And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. (2) He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. (3) And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ (4) For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, (5) yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” (6) And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. (7) And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? (8) I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Luke 18:1-8
The first verse of the text is one of the most unique and unusual things in Luke. This is not just unusual for the Gospel of Luke, it is also unusual for the Gospels and for the rest of Scripture. It is even weird for literature in general. It is very rare when a biblical author tells you the point of a passage right up front, and that is what Luke does here. He tells us the point of the parable before Jesus even speaks a word. In verse one, Luke writes, “And Jesus told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” It is strange that Luke tells us the point of the parable right at the beginning, but he tells us the point for a good reason. Why does he do that?
He knows your life. He knows that you have problems, worries, and temptations that often lead you away from prayer. These situations often lead you to losing heart, and to lose trust in your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Luke tells you the point of the parable right up front so that you get this point: that through Christ we can always pray and not lose heart. Luke can’t stress this point clearly enough for we often do the opposite.
To teach and illustrate this point, He tells a parable about a widow in a hopeless situation. She lives in a city with a judge that doesn’t fear God, and that doesn’t fear man. In other words, he doesn’t fear those above him, and he certainly doesn’t fear those below him. Sadly, this is the person the widow has to plead her case to! However, this does not stop her. She comes to him day after day , saying, “Give me justice against my adversary.” For a while, it doesn’t work, yet, because of her persistence, he gives in! It is a shocking ending to the parable! Something just as shocking comes next, though. It is what Jesus compares God to, and how he applies the point.
He says, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to His elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?” If the unrighteous judge gave the widow justice, won’t God, Who is loving and good, answer our cries, the prayers of His chosen people? Will He actually ignore us? Of course not! We can often be tempted to think this way, or be discouraged in our praying. We can be tempted to think that God doesn’t care, or that He won’t care for us. However, that couldn’t be farther from the truth!
The cross shows God’s greatest example of God’s care for us. It shows the greatest example of Him acting for us. Christ poured out His heart and life on the cross for you and for me so that we don’t lose heart. His death for us makes us right and forgiven with the Father. His death in our place allows us to be His children, whom He loves, cares for, watches over, and protects. His resurrection shows that we can take heart in the Lord because He has defeated sin, death, and the devil. It confirms we are His children. No wonder Luke is able to write, “And Jesus told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”
In Christ,
Pastor Nick Kooi
(Originally published in Emmaus Footprints, Vol. XXII, Number 12, July 2021)