The Widow and the Unjust Judge

July 15, 2018 Background Scripture: Luke 18:1 – 8 Lesson Passage: Luke 18:1 – 8 Sometimes, a parable of Jesus will just fly right over my head. The parable may seem logical and I know it should have a moral in it that makes spiritual sense. But I don’t always reach the “Aha!” moment and that can be very troubling to me. I’m reminded of Jesus’ question to his disciples: If you don’t understand this parable, how can you understand all parables? In other words, how can I assist others when I don’t understand the parable myself? In those cases, I follow the example of the disciples and seek Jesus for the answer. He often leads me to extract as much as I can from the parable, and then see how to summarize it. The parable in today’s lesson is very short and Jesus stated up front what the principle is that should be learned from the parable. The principle is that prayer should be a continuous part of a Christian’s life. The parable only had two active characters: a widow and a godless judge. The widow went to the judge seeking vengeance because of her adversary. The judge refused to take up her case because he simply didn’t want to. The judge was not afraid of God or man so there were no consequences for ignoring the widow’s request. However, the widow was persistent in her request and sought justice both day and night from the judge. The widow’s persistence was overbearing to the judge, so he relented and decided to avenge her of her adversary. Jesus’ summary of the parable is that God, who is the only “Just Judge”, will likewise avenge His elect because they cry out to Him day and night. In attempting to come to the same conclusion that Jesus did, I recognize at least five concepts from the parable that together might amount to the same thing. First, if an unjust judge can avenge a person to prevent that person from worrying him, then a righteous God will certainly avenge His elect who seek Him for vengeance against their enemy. Second, the unjust judge avenges to prevent the widow from troubling him, but God avenges to keep His elect from being troubled by their adversary. Third, if an unjust judge can do that which is good and against his nature, then certainly a just God who is good will always do that which is His essence. Fourth, if we can convince an unjust judge to do that which is good, then we should readily seek the only truly just Judge, God, to do that which is good. Finally, if we can go to unjust people over and over attempting to win their favor, then we should consider it a small matter to continuously seek God’s face considering the grace He has extended to us. Although this parable is brief, there is much more that can be said about it. Back to the principle that Jesus gave us about this parable: Prayer should be a continuous part of a person’s life. If constantly seeking can get results from unjust people, then that’s enough to encourage us to constantly seek our loving Father in prayer. Prayer is a matter of faith. If the just are to live by faith, then prayer is always in order for the just. Robert C. Hudson May 31, 2018