The Sunday lectionary gospel reading for Trinity 18 in Year C is the Parable of the Unjust Judge and the Persistent Widow from Luke 18.1–8. A surface reading, confirmed by most online comments on it, is that basically we need to be nagging God before he will answer our prayer! But a more careful reading, locating the episode within the context of Luke’s wider narrative, points to some important new perspectives.
The New Testament epistle is Paul’s striking description of Scripture as ‘God-breathed’ and its implications for ministry in 2 Tim 3.14–4.5. You can watch the video of James and Ian discussing this here, and the video discussion of Luke 18 here. Both are linked at the end of this article.
Following the story of the healing of the ten who had a dreaded skin disease (last week’s lectionary reading), Jesus responds to a question from the Pharisees about the coming of the kingdom of God, stating that ‘the kingdom of God is amongst you’ (not ‘within you’ as some have suggested). Then in Luke 17.22, Jesus turns to his disciples and makes a series of compressed statements about the ‘days of the Son of Man’, most of which find their parallel in the fifth block of Jesus’ teaching, on eschatology, in Matthew 24. (It is quite striking here that Luke avoids recording Jesus using either the language of the ‘coming of the Son of Man’ which alludes to Dan 7.13, or the language of the parousia of the Son of Man—perhaps a reflection of his writing to a mostly Gentile audience.) The key idea is introduced at the beginning of these sayings:
Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it.” (Luke 17.22)
In other words, the theme here is about patience in waiting whilst living through the delay of Jesus’ return, and it is this idea which Jesus appears to pick up on at the beginning of our reading. So the theme of his teaching here is not merely persistence in the experience of unanswered prayer (which is more the focus in the similar passage in Luke 11) but specifically enduring in our longing for justice whilst we await Jesus’ return.
The general and stereotypical nature of the scene is made clear by Jesus introduction: ‘There was a certain judge in a certain town…’ (κριτής τις ἦν ἔν τινι πόλει), a little bit like us introducing a story with ‘Once upon a time…’ Some commentators have suggested that the characterisation of the judge as someone ‘who neither feared God nor cared what people thought’ could be construed positively, showing that he is disinterested in his dispensing of justice. After all, in Mark 12.14, the Pharisees flatter Jesus by saying ‘You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are.’. But parallels of the double phrase in contemporary literature make it clear that this is a negative assessment. Josephus describes King Jehoiakim as ‘neither reverent towards God nor fair to human beings’ (Ant. 10.283) and Dionysius of Halicarnassus portrays some Roman conspirators as ‘neither fearing the wrath of the gods nor regarding the indignation of men’ (Ant. Rom. 10.10.7; both from Mikeal Parsons p 263). And Luke frequently portrays those who ‘fear God’ as being virtuous (e.g. Acts 10.2).
In contrast with this powerful, arrogant man, Jesus introduces this vulnerable, dependant woman. In any patriarchal society, where income, protection and security depended on having a man for support, being a widow (like being an orphan) was to be in a unique position of vulnerability. (It is worth noting that widows would have been more common then than now; it was not unusual for women in their teens to marry men in their 20s and 30s, and many men would have died in their 50s, leaving a widow in her 30s.) God’s concern for the vulnerable and marginalised means that care for widows and orphans is a consistent feature of God’s command to his people, in both Old and New Testaments (see Lev 19.9–10, 23.22, Deut 14.28–29, James 1.27 and numerous other texts). There are three particular things about this woman which highlight her need. First, she has to represent herself; courts are normally the province of men, and it appears that she has no male relative who will represent her. Second, she has to return continually, which means that she does not have the financial resources to offer a bribe and have her case settled quickly (not an unusual issue in many courts around the world today). Thirdly, she appears to have been denied justice, and the implication is that she has perhaps been deprived of her rights in inheritance. It might be that she has been deprived of her living from her late husband’s estate; later rabbinic law suggests that widows did not inherit directly, but makes provision for her living from the estate for that reason.
What is striking about her, though, is rather than coming across as a ‘hopeless, helpless victim’,
This woman assumes unusual responsibility for her own well-being, adopts a self-presentation of shocking initiative, and thus continually returns to the magistrate in her quest for justice (Joel Green, NICNT p 640)
She thus follows a line of biblical tradition represented by the figures of Ruth, Tamar and other widows, as well as in Luke the woman with an issue of blood in Luke 8.43–48. This pictures fits with Luke’s wider portrayal of women as active practical, moral and spiritual agents, and models of discipleship in one way or another.
