Prayer and the Parable of the Persistent Widow
Then Jesus told them a parable to show them they should always pray and not lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people.There was also a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Give me justice against my adversary.'For a while he refused, but later on he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor have regard for people, yet because this widow keeps on bothering me, I will give her justice, or in the end she will wear me out by her unending pleas.'"And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unrighteous judge says! Won't God give justice to his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay long to help them? I tell you, he will give them justice speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
....... Luke 18: 1- 8
Why is this story in the Bible? Jesus said and did many things which we have no record of. So why was this story included? To answer this question we must look at what was happening to the church when this story got written down and included in what we know as Luke's gospel.
When Jesus ascended into heaven, his followers thought he would return very soon. The church grew very quickly, and with it came persecution. In response to this persecution, the believers would continually cry out to God for help. Convinced that Jesus would return at any moment, these Christians were prepared to suffer a great deal for a short while until he came back.
But Jesus didn't come back when they thought he would come back. As the years went by those who had been with Jesus when he walked this earth began to die off. Believers may have been disappointed that Jesus hadn't yet returned to earth. Could the next generation of believers go through the same suffering, but this time with a sense that Jesus may not come back in their life time. It became apparent that there would be a considerable gap in time between when Jesus ascended into heaven to when he would return to earth. 2000 years later we are still waiting for his return.
Dr Luke who wrote both Luke's gospel and the Acts of the Apostles wanted to give his readers some advice on how to survive cruel persecution with the knowledge that Jesus may not come back for a long time.
One or more of Jesus's disciples may have told Luke a story that Jesus had told them earlier which addressed this very situation. In a teaching about his second coming, Jesus expressed concern that when he came back, would he find people of faith? So, he told his disciples a story to teach them and all believers to always pray and not give up hope.
In a certain town lived a godless judge who couldn't care less about the people he was supposed to serve. However, in that same town lived a widow who kept on coming to him asking him to give her justice against someone she had a dispute with. At first he ignored her, but she kept pleading with him. She went on and on at him and began to wear him out. The more she pleaded with him, the more he got irritated. Eventually he got so fed up of her coming to him that he decided that the best way to get her to shut up was to give her what she wanted. The unjust judge gave the widow justice because she nagged him and not because he felt it his duty to do what was right.
Jesus used this story to tell his disciples that when facing persecution they should pray like the persistant widow who wouldn't leave the unjust judge alone until she got what she wanted.
Is Jesus saying that God is like the unjust judge? Does he not care or bother about us, but only answers our prayers because he is fed up with our nagging? Of course not. Look at what Jesus said.
Won't God give justice to his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay long to help them? I tell you, he will give them justice speedily.
I believe that Jesus wants us to pray to God with the same persistance as the widow who was trying to get justice from an unjust judge. And why does he want us to pray like that? Because Jesus is concerned that when he returns to earth he will find people of faith; and faith comes through persevering in prayer.
Copyright CALITE June 2002