Luke 18:1-5: a reflection

1He also spoke a parable to them that they must always pray and not give up, 2saying, “There was a judge in a certain city who didn’t fear God and didn’t respect man. 3A widow was in that city, and she often came to him, saying, ‘Defend me from my adversary!’ 4He wouldn’t for a while; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5yet because this widow bothers me, I will defend her, or else she will wear me out by her continual coming.’”

Jesus tells a parable, and Luke gives us its point up front: he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. The parable is of a persistent widow and an unjust judge who neither feared God nor respected people. The widow keeps coming to him, demanding justice against her adversary, and though the judge is unwilling, he finally gives in, not out of goodness, but because she wears him out with her persistence. If even an unjust judge yields to persistence, Jesus implies, how much more will God answer his people who cry to him.

Notice the lesson Jesus draws: persistence in prayer, and not losing heart. The widow did not give up after one request, or two; she kept coming, kept asking, refused to be discouraged. And her persistence prevailed. Jesus uses her, and the contrast with the unjust judge, to encourage his people: keep praying, do not give up, do not lose heart, for the God you pray to is not an unjust judge to be worn down, but a loving Father who hears his children.

That is an encouragement for the times our prayers seem unanswered and we are tempted to give up. The temptation, when prayer seems to go unheard, is to lose heart, to stop asking, to conclude it is no use. Jesus' parable says otherwise: always pray and do not lose heart. Keep coming to God, keep asking, with the persistence of the widow, trusting that your Father, far better than any unjust judge, hears you. When you are tempted to give up praying, remember the widow, and keep coming to the God who hears. Always pray, and do not lose heart.

Lord Jesus, you told the parable of the persistent widow to teach us always to pray and not lose heart. When my prayers seem unanswered and I am tempted to give up, remind me that if even an unjust judge yielded to persistence, how much more will you, my loving Father, hear me. Give me the widow's persistence, to keep coming to you, to keep asking, refusing to lose heart. Help me always to pray and not give up, trusting that you hear your children. Sustain my prayers when I am discouraged.