There was a fascinating comment by Simon May on the discussion of this passage three years ago:
We lived in Africa for a while and saw how this worked. In fact I saw first hand an instance of a powerful man making a (foolish) decision because a supplicant came to his office every day for over a year. In a culture where everything is public the only weapon a powerless person has is her presence, again and again. This is felt, I think, as an almost physical assault making the use of a word that could be about a physical attack very apposite. The judge did not “fear” people but that doesn’t mean that he is immune to a passive aggressive assault that is astonishingly stressful.
I don’t think the woman is showing any unusual responsibility for her own well being, she is simply using the only weapon she has, continually showing up and putting social pressure on the judge. It is what everyone does in such a culture. The parable is using a situation that would be almost commonplace to illustrate a proper attitude to prayer namely a recognition of complete powerlessness and vulnerability with no rights except the open hands of supplication, and the requirement to go to what would be for us (and maybe them) extreme lengths of perseverance.
Jesus’ parable and stories in Luke frequently turn on insight given by an inner soliloquy—for example, the younger son coming to himself in Luke 15—and here the judge articulates his own calculation. It is striking that the judge’s assessment of himself matches precisely the assessment by which he has been introduced; his action is motivated by not a shred of concern or altruism, but simply by self-preservation and what will make his life easiest. Here, Jesus uses a comic image, and it is important that we do not miss the humour through pious reading. The judge fears that in the end the woman will come and ὑπωπιάζω him. Some translations take this metaphorically as ‘wear me out’, but the word actually comes from the realm of boxing and means ‘to beat’, perhaps in the sense of ‘giving a black eye’. The only other place the word comes in the NT is in 1 Cor 9.27 where Paul talks about ‘beating my body’ as a metaphor for physical discipline.
The language Luke uses is startling, perhaps even humorous, coming as it does from the boxing ring, for it invokes images of the almighty, fearless, macho judge cornered and slugged by the least powerful in society. Thus Jesus accents the astonishingly uncharacteristic initiative and persistence of an allegedly impotent women in the face of injustice. (Green p 641)
There is definitely scope here for a short, entertaining drama as part of a Sunday sermon!
As with earlier parables in Luke, Jesus is instructing his disciples to learn something about kingdom realities from realities in the real (and distinctly ungodly) world around them—but always with a twist. Jesus tells them (and us) to ‘listen’ to what the unjust judge says—but in doing so urges us to move from the lesser to the greater. If this is what an unjust judge will do, how much more will God listen to us, since God is indeed passionate about justice and does consider the needs of his people.
But if God is unlike the judge, we are to be like the widow! She offers a model of assertive confidence in the cause of justice. Like her, we are to cry out for justice ‘day and night’, just as the widow Anna prayed in the temple ‘day and night’ looking for the consolation of Israel. We are like the souls of those under the altar in Rev 6.10 who ask ‘How long, O Lord, before you judge the world?’ We long not just for justice for ourselves, but for God to come and bring justice to the whole world, and judge in favour of those who have been exploited and oppressed.
But here is the edge: if we are to be like the widow in our attitude, it will be in part because we are like the widow in situation. The end of this story connects back to the beginning of this narrative section—we will indeed long for the ‘days of the Son of Man’ (Luke 17.22) as we experience injustice and rejection in this world. The context of apparently unanswered prayer is not merely the frustration of our own desires and needs, but the cosmic time we live in, in the overlap of the ages so that we remain in this, passing age, whilst also experiencing the resurrection life of the age to come in Jesus, which we long to see fully expressed in his return. The context of our prayer is our patient waiting for Jesus’ return—hence Jesus’ challenging question that he ends with: will he find us as patient, persistent widows, crying out for justice in both hope and patience when he comes?
This kind of eschatological perspective is found in Pete Greig’s teaching about unanswered prayer, both in his book How to Pray and in this short video summary. We appear to see prayer go unanswered because of God’s world, because of God’s ways, but also because of God’s war—a spiritual battle which will only be concluded when Jesus finally returns.
(The illustration at top is from a painting by the Pre-Raphaelite John Everett Millais.)
