Faithful and Continuing Instead of Stopping
Luke 18:1 ¶ And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
Luke 18:2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.
Luke 18:3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’
Luke 18:4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ’Though I neither fear God nor respect man,
Luke 18:5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’”
Luke 18:6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says.
Luke 18:7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?
Luke 18:8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Did you see why Jesus told this parable?
Did you notice that Jesus compared the Almighty God to an unjust judge?
And what about the character in the parable that represents God says “this widow keeps bothering me!” ??
This is a pretty controversial parable in the context of 28 AD. Jesus is telling this to people that revere the name of the Lord so much, that they literally said “the Name” instead of mentioning God. If they copied down the scriptures, which every man was required to do sometime in his life, they would wash themselves before and after writing “the Lord” because His name was so holy.
And Jesus compares Him to a jerk-faced judge that hates widows.
But the parable is only half about God’s character. (And Jesus isn’t saying that God is a jerk-faced judge.) The parable is being told so that we ought always to pray and not lose heart.
The character to emulate here is that pesky widow.
She came every day.
She wore that dude out!
Jesus says that God won’t delay over you. He will give justice speedily, but Jesus isn’t sure people can hold out as long as this widow did.
Don’t give up praying. Knock on that door like Bret Nicholson trying to knock himself out during a sermon. (It happened)
Pray, take a break, and then pray some more. God doesn’t always answer our prayers, but He always does something with us and our circumstances. We can trust that Jesus was right when He told this parable.
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Extra Credit: Today is Ash Wednesday! That means we have 40 days, not counting Sundays, until Easter. Do something. Maybe pray for the upcoming sermon series about restoration. Pray that many people would get the soul care from the Lord that they need so bad.
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