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	October 2004
		A Quick Word Praying to the End The Parable of the Persistent Widow - Luke 18:1-8 by Paul Grayston
			Jesus tells a story of a corrupt and uncaring judge confronted by a poor widow. The widow pleads with the judge over and over again for her case to be heard. At first the judge ignores her but eventually her persistence wears him down and grudgingly he agrees to help her. Often the parable is taken as an encouragement to us to persist in intercessory prayer. Certainly persistence in prayer is a good thing. To pray about some particular thing over many years can be a powerful experience. For several years I undertook to pray regularly for three families as they went through thick and thin, and found it a great privilege. Persistence in prayer can be a way of exercising our trust in God in spite of obstacles and setbacks. Perhaps there is something you have prayed for over many years: your family or a situation, or an issue in the world. Continue to pray with confidence! However, the parable is not so much about persistence in intercessory prayer. If it were, then it would give a very unfortunate portrait of God. Our heavenly Father is not reluctant to hear or answer our prayers. He is not to be worn down by our nagging as the unjust judge was. Furthermore, if the story is about intercessory prayer, what are we to make of the final line of the passage, where Jesus declares, 'However, when the Son of Man comes will he find faith on the earth?' This phrase makes little sense if we read the parable in this way. Clearly, there is something more going on. Sudden and dramatic In the preceding chapter Jesus speaks of his promised return in the future, on 'the day the Son of Man is revealed' (17:30). His return will be sudden and dramatic, like 'lightning which flashes and lights up the sky' (17:24), but it is to be delayed (17:22). Jesus teaches that his followers are to be ready to meet him, to endure the trials involved in his delay, and yet to remain alert. The parable of the widow may be read in the light of this discussion of Jesus' return. The judge represents God who also, in a sense, delays bringing justice. God the Father, for his good purposes, delays the end and the return of Christ as judge. In the meantime his followers, rather like the persistent widow, are to 'be always on the watch and pray,' as Jesus exhorts us later in Luke's gospel (21:36). We are to learn from the widow's story to persist in a close relationship with God and to look for the return of the Son. We are to persist in 'watching and praying' until the end. Those who are faithful may be assured ultimately of receiving justice.