Lessons on the Way to the Cross: The Persistent Widow

Luke 18:1-8

Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

That is how our text today begins. As you see, it suggests to us that Jesus thought there would be times in the world when we who claim to be his followers might not feel like praying anymore – and times when the going is so tough that we will feel like giving up. Look at your own life and ask, “Was he right?” If so, this will be a very important parable for you. Jesus is telling a story that he intends to address those times when you feel like you can wait no longer and you have no energy for prayer.

A few weeks ago, I discovered a conflict in my schedule that required a change in one of my flights from LAX. One afternoon, having about 5 minutes in my schedule before “the next” meeting, I called the airlines and received this mechanized voice message, “Your call will be answered within… 23 minutes.” “Augh!!!” I cried. “Who has that kind of time to wait?’’ So I gave up and hung up!”

Of course, that was just a small irritation. When the issue is one of waiting to get treatment for a painful illness… or seeking to mend a broken relationship… or wondering when a new job will become available… or countless other trials, the waiting period can be excruciating. We sometimes wonder where God is. We’ve prayed so many times that we don’t want to do it anymore. We want to give up. I’m telling you: The story Jesus tells is one for real living in a real world.

Setting:

If you can relate to those kinds of times, you will be able to empathize with the Jewish people in Luke 17:20 when the Pharisees asked when the “kingdom of God” would come. What we need to remember is that, in general, the Jewish people were going through very difficult times when Jesus lived. They were under the political governance of Rome – they felt they hadn’t heard from God in four centuries and, of course wondered if God actually had ever spoken. But, people like the Pharisees held on to the promise that a Messiah would come who would bring God’s rule to the earth. They thought that this would be a time in which Israel would be elevated to power again. It would be a time greater than those of King David and Solomon. And, of course, people like the Pharisees who sought to keep God’s law would receive positions of prominence.

With that kind of expectation, Jesus stepped onto the scene healing the sick and raising the dead. But the people he kept associating with were the poor, the sinful and the destitute. But as Jesus got closer to Jerusalem in his journey, the hopes that he might restore Israel and set everything right were escalating. Read Jesus’ response to the question in vv. 21ff and you will find him saying, “Yes, God will keep his promise. He will make all things new. And, yes, with my being here the kingdom of God is among you already! But… (There’s that word we often don’t like)… But you need to know some things:

1. God’s rule will not come the way you expect. God will do it his way so you must learn to trust him.
2. The promised Messiah who is among you must first suffer before the work is complete (implying that those who follow him may also have a period of waiting and suffering).
3. And many who smugly seem to think they have earned the right to rule with the Messiah – or have the right simply by virtue of birth – may be among those who are judged for their pride and sin!

You can imagine that this is not what they wanted to hear! They wanted the kingdom now – and they wanted the promise that they would be the ones benefitting from the Messiah.

The Story and Us:

So, how are we to relate to this parable? Well, we are in that “in-between period,” that time of waiting that may include trials, temptation, and even suffering. The Messiah did come – and died on the cross bearing our sins. That Messiah has promised to come back and bring his kingdom in its fullness. Read Revelation 21. He will bring in a time of no death, no mourning, no lies, no broken relationships, no sickness, no tears and no pain. Each day, we want all of that now! God is with us even while his work is not complete. But we are still in a “big time waiting period” that still includes death and mourning and tears and pain. This world is messed up and filled with injustice and evil. God promises, “My reign will come! I will bring justice to this world! When I do I will do it swiftly. But you must trust me.

What do we do in this kind of world? Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

So, the best thing to do is look at the story and learn from Jesus:

Lesson #1: We must settle in our hearts that God can be trusted.

Do you remember my message from Genesis 3? The first sin was launched by planting a seed of doubt about the goodness of God. Jesus takes this up in his story – but he does it in a striking and unforgettable way. He introduces a character who is very different from God – an “anti-god” who has the power to bring about justice, to further injustice, or to ignore suffering people altogether.

In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about people (18:2).

Do you see the two descriptors made in v. 2 and affirmed by the judge personally in v. 4? 1) He didn’t fear God – so a person in authority thinks he no one to whom he is accountable if he/she does not feel accountable to God. A person without accountability is liable to do anything – and that anything is almost always whatever they want to do for their own comfort or benefit! People with no fear of God have no sense of ethics outside of their own self-interest because they believe they never will have to give account of their decisions. And, for this man, the problem is compounded by 2) he didn’t care about people either! He didn’t care whether he did what was best for other – or even what anybody else thought of him!

