Our Gospel reading today brings us into the middle of a controversy of that day. This controversy in involved whether or not there was Biblical authority concerning the resurrection of the dead. This may seem like dry stuff to us today, but it was an important concern of that day and age. There were many faithful Jews who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. There were many others who did. The surface issue revolved around what happens to you when you die. The underlying issue though involved how Scripture was to be interpreted.

Saints, however, live wholly outside the economy of entitlement, and thus often are little known, despite being the foundation on which God builds the Reign of God here on earth.  The virtuous and godly living reflected by the Saints of our faith is not about extraordinary piety and religiosity - saintly living is simply taking all of who you are and making it fully available to God-- to serve the purposes of love and justice as Jesus embodied them.   Being a saint is about faithfulness in our journey through life with God and all of God's creation.

The first line of today’s Gospel gives away the meaning of the parable that Jesus tells us. That first line says, “Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always, and not to lose heart.” Usually, parables are supposed to be puzzling and provide a surprise for the listener, but here we are given a heads up at the start: pray unceasingly and do not lose heart.

Our current church-struggle makes clear to me that we are confronting the decision between wanting and seeking power and security and comfort, and being willing to put ourselves and our own desire for power at risk by placing ourselves without qualification on the side of the outcasts, by being willing to embrace our outcast status once again...by being willing to become the church once again.