Scripture quotations are from The
Holy Bible, English Standard Version®
(ESV®), copyright © 2001
by Crossway, a publishing ministry
of Good News Publishers. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
Luke 17:22-18:8
22 And he said
to the disciples, “The days are
coming when you will desire to see
one of the days of the Son of Man,
and you will not see it. 23 And
they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’
or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or
follow them. 24 For as the
lightning flashes and lights up the
sky from one side to the other, so
will the Son of Man be in his day.
25 But first he must suffer
many things and be rejected by this
generation. 26 Just as it was
in the days of Noah, so will it be
in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They
were eating and drinking and
marrying and being given in
marriage, until the day when Noah
entered the ark, and the flood came
and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise,
just as it was in the days of
Lot—they were eating and drinking,
buying and selling, planting and
building, 29 but on the day
when Lot went out from Sodom, fire
and sulfur rained from heaven and
destroyed them all — 30 so
will it be on the day when the Son
of Man is revealed. 31 On
that day, let the one who is on the
housetop, with his goods in the
house, not come down to take them
away, and likewise let the one who
is in the field not turn back. 32 Remember
Lot's wife. 33 Whoever seeks
to preserve his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life will keep
it. 34 I tell you, in that
night there will be two in one bed.
One will be taken and the other
left. 35 There will be two
women grinding together. One will be
taken and the other left.”
37 And they said to him,
“Where, Lord?” He said to them,
“Where the corpse
is, there the vultures
will gather.”
The Parable of the Persistent Widow
18:1 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?”
The parable of the widow and the
judge, the persistent widow
At a quick glance,
the parable seems to illustrate the
teaching, ‘Show persistence in
prayer and get a speedy answer.’
Well that’s easy! Finished! Time to
go home!
But actually, that is
not what our Lord is teaching. It is
not quite like that. So, may I
invite you to look a little more
closely at the setting, at the
parable itself and at the
application that the Lord himself
gave.
First, the setting or context.
There is a similar
parable in St. Luke and chapter 11
where our Lord teaches the ‘Lord’s
Prayer’ and then tells the parable
of the friend in need of bread for
his guest. He shamelessly rouses his
unwilling neighbour, at midnight,
persisting until he gets all he
needs. The application the Lord gave
is prayer; ‘Ask and it will be given
you: seek and you will find; knock
and it will be opened to you.’ We
are urged to shamelessly pester the
Lord God, our heavenly Father, until
we have all that we need to live for
his glory in this world. Very
specifically in Luke 11 we are urged
to pray for the Holy Spirit; God at
work in our lives and overruling all
our circumstances.
But here in Luke
chapter 18 the focus is different.
It is not, ‘all we need day by day’
but about holding fast to the
justice of God in a very unjust
world. It is about keeping faith
when all around us men are giving
up. It is about waiting, watching
and being ready for the return of
the Son of Man; the Lord Jesus
Christ.
How can we be certain
of this? Well, we can because, from
verse 22 of chapter 17, the Lord has
been teaching his disciples about
the ushering in of the kingdom of
heaven, the return of the Son of
man. He warns them that first he
must suffer many things and be
rejected. He warns them that time
would pass. He warns them that men
and women, totally forgetting God
and ignoring God, will be eating and
drinking, buying and selling,
planting and building - just as it
was in the days of Noah or of Lot .
. . until judgement fell. It will be
like that on the day the Son of man
is revealed. The return of the King
will be sudden and dramatic and will
bring judgement and the ushering in
of the kingdom of heaven.
When the disciples
asked, ‘Where, Lord?’ he said,
‘Where the body is, there the eagles
or vultures will be gathered
together.’ A very strange answer, a
dark saying to our ears; he did not
say where, he gave them a picture as
familiar to them as maybe seagulls
are to us. Throw bread in the open
in winter and within a few seconds
there will be a cry and a dozen
seagulls will be circling and
swooping, squawking, crying and
diving for it. Or if a farmer pulls,
draws his plough just a few metres
the same thing happens. Why? Because
the seagulls have been alert,
watching, waiting, ready – and that
is how disciples are called to live
as we await the Lord’s return.
But the going will be
tough; like their Lord, disciples
will be despised and rejected,
whipped, imprisoned and, maybe, put
to death. At times we will find
ourselves in a hostile world and
very unjust world – hence this
parable with its opening and
concluding sentences.
The parable was
addressed to disciples, ‘. . . to
the effect that they ought always to
pray and not lose heart’, and ‘. .
.that he, God, will vindicate them,’
honour and secure justice for them
in the fullness of time.