I don’t think I need to tell you that the biggest scandals that have occurred in history – including recent history – when people think they are not accountable to anyone. This was true of the corporate scandals we’ve experienced where CEOs sat on one another’s boards and only acted so that each executive made huge amounts of money. It’s been true of the sex-scandals of the famous in recent years where famous people felt they were judges unto themselves.

So, this character in Jesus’ story is one who will not care about justice. In our Western culture in which we think in terms of right and wrong – and people feel guilty when they do wrong -- this man would never have felt any guilt about mistreating anyone. Judah’s culture was a shame-based culture. This man would not have been ashamed of ignoring the needs of people. He didn’t care what people thought!!

Jesus is saying, “God is not like that!” God’s very character is the definition of love and justice. When we wonder what true love and justice look like, we look at God. Look at how Jesus puts it in verses6-7: Listen to what the unjust judge says (when at last he acted to bring justice to the woman). And will not God bring about justice…

So this is where we must begin when we are tempted to give up. We must ask ourselves if we truly believe that God is who he says he is. Remember our messages from Genesis 1-3: God is powerful. God is present and at work in the world. God is gracious. God seeks after those who are hurting or who have failed. This same God promises that he will bring about what is good and right in your life. Do you believe him?

In John 14, when Jesus told his disciples that he would be leaving them to go to his death on the cross, their hearts were troubled. What did Jesus tell them? “I know where I’m going. I know what I’m doing? I’m doing it for you. So… trust God. Trust me.

Question #1: Do I trust God enough to wait for his timing?

Lesson #2: We must embrace God’s declaration that he loves us.

We now come to the second character in the story, a widow who was experiencing injustice:

There was a widow in that town that kept coming to him with the plea, “Grant me justice against my adversary (18:3).”

So, this woman’s life was in trouble. This judge had the power to make things right but just think of the obstacles:

1. The judge is unjust! He doesn’t care about justice. We’ve already seen that.
2. The woman is a woman! Women were not even supposed to go to court in ancient Palestine!
3. The woman is a widow! So, she didn’t have a husband to do what husbands were supposed to do, i.e., take the injustice to court on behalf of his wife and children.
4. The widow is poor! So, she cannot even bribe this judge who might have been swayed to make a right judgment if he could have seen that he’d get some profit out of it.

But just as Jesus made the point that the judge is not like God, he also makes the point that we are not like the widow! Look again at v. 7: Will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?

“God’s chosen ones?” That’s what Jesus says. We are those specially loved by – chosen by – God. Our standing with God is not uncertain. He wants us in his family!! Do you see the contrast between us and the widow that Jesus is driving home? The widow was a stranger but we are God’s chosen children. The woman had no advocate at court. She had to walk around trying to find help on her own. But Jesus promises that he is our high priest and advocate in heaven.

When we have settled in our hearts that God is good and just, then we have to wrestle with whether we also truly believe God when he says, “I love you with an everlasting love!” There are times when we just will not believe this because we know we have sinned. Let me show you again the paradoxical truths the Pastor Tim Keller uses so often:

We are more sinful than we could ever dare to imagine.

We are more loved than we could ever dare to hope!

This is why the Apostle Paul spends time praying for God’s people as he asks us to be faithful to God in tough times. He knows that our faithful will flow out of a conviction that God really loves us! Here is the prayer:

I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Question #2: Do I really believe that God loves me and wants the best for me?

Lesson #3: We must learn to wait and pray as God does his work in his way and in his time.

Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up…. God will see that his chosen ones get justice… (18:1,8).

In this point, I want us to focus on Jesus’ call to pray. But, many of us read the story and wonder what it’s teaching us about prayer. Oh, we know that Jesus is saying that God is not like the judge and we are not like the widow. Still we think that Jesus is somehow teaching that we should deal with God as the widow dealt with the judge. Well, that makes no sense. Jesus is surely saying that our prayer life with God will be different from the woman’s non-stop begging with the judge. Let me specify what I’m certain Jesus is not teaching in this parable:

*That prayer is a way of wearing God out until at last he relents and does what we want him to do – as the judge was worn out in v. 5;

*That prayer’s effectiveness is measured by the quantity of our words;

*That we have to keep repeating a request because God may be too busy to have heard it the first time;

*That we have to keep badgering God because we to get him to put us on the front burner of all his concerns;

*That prayer is putting on a show of emotion and piety that will impress him and sway his decision.

