Parables
“The Persistent Widow”
Consider for a moment your life.
A moment in your life.
Specifically – times when you have given up.
In fact – not simply given up but you have given up because you have been let-down by God.
Maybe you might not put it in quite those terms – but actually – it does come close to it.
Because it is not so much that you have given up, but that you were defeated.
You had prayed and believed but the answer never came.
And so you have nothing to show for it except wounds and disappointments.
You tried to be faithful and loyal but you were worn down and worn out. There reached a point when there was nothing more to pray about.
Except maybe for an answer “Why?” and “Where were you God?
Events overtook you and overwhelmed you.
Think of a time when – really – it was unfair what happened to you.
I’m not inviting you to throw a pity-party here and to invite everyone to it, but a candid admission that you were truly a victim of circumstances.
And within that – faith was very difficult to sustain.
A vision of God was difficult to sustain.
And if you are honest – by the end of it all – you still describe yourself as a Christian but maybe not so passionate about it.
You look back at that time and it remains the moment which at best is mystifying and at worst haunting.
It is a moment which you began in faith and prayer – but ended with maybe bewilderment, bitterness, indifference, anger, disbelief that God could be so inactive.
If you can’t think of such a time; if you have never experienced such a time – do not despise those who have.
People lose faith and lose heart.
Some believe in God passionately and are assaulted by life relentlessly.
And by the end of it are worse for it.
Others come through eventually, but are never quite the same.
Jesus told a story about this kind of thing.
This parable speaks right into this storm.
But Jesus speaks a word which is challenging and arresting. It is not gentle and comforting.
It is shaking us.
[Read Luke 18:1-8]
First – Luke explains why Jesus told this story.
This is unusual that there is an explanation. But important.
It is an issue.
Disciples then and the centuries since have battled this tension of prayer and discouragement. Of losing heart as they perceive that their prayers are not achieving anything.
So Jesus describes, what at first glance appears, an utterly hopeless situation.
He casts in his story the most vulnerable and weakest person in society.
A widow. The only other person who rivals such a weak and threaten position is an orphan.
This widow has been aggrieved. She has suffered an injustice.
So she takes her case to the judge in the town.
That she – a woman – has to take her case to him further shows just how bleak the situation is for her.
There is no brother, no son – no male to advocate for her in this town. In this male-dominated society.
And then the only judge to whom she can appeal is a man who is godless and arrogant.
He doesn’t care.
He doesn’t care about God. He doesn’t care about people.
Now this is hugely significant. He does not “fear God” which is the basis of wisdom and dealing with others. This is what the Old Testament consistently teaches.
Proverbs is full of it.
The Fear of the Lord is the bedrock of belief, ethics and justice.
In one respect – this is what the widow can rely on. Anyone with even some fear of God will acknowledge His insistent commands that she (together with the orphan) must be treated with special care and attention.
It is a striking feature of Old Testament law.
But this judge will have none of it.
He doesn’t care for God. He doesn’t care for people. He doesn’t care for this widow and her complaint.
It is not looking good!!
Remember – Jesus is telling a story to teach us to always pray and not to lose heart.
To help us get that – He describes one of the most outrageous and hopeless situations imaginable.
But this widow will not go away.
She has an expectation.
The judge might not regard God and His law.
But she does.
She knows she has only one avenue to obtain justice. And it is from this man who is charged with administering it.
So – she keeps going back.
And back and back…
Eventually he can take no more.
So he says to himself – literally – “Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming”. Or “give me a black eye”.
So she receives justice.
At the end of this parable Jesus is very directive…
“Listen to what the unjust judge says” (v 6).
Before we start to react to the parable – and say “But I did pray and pray and I did lose heart! This parable doesn’t help!” – this parable not only describes a hopeless situation it describes an impossible situation.
The person who can resolve the situation is the judge – but he is described as the “unjust judge”!
An únjust judge. Doesn’t get much worse than that!
And Jesus says listen to what this unjust judge says – “I will act against my character and do justly”.
It is not a glorious moment because he is still utterly self-serving – but this “unjust judge” acted.
So the counsel to us; the challenge to us is to take to heart what he says.
…and begin to apply that to our own experience in these matters.
Because we here read about this Unjust Judge.
We – who have prayed and lost heart.
We – who read of this Unjust Judge and maybe secretly wonder if God is that way too.
“Unjust Judge”.
“Ungodly God”.
“Uncaring God”.
“Silent God”.
“Disinterested God”.
“Inactive God”.
And this is where the parable might shock us.
Maybe offend us.
Because in response to those who have lost heart – Jesus essentially makes a declaration about your state which is just as extraordinary as an “Unjust Judge”…
“Prayerless Disciple”!
Is that what it has come to?
Have you lost heart and lost the strength and desire to pray?
Consider the Widow. Weak member of society that she is confronted with injustice and an Unjust Judge – but so persistent that he was afraid of a black eye!
In Jesus focussing our attention to what the Unjust Judge says – He is deliberately challenging our faith and the state that it might be in.
It is a “how much more” moment…
How much more will God act…
"And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them”" (Luke 18:7-8).
The parable turns on us.
It our prayerless and disheartened state – and grabs us by the shoulders and shakes us.
Yells at us to get out of our apathy.
Pray! It implores! Pray!
Because God will vindicate. He will act.
He will do so quickly – maybe not immediately – but quickly.
You might be as the Widow in this story. In a weak and vulnerable position – but because you have access to a Just Judge that does not mean you need to remain weak and vulnerable.
So – disciple – Jesus asks; the parable challenges.
When the Son of Man returns – will He find faith on the earth?
"“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed." (Daniel 7:13-14)
Because – you who are called to pray and not lose heart will one day be in the presence of the Judge.
Will He find faith on the earth?
This parable lifts our vision. It places life again squarely in line with the promised return of Christ.
The parable is not simply about answered prayer for “my needs”; it is our faith and life placed in the context of the Kingdom and its sure arrival with the King, the Son of Man, bringing all things to fruition.
It acknowledges that there is a danger we can lose heart. That we can lose sight.
This parable challenges us to the core – pray always and do not lose heart.
God will vindicate; He will act. The Son of Man will return.
But to what…?
You see – there remains this delay. This time lag.
We remain in this time of prayer when God seems to be inactive.
Yet this “time” is the time of faith.
I invite you to fill this time with what you know of the Kingdom through the parables.
This is the time of a Father waiting for a child to return home; of a seed growing all by itself though we know not how; of yeast in a large batch of dough; of a small mustard seed growing large; of prayers of a sinner being accepted instead of that of a “righteous” Pharisee; of seed being sown in all kinds of soil; of wheat and tares growing in the same field; of receiving an invitation to a banquet to a wedding you were originally not invited to…
Begin to bring that to bear on this time…
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