin to have compassion for them.

"Herzog"

The parable of the widow and the judge presents two characters and at least two intertwined social systems that bring the characters together. The earliest interpretation of a judge is found in the saying attached to the parable where he is called "a judge of unrighteousness/injustice." The judge is beyond shame; neither son spell to God's justice nor an appeal to human need can evoke a sense of shame. AS Bailey sees it, the judge's problem is "his inability to sense the evil of his actions in the presence of the one ego should make him ashamed." These uniformly censorious descriptions do raise questions about what setting is imagined in the parable that the judge is and how he got to be a judge in the first place. Derrett believes that the parable depicts a widow who has avoided the customary Torah courts and has gone straight to Hellenistic judge, because she thinks that she can expedite her case in the administrative court. Therefore, this reading of the parable takes the judge t obeys a Torah judge in the customary courts. Scott takes the description seriously because it marks the judge as one of the urban elite. While it is inherently more probable that Torah adjudicators would have been located in urban areas rather than in the nucleated villages, it is not clear that they were found only in major cities. Herbert Danby interprets property to mean, "disputes arise out of loans, inheritances, sales and the like.” Because the claimant is identified as a widow, it makes sense to infer that her case concerns her inheritance rights. A widow was in a particularly vulnerable situation, and for that very reason, she was a target for exploitation. This may explain why the widow was the subject of such a concern in the Torah and Prophets. God promises to hear the voices of the widows and orphans as surely as God heard the cry of the people in Slavery in Egypt. In light of the material on the role of law in agrarian societies, the hiatus between the justice of the Torah and t he practical workings of everyday injustice may be clearer. Bailey believed that the parable makes the following three assumptions: 1. the widow is in the right (and being denied justice) 2. For some reason the judge does not want to serve her (she has paid no bribes?)3. The judge prefers to favor her adversary (either the adversary is influential or he has paid bribes). The parable poses a dilemma. A desperate widow is caught in the usual power play accompanying her husband's death, and she is further enmeshed in the complexities of a Torah court. At first glance she appears hopeless. Everyone knows that the court will decide in favor of the party offering the most appropriate emolument that is bribe. Her reward is justice at the gate. She was able to analyze her limit situation and design a limit action that broke the spell of inevitability cast by the ruling elites.


The problem is that the core does not seem to have any meaning w/o them(characters). The judge is giving into a pestering widow who has worn him down is hardly deep or novel.
SECONDARY PARABLE CORE:
3 structures of sorts to the attached applications...exclamation: "listen to what the unjust Judge says!"....2 rhetorical ?'s: "and will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night?" "will he delay long in helping them?".....emphatic pronouncement: "I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them."
The prospects of her visits makes the judge finally give in. If the parable gives the lesson that God answers prayers swiftly, why would the judge ever give the widow what she wants. Joseph Fitzmyer's character analysis: the judge is irresponsible and dangerous person. The author of the parable expected the listeners to percieve the judge in a completely negative way as devoid of both pretas and humanitas. are believed to have been jealous or greedy people in a previous life. ... Pretas dwell in the waste and desert places of the earth. Humanitas includes humanism and humanitarianism.
Judicial system was closed circle of ambitious elites whose attentions were trained on amassing greater wealth and increasing personal pretige. Judges corruption went w/o public dennciation. Ambition motivated judges especially lower level judges. Lowly judges needed powerful friends. Non elites (widows) outside wealthy/prestigious circle. Widows > justice often denied > VULNERABLE. the widow is shameless. Her continual coming brings about indication-not the justice of her cause or the judges humor. Womens "Natural Condition" belonged in the domestic private sphere of the home, not in the public male domain of the courts. Roman culture > intolerant in womens involvement in the courts. Widow=BOLD.
The corruption of the court made it the place or last resort to seek justice. Resolves disputes by meatings. Strongest are the best able to help themselves, weak defenseless are disadvantaged. Systems must work to reinforce the rights of those who are most powerful. Widow that she has no regard at all for social rules that would keep her invisible. Blow to the face to convey the metaphor for lifes sudden assults and suffering. The widow could blacken the judges face by spreading rumours about him, namely that he could not hear her case as he was obliged to her adversary. Judge fears what may happen as widow comes in to him, not when she leaves.
Widow meek and humble. Treatment of widow is conventional. Widow is socially weak. Judge fears acts of violence by woman. Really he just deals with her so she stops whining to him. Widow actions startling, boldly facing the judge. Judge not scared, he simple wants to rid her.
Widow is fiesty and frustrated. She can up set his selfish and vain world. Judge possibly scared to get black eye b/c he then would be taken as a joke. She is outside the system and he is a slave to it. Widow free while the judge is always paranoid about falling off his pedistool. People outside the system are in the Kingdom of God while judge is oppressed by it.

System Examples

Country Wide people feel that they have no connection with what is happening to the person that they are taking everyone thing away from and are getting what they need. When people get what they need they feel no need to really care about other no matter what situation the other person is in. We are selfish type of people and we do whatever the system tells us to do. We abide by the rules and what the authority of the system tells us what to do because it take too much effort in our minds to really do anything effective.