Come and join Ian and James as they discuss this passage here:
And join them discussing the epistle from 2 Tim 3.14–4.5 here:
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Interesting that the picture at the top shows a young attractive woman, when I’ve always pictured the woman as being elderly and less photogenic – an example of the power of the crone! (Having said that, yes I have read the article, and appreciate that widows would often have been young or youngish.)
I think the praying for someone for five years paid off when they were saved and became a leader and you wetre right that you no longer needed to pray for that one.
Which sort of shows that we aren’t just praying for a random gathering of things and people.
The most useful prayers are surely ones that God himself is prompting us to pray about- because they are on his heart and he is getting us to agree with him in prayer.
In time other names and things take priority and half the time we don’t get to know the detail of the impact of our prayers.
I also think there are seasons with prayer. When I was in my early thirties God used to wake me up at 4am and get me out of bed and onto my knees in intercession for all sorts of world things that I can’t recall. Big things a lot of the time. Because we didn’t have the internet in the early 90’s I wouldn’t have a clue of any outcome. Once in a prayer meeting I prayed very specifically for the Indian earthquake. It was a couple of weeks after it happened and I was led to prayer for trapped people. The news the next day was about a little girl who was found, and I knew God have specifically had her in mind when getting me to pray whatever words he gave me. It really does me good when I see what God has asked me to pray about and then he does it. It makes one feel useful. It’s really important that we find out what God is thinking and pray according to his will. I’ve not prayed repetitively for many years….I sort of feel if I’ve mentioned something to God then he is on it…working all things to good. I only mention it again very intermittently. This would seem to be counter to your teaching and scripture today, but it is what it is. I know God has heard the things I’ve asked him about and I don’t nag him. That widow made a choice not to die of starvation but fought to survive by pressing the judge instead. Your talk reminded me of Matthew..is it chapter 6 or 7 where we hear how God looks after the animals and birds…how much more will look after us. He is very involved in the small details. Chatting with God, walking in the garden in the cool of the day….parking space…cafe for lunch…the peace of jerusalem…heal this person’s back….save our children…..lead us….praying without ceasing all day and all night….make it so normal to us in our walk that we don’t even consider it prayer, perhaps. Interesting discussion, thanks. I ordered the Grove Booklet you referred to, just now.
Thank you for sharing your experience of prayer. The question of whether to go on praying for something – ‘repetitively’ – seems to be precisely what this parable addresses. ‘And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart [a good translation – slightly more literally: not weary].’ While I sometimes have the same thoughts, is your practice not ignoring the whole point of the parable? The substance of the story accords with Luke’s introduction to it. The woman just won’t give up.
Yes, definately…like I say in many decades there have been different seasons and different ways of communicating with God over that time. I do pray for certain people to come to faith over and over again. But often I just ask the once and leave it with him. I do have some repetition daily but that is not for prayer but for praise and worship and exhorting the angels and all creation to bow down and worship him…I do this in the morning and at night- standing there looking at the vast skies and speaking out loud so that principalities and powers hear it too. I do pray about things he prompts me to pray about…strangers to me often…and he usually mentions it just the once. Maybe I should be writing prayer lists like I did in some decades and adding these things and repeating the prayers daily. Maybe he does want to hear the same prayer over and over each day. The parable seems to express that. Maybe I’ve lost heart. My faith in his ability and nature is absolute. Maybe I need to stir up my faith a bit and start nagging him ha ha
Jeannie
Don’t lose heart. My prayer experiences are very like yours. Some folk can do the list thing and some can’t. Much better to be led by the Spirit as and when he prompts us, if that’s his style for us. I too have stories I could share. I’m sure many other folk have too.
Personally I found Ian’s point about viewing the parable in the wider eschatological context of patiently interceding for justice while waiting for Jesus return an extremely helpful & encouraging insight. Something for me to think about.
Puts me in mind of the Dolly Parton song “Early Morning Breeze”:
Misty-eyed I look about the meadow where I stray
For it’s there I find the courage to greet the coming day
For there among the flowers I kneel gently to my knees
To have a word with God in the early morning breeze
My own prayer life has gone in quite a different way. I’ve disliked praying for a long time. I attribute it to having a very difficult time with prayer in my youth. And I find group prayers where you’re led by someone easily feel like a performance, or uncomfortably irreverent, and for that reason I myself won’t lead.
