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Connections&
October 21, 2001 -- 29th Sunday of the Year
The persistent widow and the dispassionate judge: "Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? I tell you, God will see to it that justice is done for them speedily... " Luke 18:1-8
Job in The West Wing
One of the most powerful moments on television this year was last season's final episode of The West Wing.
The fictional President Bartlett's life and Presidency are coming apart. His efforts to prevent civil war in Haiti have failed miserably; with the American Embassy under siege. And at home, the nation is about to learn that he has multiple sclerosis--a fact Bartlett kept from voters at election time. His party does not want him to run for reelection and his opponents are calling for a special prosecutor to investigate his lying to the public about his illness. And, just when he needs her most, his wise, lifelong counselor, secretary and friend Mrs. Landingham is killed by a drunk driver.
After Mrs. Landingham's funeral, President Bartlett orders the Secret Service to clear the cathedral and block all the entrances. Bartlett is alone with God in the center of the sanctuary. But his "prayer" is not one of praise or petition. Bartlett launches into an angry confrontation with God, addressing God with an epithet barely repeatable on network television. He mocks God with a sarcastic Gratias tibi ego, Domine ("I thank you, O Lord") and then blasts God in Latin and English:
"Am I really to believe that these are the acts of a loving God? A just God? A wise God? I was your servant here on earth. I spread your word and I did your work. Well, to hell with your punishments and to hell with you!"
And in a final act of defiance to the Almighty, the President lights a cigarette, takes a drag, and stamps out the butt on the sanctuary floor.
President Bartlett then returns to the White House. Packing his notes for what will be a tumultuous press conference, he absentmindedly shouts for Mrs. Landingham as he has done hundreds of times before. Mrs. Landingham dutifully "appears" as always--but now only in his mind. And, as always, the "spirit" of Mrs. Landingham tells Jed Bartlett to grow up.
"God doesn't make cars crash and you know it," she says. "Stop using me as an excuse."
CONNECTION: Like Bartlett, we often wonder if God is worth the trouble, the investment, the bother. Our efforts to do the right thing are met with resistance and hostility, with pain and ridicule--and God is no where to be found. We become angry and frustrated at God. But Mrs. Landingham and the widow of today's Gospel remind Bartlett and us that there is a cost to faithful discipleship, that the ways of God put us on a collision course with the values of the world, that resurrection is not won without
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