Systems

The thought of having pleasures and a life of prestige fills our mind with this thought of having it all to obtain this feeling. We will do anything that we can to keep this feeling and the life that comes along with it because we are selfish people worry about number 1, ourselves. We don't mean to screw other people over on purpose but to keep and obtain this life style most of the systems have been designed to protect that life style for those that will do anything for it. These systems have been built for the rich, the people with these pleasures, and the people that will do anything to keep and or obtain that life style because everyone wants it but to have it others must be below you because everyone can't live it. Systems have been made to keep the people on the bottom down and the people on the top on top. The system is run by the people on top so of course they will not let the people on the bottom up so they can stay on top. Our society has made it to where if someone comes up another goes down. So the people on top can't let the people on the bottom because they can't all be equal for some reason so if the people on bottom where to come up the people on top would become the bottom which is the poor and hard life that does not involve all those pleasures that make our lives to enjoyable and easy.

Systems are a theory and idea that provide benefits, they have rules, they have authority to enforce these rules, they also provide security, and with the faults in humans ignorance is the fault of the system itself. We can not take the position to blame the people that are in the system because they screw up but blame the system. The system is a theory it isn't real but the idea is what is real. The people part of the system comply with what the system asks them to do. The system sets everyone up to fight against each other to be on the top. The system is what makes people turn on each other because it gives an ultimatum. You can either be high or be low on the system and everyone will choose high. Now of course there are those few that will not comply with the system but for the most part they will. The theory of the system is what people live by and this is why the system is corrupt. It brings out the bad in people and works off of that because there is the need for authority and people fight and push people down to get up to that authoritative position so they themselves will not be the ones to be pushed down.

Unmerciful Servant

The parable that Jesus tells is about all of Jews that beg for forgiveness but betray others when they are the ones that need to give the forgiveness. These people have done horrible things beyond imagine and yet they beg for forgiveness and others forgive them. Once they have been forgiven they ignore the graces that have been given to them and they betray and do not forgive others for the most petty things and you should think of the grace people have given you and be grateful and offer it to others. No one should keep hatred...they should forgive and move on.

The main character is actually the Unmerciful Servant. The idea of the whole story derives from his actions. This story is meant to teach people the need for forgiveness and the amount that you should show. 77 times is just a number to show an infinite number of times that you are to forgive the people that do you wrong. The Unmerciful Servant is this idea of a regular Jew going and betraying the grace that has been given to him and also going against the law of God and betraying a fellow Jew. This servant ignores the great debt that he has been forgiven and does not have to pay any longer and begins to harrass a fellow Jew over a small amount of money and not just asks for the money he chokes the fellow Jew for it. Once he begs for forgiveness just like he himself had done just earlier to get out of a huge debt he calls the soldiers over and has the man thrown in jail until he could pay. This is rediculous since this should have happened to him if anyone.

The master may have been a man of god and knew that he should not oppress his fellow Jew. So after he had acted hastily by saying that his family be sold and their things to pay back the and then the servant told him he would pay the master finally agreed that he did not need the money that bad to ruin a fellow mans life. He cancelled the debt because he knew that he should treat people with forgiveness when asked for it and show like this man did that he would in time pay back the debt but the master was so rich that he cancelled it and lifted a great weight off the servants shoulders.

The servant does not follow the example of the king because when he got away with that he totally forgot about it. He thought ok I got out of this there is no need to lend that same slack to anyone else so I will get mine and get ahead. So he saw who owed him money and basically since things were rought back then he shook him down for the money and since he couldnt pay he wasnt gunna let him get away so he got him thrown in jail until he could pay. Things were tough back then and even though someone gave you slack you tried to get more and didn't give your own slack.

The kingdom of god is a place where God will forgive you no matter what but you too must show the forgiveness that god shows you. You cant take and not give or you will know the suffering that you put others through and sometimes worst. Respect the people around you and you will live a good life. You will be forgiven for a large large amount and you are asked to only forgive for a small amount so at least do that after you are forgiven for something so big and give people a chance like you yourself got and you will be fine. If you don't you will learn your lesson the hard way.

Israel Summary

How does the United States support Israel?

The United States supports Israel more than any other country! This country is fine off by itself because it is not a 3rd world country and can stand on its own two feet. The united states give Israel around 1.3 billion dollars in aid for whatever Israel sees fit to use it for. On top of that we give them around 2billion dollars for military use. We also give other countries money like this but possbily not as much and they can not buy from themselves or someone else. We allow Israel to buy weapons from themselves and from other countries while we let no other country to do that who we lend money to. We also make avaliable to them the most advanced weapons that we have. Maybe not the best and most secret but we provide them with advanced weapons. Israel has also been very contriversal to the world as they discuss in worldly meetings at the United Nations meetings. We defend Israel in what they do while no other country tries and argue against us.

Why is Bush not so involved like Clinton was?

Mainly a fact is that Clinton cared about bringing peace to the middle east while Bush not so much. Bush has gone into a war and although in a war he has been taking oil from the middle east. The United States is using that oil and going on with everyday life. Clinton really wanted to see the middle east have peace and progress while Bush is in it for the economic gain. We just go about our buisness and unlike Clinton who pressed for peace, Bush just walks past and ignores trying to fix things because he thinks it's their country so they should find peace among themselves. This is sorta true but they seem to not be able to do that so we do need to intervene.

What is Bushs' policy in the middle east?

After 9/11 the government tried to end all connection with the middle east government and tried to not be connected to it at all. We went in and invaded. From their we were about getting the oil and going on with out lives. It was fine because we called it the war on terror which allowed us to invade and get the oil. We don't really care about peace we just want the economic gains. The government proposed and idea but it was shot down. Since then nothing has really happened and we have broken many ties with Israel.