The Widow and the Unjust Judge - Luke 18: 1-8

Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’ ” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 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. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Commentary

I am not sure which I dread more. The parables that are hard to understand, or the statements of Jesus that are too hard to live up to. Today, I think Jesus is shaking his head at us again. Today, he gives us a parable, but then he tells us straight out what he is thinking.

“..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. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

I think what Jesus is saying to us is that God does listen to our prayers. But if we lack the faith to even pray, that is not going to do us much good.

There has been a lot said and written about the proper way to pray. There are those who worry that we not use our prayer life as just an endless petition, and forget about the thanksgiving and the listening to God for what he is wanting to say to us. I think those are reasonable concerns. But here is Jesus himself suggesting that we should be trying to wear God out with our requests if need be. Here is Jesus saying cry to him day and night. But then, Jesus being Jesus, throws in the hard part. He asks us straight out, when I look into your heart, will I find faith.

We are up against the faith word again. Like the lesson two weeks ago, when I suggested that the faith we are asked to have is like the faith needed by a slave who has to keep right on believing in God in spite of the treatment he is receiving. That's hard. Actually, that's VERY hard. In fact it is so hard we are cautioned by our religious leaders not to expect too much. We are cautioned that our prayers may not be answered the way we expect. I think those are reasonable concerns as well. But notice, Jesus doesn't leave God much wiggle room. Jesus says, cry to him day and night and he will quickly grant justice. IF YOU HAVE FAITH.

Now I have to be honest with you here. I don't feel like I understand this, or more to the point, I don't think I can live up to it. I am just telling you what I think Jesus is telling us. I have had my share of unanswered prayers. I don't know whether that was because I wasn't asking for justice, God decided he had a better idea, or I just didn't have enough faith. And if it is my faith that is the problem, what exactly does he expect from me? I can't answer that question. All I can say is that both here and elsewhere in the gospels, Jesus seems to have a real concern that his followers just don't have enough faith. At least, if this is the problem, we are in good company. Right up there with Peter who would have drowned himself trying to prove his faith had the Lord not been right there to catch him.

So the one thing I am sure about? Jesus loves us no matter what. Jesus will reach out for us no matter what. But Jesus has in mind for us something that is a lot more glorious and amazing than we can achieve with the faith we have. So he keeps urging us on to have more.

Amen