That is Jesus saying then about prayer? He’s saying that prayer is a relationship between a good and loving Father and the children he has dearly wanted in his family, i.e., his chosen ones. Practically speaking, this means that when there is a burden on our hearts, we need to talk to him about it. How often? As often as it is a burden on our hearts. In a good relationship, we have the freedom to say, “I’ve talked with you about this before, but can we discuss it again?” I’ve found that there are many times that I’ve started a prayer that way and quickly I move to, “Lord, I trust you. I know I don’t have to bring it to you again. I trust you.” But, many times, I simply have to talk about it – just as I do with close friendships. In 2 Cor. 12, Paul had “a torn in the flesh” that he brought to the Lord several times. But, it wasn’t that he was trying to wear God out and it wasn’t that he said, “I think I’ve found a better way to say it this time Lord.” No, in his time of prayer, he found that God gave him “more grace” to be able to go on.

The challenge is that often we don’t know why God waits. And, as your pastor, I will tell you that I usually don’t know either. I can read the Bible and see that the disciples did not want Jesus to die in John 13-14. Now, of course, we’re so thankful he did. We read the Book of Acts and ask why god did not rescue the young godly leader named Stephen from being stoned. In the short run, it made no sense. Now, of course, we know that Stephen’s martyrdom was the thing that forced the early Christians out of Jerusalem and into their mission of carrying the Gospel to the world. Apart from that, the message of Jesus may not have made it to Southern California.

We must learn to ask. Prayer reconnects us with God like time together does in any relationship. And sometimes, “We have not because we ask not” as the Book of James says. And, sometimes, there is a work God want to do in us that can only happen when we learn to wait on him. I know this: The most mature Christians in history all tell us the same thing, “Learn to wait upon the Lord.” And Jesus tells us, “When things are as bad for you as they were as they were for the widow, “Keep praying and do not give up.”

Question #3: What is the weightiest matter in my life that I am waiting on right now?

Lesson #4: We must “keep the faith” while we wait and pray?

I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth (18:8)?

Basically, what Jesus says is this, “We know that the Father will keep his word. Evil will be judged. Justice will prevail. When God’s time comes to bring things to completion, he will do it thoroughly and swiftly. But, the real point is whether God will find people faithful to him!”

In the short run, Jesus is surely thinking about people like those who would be waving palm branches and celebrating the potential Messiah entering into Jerusalem. As we read in Luke 19:11, “When Jesus was near Jerusalem, the people thought the kingdom of God was going to come at once.” But, only a few days later, they were calling for his death.

But, there is a similar message to us. Will we continue to trust Jesus even when things are tough – even when we cannot see what God is doing – even when we do not understand? One of the parts of the widow that Jesus applies specifically is that she did not give up. There is remarkable clarity in this parable, isn’t there? V. 1: “Always pray and never give up.” V. 8: “I will return to complete the work but you must keep the faith.”

I’ve been thinking about the kinds of issues over my many years of being a pastor that church people have brought to me – times when they were finding it hard to continue to pray and were at the brink of giving up:

*Sickness and pain – After many years of going to doctors and having the church pray and praying personally, things never get better. Jesus says, “It will not last forever. Always pray and never give up.”

*Relationship struggles – There is a desire to get married – especially in communities where marriage is celebrated so fully. We ask, “Why does God delay? What’s wrong? What’s wrong with me?” Jesus says, “I love you. Trust me. Always pray and never give up.”

*Personal failure – We read the battle Paul wrote of in Romans 7, “The things I want to do, I do not do. Those things I don’t want to do, I do.” We’ve prayed often that God would take away this thorn of flesh but the battle still rages.” Jesus says, “I know you as you are and I love you. Do not give up the battle and do not give in to the sin. Always pray and never give up.”

*Family trouble – “I’ve witnessed to and prayed for my child (my husband, my wife, my parents…) for so long but he/she seem to be farther from God than ever. “ Jesus says, “I love that person even more than you. Keep praying and never give up.”

*Loss – Few things hurt more than loss – loss of a job (“Why was I released and he was not??); loss even of a loved one. Jesus says, “I am not absent from you. Remember that eternal things like my love for you can never be lost. Remember that even death’s sting has been taken away by my resurrection. Always pray and never give up.”

Question #4: Am I willing to entrust every matter to the Lord and be faithful while I wait for his timing.

I want to leave the simple but profound words of Jesus on your minds and in your hearts as we finish this service:

Jesus told his followers a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

Luke 18:1

To His glory alone,
Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor

Greg Waybright • Copyright 2012, Lake Avenue Church