What has helped me has been to dock into some of the more traditionalist Catholic and Orthodox ideas about prayer. I forget about trying to have some freeflowing conversation with God, and instead run with set-piece prayers. So what I do in my personal life is stick to two very basic and traditional prayers – the Lord’s Prayer, and the Jesus Prayer (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner) – which I know off by heart, and can say anytime anywhere. Although I’m not one for going round the rosary or prayer beads, I will (especially in Church) have a rosary or prayer beads with me, because I find it useful to have something physical to hold onto in prayer and focus me. We’re physical beings, and shouldn’t be too surprised if doing things physically helps us.
Whilst prayers aren’t a magic spell that can compel God, I also don’t think God withholds his gifts because he thinks we didn’t pray hard enough for them. That is part of the point of Luke 18: God is not like the judge who gives justice because he is pestered about it. The point really is to help us to be grounded and orient ourselves towards God. For some people an open-form freeflowing conversational prayer style does that. For me, set-piece formulaic prayer is what works. And that raises an interesting point about repetitive prayer, like the widow in Luke 18 going back to the judge time and again, that we have in the Lord’s Prayer something that has been repeated endlessly by all Christians for 2000 years.
I always like it when the original Greek is more rough and ready than the more rounded English translation (e.g. the Holy Spirit “drove” Jesus into the wilderness after his baptism in the same way that a bouncer “drives” a drunk from a night club, according to one commentator).
I have used the “boxing black-eye” translation in a sermon on this passage myself.
I am not a Greek reader (although I have dabbled) but the NT comes more alive to me when a skilled commentator points out the “proper” translation (another example: David Bentley Hart discusses Mark writing his gospel in a hurry and not correcting his grammar as he goes – “Jesus left Nazareth and comes to Jerusalem”, or something similar).
Imperfections and coarse language make it far more real than a suave translation.
This dovetails perfectly with the previous post on 2 Tim.3-4
We are all aware of blatant injusices and corrupt influencers.
The Bible is full of people “crying out ” to God who delivered them out of all their troubles”. Blessed be His Name – Redeemer and Deliverer! Shalom.
I’m reminded of the old Catholic joke: God answers every prayer, but sometimes the answer is no.
But more seriously, unanswered prayer is a really challenging topic. I’ve seen it corrode people’s faith. The prime example is when Pete Greig talks about of praying for the sick to be healed. It can be difficult for people to pray fervently as Christians, for another Christian, knowing the rest of their Church is doing the same, and for that person’s condition to worsen and them to die. I saw this in my old Church when my father was dying. There was a real divide between those who’d experienced this sort of “unanswering” before, and those for whom it was new. But we say Amen at the end of prayer, not Abracadabra: prayer is not a magic spell which gives us control if only we recite the correct incantation, and nor is God our puppet to command.
I wonder if the heart of this is what we’re praying for. What is prayer really about? Are we asking for things/favours? The widow in Luke 18 is specifically asking for justice. Her case in the parable is just. The judge isn’t being to do something exceptional or abuse his powers. He’s being asked to do his job. Our difficulty is that we are disconnected from God. Prayer is about grounding ourselves in Him again, and reorienting ourselves towards Him. Christ’s death and resurrection joined us to Him, and adopted us into his family. That is why we have a promise of life.
And we also need to be open to hearing God’s answer. As a teenager and into my 20s I prayed fervently and constantly for God to take away my homosexuality. He had no interest in doing so. I thought my prayers were unanswered. I wouldn’t say that now. I think the answer I expected back then was not the answer God gave.
Thank you Adam for those thoughts.
When it comes to healing it’s complicated. The problem I have with this teaching is that it seems to be saying, as Ian says, how different is God compared to this judge. There is a contrast with the judge who doesnt want to be bothered. The problem is, God often comes across like that – sorry God! It isnt helped by the fact that there are a number of great promises in the Gospels and NT which seem to say, if you ask for this or that, it will be given. Even physical healing appears to be near automatic if you believe James. But it clearly isnt. So the text must not mean what it seems to mean. I suspect the majority of people who ask for healing from illness and disease are not healed. Only the minority. Prayers go up, nothing happens. On the other hand, Jesus seemed to say if someone is not released from the demonic, for example, it may be down to the one ministering. This may also apply to healing. And of course there are huge swathes of the church world wide which doesnt even accept God heals today in any direct manner, just through medicine. Complicated.