‘Nevertheless’ . . . in the light
of the grinding opposition and
seemingly endless delay, the
terrible question is asked in verse
8, ‘ . . . when the Son of man comes
will he find faith on earth?’ Will
he find a people alert, watching and
ready?
That is the
challenge, that is the setting – are
we eagerly praying, looking,
watching; ready for the return of
the King?
And so, secondly, to the parable
itself; the widow and the judge
First the widow,
always the most of vulnerable people
in society, passed over, not
noticed, ignored, open to
exploitation and abuse; especially
so in the days of our Lord in the
Middle East. Remember the charge of
the Lord to the religious leaders,
‘. . . devouring, gobbling up,
widows’ houses’.
The Lord’s picture
is of a widow who could not get
justice. She was not seeking
revenge, only justice, yet it was
being denied her. Almost certainly,
unlike her adversary, she had no
reserve of money to bribe the judge
and no powerful advocate to put
pressure on him on her behalf. It
was just herself, a helpless widow,
and a judge who scoffed at, who
ignored her plight. However, she
really meant business, she would not
let up, she did not give up, she
kept on coming to him with her plea.
Then the judge; a
thoroughly bad man in high office.
That is very bad news! Magistrates,
judges and people in positions of
authority are called before Almighty
God to maintain justice, to be
advocates, protectors of those who
cannot protect themselves; as
Wilberforce was for the slaves, as
Shaftesbury was for the child
labourers, widows and orphans of his
day, and as the Lord God himself is
described in Psalm 68 verse 5 the ‘.
. . father of the fatherless and
protector of widows.’
As the Old Testament
king Jehoshaphat appointed judges,
he said to them, ‘. . . consider
what you do, for you judge not for
man but for the Lord . . . now then,
let the fear of the Lord be upon
you, take heed to what you do, for
there is no perversion of justice
with the Lord our God, or
partiality, or taking of bribes.’
People with power are
always vulnerable.
– Vulnerable to being
lent on, subjected to pressure,
vulnerable to being bribed, to
showing partiality. A modern judge
before a particular case received a
discrete message from the president,
‘You will, of course, find this man
innocent.’ Before God, he found him
guilty . . . and also found it
necessary to flee the country!
– Or vulnerable, as
the judge in the parable was, to
ignoring their God-given
responsibilities and simply enjoying
the privileges and financial rewards
of high office. (As an aside,
heralds of the gospel of God can
fall into the same trap – enjoying
the privileges, the splendour and
ceremony, the esteem, the political
power and failing to proclaim the
gospel of God. Beware!)
Here was a man who
cared neither for God nor man;
feared not God, feared not man, so
for whom the expressions, ‘for God’s
sake help her’ or, ‘for pity’s sake
help her’ would cut no ice; carry no
weight. He neither feared God nor
regarded anyone but himself. All was
‘at his pleasure’. His ignoring of
the woman and his subsequent
attention to her case came from the
same motive - selfishness. He found
it troublesome to attend to her case
but it became even more troublesome
not to! ‘She will give me a black
eye,’ that is the underlying word.
‘She will wear me out! She will be
the death of me! Because she bothers
me so, I will vindicate her; I will
secure justice for
her.’
And thirdly, the Lord’s application
of his parable.
‘Hear what the
unrighteous judge says. And will not
God secure justice; vindicate his
elect, who cry to him day and
night.’ Beware of equating God with
the unjust judge. Our Lord is
contrasting them, not likening them.
It is a ‘how much more’ parable. If
an unrighteous judge can be moved to
action by the constant pleas of a
widow, a total stranger, how much
more will our heavenly Father hear
the cries of his own chosen ones,
the ones on whom he has set his love
. . . of course he will hear them.
Therefore, hold fast.
Hold fast despite the injustices,
the cold shoulders, the slurs, the
persecutions, the labour camps, and
the apparent long delay in the
coming of his kingdom. He is not
slack as he exercises the patience
and persistence of his chosen
people. He is not slack as he delays
the day of his judgement out of
patience with those who despitefully
use us. ‘He is not willing that any
should perish but that all should
come to repentance.’ Pray for those
who despitefully use you. Though he
delays long, he will vindicate his
elect. Disciples of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the Lord himself can be
and are marginalized, laughed at,
scoffed at, the butt of many jokes
. . . but the day will come when
all will see him King of Kings,
Lord of Lords and Judge of all the
Earth. And on that day, his people,
his chosen and elect, will be seen
to be the ones most to be envied,
kings and priests; the jewels of his
kingdom shining like stars. ‘He will
vindicate his elect speedily.’
