Summer In The Parables: The Persistent Widow - [Luke 18:1-18]

For those of you who may not know me, my name is Erickson Kavinta and today we're going to look at the parable of the persistent widow, or the parable of the unrighteous judge, and that is in Luke chapter 18, verses 1 -8, and I'll read it.

The Persistent Widow and the Unrighteous Judge

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, in a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man, and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, give me justice against my adversary.

For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.

And the Lord said, hear what the unrighteous judge says, 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.

Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for your word, and please bless your word, and please work in each one of us what we ought to learn from this lesson, from you, this exhortation.

And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. The meaning and the purpose of the parable is in Luke chapter 18, the first verse. It says, and he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

The Context in Luke 17

The context of the parable is in Luke chapter 17, in the previous chapter. Would someone read verses 20 to 37? Brian? Thank you. The parable is given to and for the disciples. When you look at verse 1 of chapter 18, it says, and he told them, and that them refers back to Luke 17, 22.

It says, and he said to the disciples, what is the Lord telling the disciples in this context in the latter part of chapter 17? Anyone? In verse 22, it says, the days are coming when you desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man.

In verse 23 and 24, he tells them that there's going to be false Christs. Therefore, don't be deceived, because the day of the Son of Man will be known. In verse 25, he foretells of his crucifixion. In verse 26 to 30, he then foretells what it will be like after his crucifixion and prior to his coming.

And then in verse 31 to 33, he gives his disciples instruction on what to do when they see his coming. And then in verses 34 to 37, he tells them of the judgment during his coming, his second coming. After chapter 17, the Lord goes into this parable, again with the following purpose and meaning.

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. Now, in this parable, there are two characters that are spoken of, and the first is the widow. How were widows like in the Old Testament?

I looked it up in the New Unger Bible Dictionary, and it says the following. In the Mosaic legislation, special regard was paid to widows. It is true that no legal provision was made for their maintenance, but they were left dependent partly on the affection of relatives, especially the oldest son whose birthright or extra share of the property imposed this duty upon him.

They also were dependent on the privileges provided for other distressed classes, such as participation in the trinial third tithe, in gleaning, and religious feast. When it talked about gleaning, it made me remember about Ruth and how she went out to glean on Boaz's fields.

God himself claimed a special interest in the widows, even calling himself their husband, uttering the severest denunciation against those who defrauded and oppressed them. Now, how were people supposed to treat widows?

Anyone? I'll give a passage. In Deuteronomy, chapter 27, verse 19, it says, Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. And all the people say, Amen.

So in this part, people are not supposed to pervert the justice due to the widow. In Isaiah, chapter 1, verse 17, God says,. Learn to do good. Seek justice. Correct oppression. Bring justice to the fatherless.

Plead the widow's cause. In this context, it talks about how people are to plead the widow's cause. Now, in the parable, the widow kept coming to the judge, saying, Give me justice against my adversary.

This widow had no power over the judge. She had no money to bribe him. She only had her persistence. It says that she kept coming to him. She repeatedly appealed for aid from the judge, saying, Give me justice against my adversary.

Note how it's not an appeal for the judge to give the verdict on her side. She's appealing for justice. It may be that her cause was right and true. Note also how the judge seems to agree with her when he says,.

Yet, because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice. I will avenge her. Also, note how the judge's assessment is of the widow. The judge thought of the widow as someone who was bothering him, as someone who would eventually beat him down by her continual coming.

The Judge Who Neither Feared God Nor Respected Man

The second character in this parable is the judge. How were judges supposed to be in the Old Testament? I have two passages, Exodus 18, verses 21 to 22. In that passage, it says,. Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe.

And place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And let them judge the people at all times. Every matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves.

So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. So, judges are supposed to fear God. In another passage, 2 Chronicles 19, verses 5 to 7, it says,. He appointed judges in the land, in all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city, and said to the judges, Consider what you do, for you judge not for man, but for the Lord.

He is with you in giving judgment. Now then, let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the Lord our God, or partiality, or taking a bribe. So in that passage, again it talks about fearing, the judges are supposed to fear the Lord, and not being partial.

In this parable, the judge neither feared God, and it's more likely that this judge was not a religious person. One commentator made the following note,. The judge is probably a Jew, and may have been a powerful man.

Since the Romans allowed the Jews to manage many of their own legal affairs, the Romans stayed out of most matters except those involving capital punishment. Many concerns were left to religious authorities, like the Sanhedrin and synagogue elders, but because this man is described as one who does not fear God, it is unlikely that he is a religious leader.

He is possibly a political type of police judge. And the second part that describes this judge is, he did not respect man. In Proverbs 29 .7 it says the following,. A righteous man knows the rights of the poor.

A wicked man does not understand such knowledge. One commentator made this comment,. The judge is not known for his compassion. He does not fear God, nor respect people. A description common in extra-biblical materials of people with fiercely independent wills.

This type of person was often an authority with enough power not to worry about how others responded to him. And finally, what was Jesus' assessment of this judge? Good. Okay. He was unrighteous. It says here what the unrighteous judge says.

Now, the widow's request, she asked for justice against her adversary. She asked to be avenged or vindicated of her adversary. And the judge's response? Initially, the judge did not act. This shows his character as someone who does not respect persons the bad way.

This also shows his character as someone who did not fear God, for he did not love his neighbor. Then, because of her persistent requesting, the judge acts. He has a private soliloquy with himself. Note how the judge repeats the description of himself.

Then, the judge notes how the widow keeps coming to him with her request. He decides to give her justice in order that she would not beat him down with her request. Now, this is similar to another parable that the Lord gives.

It was about a person that comes to one of his neighbors and knocks on his door and asks him for bread. And the guy says, you know, why are you waking me up? And the Lord says, I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence, he will rise and give him whatever he needs.