At one time, years ago, I also tried to pray the gay away, and sought counselling from the likes of TFT, whose founder has now recanted on his previous views that God does not approve of gay sexual relations. I was genuinely sad when I read that. I still hold the same view, so my ‘answer’ was – you just have to live with it and not have sexual relations.
But such experiences does create disappointment with God, sometimes in very deep ways, causing a lack of trust. It’s as if God IS sometimes like that judge.
Sorry, just being honest.
Either what God says about himself is true or it’s not. Our experience of him is set in a fallen world, with our sinful flesh and unregenerate minds and our lack of faith and trust. God isn’t the problem. The world, the flesh and the devil is.
When we set ourselves up to be the judge of God then we are on a losing wicket.
For some people, in some seasons it can seem experientially that God has hidden his face from us- for who knows what reason- and during that time, be it weeks/ months or years, it is best, I’ve found, to wait patiently until he returns as it were, keeping in mind that this is just a season.
At other times and situations, it can, with our human perceptions, feel/ appear as though God has let us down- not delivered on a promise he gave us for example or as mentioned above- not healed us of tempation to sin. I know that once I did feel that God had for his own reasons failed to deliver on something (two things) I was sure he had of his own volition promised me. I was genuinely very disappointed in him for a couple of years. Unbelief came crashing in and my whole faith was sorely damaged. I was under attack spiritually. I had to go through it alone as I wasn’t going to go around causing damage to anyone else’s faith during that season.
Thankfully I have performed miracles and healings in his name over the years and these historical facts are the rope that I held on to during that time. I could not deny those real things he did and I simply held on quietly and waited for things to settle down again and my faith and relationship to be restored, a couple of years later on.
Not that God needs us to feel sorry for him…but he created such a wonderful creation and the highlight of it..humans…are the ones that dare to point the finger at him and blame him and accuse him…and it’s very unfair of us. We do it..and yes, we are just being honest…but it is our great sinfulness at play every time.
God is not a liar.
On the healings and miracles…we are such a faithless generation.
Personally I never tell anyone about miracles and healings I’ve performed…especially i don’t tell other ‘faith-filled’ Christians. I can see their eyes glaze over and their disbelief and it truly is asting pearls before swine bothering to mention the holy healings and miracles God has bestowed through the decades. Rightly or wrongly I’m protective of him not being insulted by the unbelief of those who pretend they believe in healing and miracles, but actually clearly don’t when push comes to shove. To be fair I’m extremely sceptical about other peoples’ claims as well..there is a lot of deception and stupidity around.
The context of our prayer is our patient waiting for Jesus’ return.
Yes, this is what I find so disconcerting about this parable. When Luke introduces it and Jesus goes on to tell it, we are inclined to understand it as a general lesson to the effect that we should persist in the requests we think it is good to bring before God. Accordingly we expect Jesus to stop at Luke 18:6. When he continues:
“And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily [ἐν τάχει – the same phrase as in Rev 1:1, 22:6). Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
it’s a real shocker. We find that the praying person he has in mind is not people like us (contra we are like the widow in situation) but those who are crying out to God because they are <in extremis and experiencing gross injustice because of their faith, even to the point of martyrdom (the Rev 6 parallel) or to the point of giving up altogether (“Will the Son of Man find faith on earth when he comes?”).
But the context is Luke 17:26-37 – the Son of Man’s unexpected return. In that context the parable is a different way of telling us what is recorded in Matt 24, that many things must take place before he returns, that disciples before his return will be persecuted and even put to death, and many will fall away.
Ian
Picking up on your (rather tangential) point about humour in scripture, a book I have found full of insight is “A Rabbi reads the Bible” by Rabbi Jonathan Magonet (SCM 1991 & 2004). Obviously he has a handle on Jewish humour that we don’t. I think from memory Brad Young who brings contemporary Middle Eastern cultural insights to bear, is also helpful here, as in “The Parables”
Jeannie
Don’t lose heart. My prayer experiences are very like yours. Some folk can do the list thing and some can’t. Much better to be led by the Spirit as and when he prompts us, if that’s his style for us. I too have stories I could share. I’m sure many other folk have too.
Personally I found Ian’s point about viewing the parable in the wider eschatological context of patiently interceding for justice while waiting for Jesus to return an extremely helpful & encouraging insight. Something for me to think about.