‘Speedily’? – not meaning, ‘in a
short time,’ his chosen people had
already been crying to him day and
night, but meaning suddenly,
dramatically they will be vindicated
by God himself, God our heavenly
Father. ‘He told them this parable
to the effect that they should
always pray and not lose heart.’
These words of our
Lord were not words to entertain or
tickle disciples’ ears then, or our
ears now, but words to warn and
strengthen the backbone. They are
words to prepare us and encourage us
to cry to God day and night for the
coming of his kingdom. Words to
encourage us to pray for ourselves
through difficult situations and to
pray for our fellow believers
crushed and oppressed by a hostile
world – knowing, believing, holding
fast to the fact that the Lord God
is just, that he knows our
situation, that he, our heavenly
Father, is in control and that
justice will be done; his chosen and
beloved people will be vindicated.
In the mean time,
scoffers will scoff, ’There is no
final justice.’ ‘There is no second
coming, no return of the King.’ ‘We
can do as we please.’ ‘We can do as
we like.’ ‘We shall enjoy crushing
you.’
And the challenge for us, today.
Firstly, are we
ready, suddenly, unexpectedly,
dramatically to face the King of
Kings, God’s appointed Judge? Larry
Norman used to sing of that day, ‘I
wish we’d all been ready.’ Are we
ready? Are you one of his chosen
people; his elect, ‘ransomed,
healed, restored forgiven,’ a
disciple of the Lord Jesus? If in
the secret depths of your own heart
you know that not to be the case,
turn, cry to him for mercy. ‘Whoever
will may come and drink of the water
of life freely.’ ‘God so loved the
world that he gave his one and only
Son . . .’ ‘The world’ that must
include each one of us.
Secondly, Christian
brothers and sisters fellow
disciples, will we grow weary and
uncertain? Will we grow prayerless?
Will we grow cold, lose heart and
lose faith? Will we grow to doubt
the promises of God? Will we be
gradually so ground down by the
God-denying society all about us
that we grow to doubt the promises
of God; and the words of his Son? Or
will we sing and encourage one
another and pray and by God’s grace
hold fast?
‘When the Son of man
comes will he find faith on earth?’
A parable to the
effect that disciples ‘. . . should
always pray and not lose heart.’
Augustine taught that
the pouring out of the heart in
fervent prayer and praise builds and
strengthens the heart of faith.
Heavenly Father, when
the world grinds us down and the
heavens seem as brass, help us to
remember this parable, encourage one
another and to cling to the fact
that your love is steadfast; that
you are in control; that our very
breath and all our circumstances are
in your hands. And that ultimately
justice will be done, your elect
will be vindicated.
‘Thy kingdom come O
God, Thy rule O Christ begin,
Break with thine
iron rod the tyrannies of sin.
References
‘Devouring widows
houses’ Mark 12:40
‘Not wishing that any
should perish’ 2 Peter 3:9
‘Pray for those who
despitefully use you’ Matthew 5:44
‘Do as we please’ See
Psalm 73 4-11 for a description of
the godless person’s thinking.
‘Drink of the water
of life freely’ Revelation 22:17
‘God so loved the
world . . .’ John 3:16
‘Breath in his hands’
Daniel 5:23
Questions
1. How
does the picture of the ever-alert
birds help and challenge us?
2. Do
widows or other groups tend to be
discounted, overlooked or ignored in
our society? What can we learn from
her in godly matters?
3. As
our Lord prepared his disciples for
hard times, can you think of any
times of great difficulty that
disciples down the centuries have
met?
4. Has
any Christian disciple you know been
at the receiving end of some abuse
of power or of privileged position?
5. Why
is it easier to allow injustice to
embitter us and eat away at our
spiritual walk with God rather than
to entrust justice into his hands
and get on with living our lives for
him? How true is it that the pursuit
of justice, although right up to a
point, can become a life consuming
and ultimately fruitless use of our
time, energy and resources?
6. At
home or at work, most of us like the
judge are responsible in some
measure for maintaining justice. How
do we see our responsibility before
God?
7. Have
you ever faced pressure for
injustice? How watchful do we need
to be?
8. How
can we best pray for those in
possession of great power?
9. In
what ways is God our heavenly Father
is entirely different from the
unjust judge? What comfort and
encouragement can we draw from this
10. How
can the chosen people of God live in
a hostile and unjust world for the
glory of God? How can we encourage
and support one another and so not
get ground down?
11. In
what ways does our Lord’s parable
particularly help you?
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