The widow was very impudent to this judge. And because of this, he decides to give her what she wanted, which was justice. And then, in the parable, it comes to the comparison when Jesus basically says, hear what the unrighteous judge says.

And will not God give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night? The comparison is between the unrighteous judge and God. The comparison is from the lesser to the greater. And this is what the comparison is.

If such an insensitive character responds to repeated pleas from someone he does not know or care about, how much more will a righteous God respond to his children? Now, what is the elect asking for in this parable?

Right, exactly, it's by implication. They're asking the same thing as the widow. Note how the scripture expresses the elect's need for rescue by how constantly they cry out for help. How constantly do they cry out for help?

It is probably an expression of how severe their trial is to do right. You could almost make a contrast also to the elect as well with the widow in this parable too. And in some ways, well, to the world, we're probably like the weakest of the society.

The Delay, Vindication, and God's Patience

Now, the second portion of this, it says, and will not God give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night? And then there's this part, will he delay over them? A lot of commentators have different opinions on what that means.

I was just going to read to you probably the two best views for what that means. With better contextual support, many commentators hold the idea of patience, which is the word delay, I believe, has to do with God's response.

God will not delay. The problem with this view comes when we look at Lucian theology as a whole. Luke's perspective seems to include a concern about the return's delay, better discussed as the interim before the delay.

For example, he both emphasizes the present blessings and calls for patience in the intervening period. Why, therefore, would Luke include a remark about immediacy? The answer seems to be that he never loses hope that the return might be soon.

It is among the next items in God's plan. And so this remark, which emphasizes immediacy, is retained. Other texts show the church explaining the delay in terms of God's mercy, since such a delay gives people additional opportunity to respond.

This is like in 2 Peter 3, verses 8 and 9. Nonetheless, Jesus here asks the disciples to be ready, knowing that once his work is accomplished, the return will be one of the key events left to occur. It is legitimate to ask how this view can be sustained in the face of what is clearly now a lengthy delay.

It's been a while since the Lord has left after his first coming. The answer is not addressed in these verses, but in the larger concerns of Lucian and New Testament theology. The New Testament views the entire time between Jesus' departure and his return as a period of fulfillment in which God acts on behalf of his people.

God's vindication is both now and not yet. Acts chapters 2 and 3 seems to stress the presence of blessing now, even though full vindication, for example the removal of enemies through judgment, is not yet.

This vindication involves blessing and spiritual provision now, as well as physical deliverance upon the return. Luke 18 focuses on the ultimate vindication. Though God is currently hearing the prayers of his people, in other words, vindication may be broader than the fact of the return, since the initial form of eschological vindication comes with the Spirit's provision and entry into the fulfillment of promise.

And the second view is, it treats the reference to patience as God's response, but sees it in terms of his restricting the enemy's power to persecute until the vindication. God is patient with his elect, enlightening the intensity of their suffering until he comes.

He does not spare them, but he does protect them. This option has lexical merit and speaks of God's providential care that comes quickly in the interim. If this sense is correct, accounts like Acts 4 .23 -32 and 12 .6 -17 may picture the attitude called for here.

So it's hard to be sure which of these two views is more likely. It is clear that God vindicates his people. Whether his patience is reflected in a current care that culminates in ultimate deliverance or in keeping persecution from being too great, it's not certain.

Luke 18 .8 and the Association of the Son of Man probably favors the first view over the second. If so, God's current and ultimate care is in view, though the focus is on where that care ends with vindication.

Do you guys understand that part? I know I read it from a commentary, but endure. I'm going to ask about that later on, about that last part of the parable. So in verses 7 and 8, what does God do with the saints' request?

A thousand years? And in light of eternity, it doesn't seem long. In verses 8, Jesus says, I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily, so God will respond speedily. One commentary wrote, Pray and look for the return, knowing that it will come.

Though the delay seems long, after the vindication, it will seem short. In comparison to eternity, what is the span of time between Christ's first and second comings? This point is especially true in light of the vindication's permanence.

The Son of Man, Faith, and Persevering Prayer

And now we come to Luke 18, verse 8, the second part. Jesus' final question. He says, nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? Now, the word for find here is, it's a verb, and it's in the future tense.

I was looking it up a little bit more on a Greek book, and it says the following. The time of action of the future tense is obvious. The kind of action may be either punctual or it's action at a certain point or linear, meaning that the action keeps on going.

Usually it is punctual, but the context will indicate its use. And there are three main functions. The first is predictive, which means that he, one example is, he will teach the children. The second is imperative.

The imperative may be expressed by the future. An example of this is, and you shall call his name Jesus. And then the third, which is how the ESV puts it, I believe, is the deliberate future. And it's sometimes found when a rhetorical question is asked.

In this case, an answer is not expected. An example of this is, Lord, to whom shall we go, which is John 6, verse 68. So I tried to figure out what is, it basically says that the deliberate future is sometimes used for a rhetorical question.

And I kept looking for what that is, like the deliberate future. And in a website, I found this. It says the deliberate future asks a question that implies some doubt about the response. The question asked in the first person singular or plural is generally either cognitive or volitive.

Cognitive questions ask, how will we, while volitional questions ask, should we? Thus, the force of such questions is one of oughtness, that is, possibility, desirability, or necessity. For example, Romans 6 says, how then shall we still live in sin?

How then shall we still live in it? I think this would be cognitive. So what do you think Jesus' question, what can we learn from Jesus' question of, nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?

Brian, what do you think he's going to find? I think it may indicate something like maybe this kind of faith, the one that is praying for his return. I'll give you what some of the commentators say. This idea of awaiting the return raises the question of what people will be doing when it comes.

Will they be praying and looking for it? Jesus' last remark serves as a rhetorical call to continue to pray and hope for the vindication. He wonders if the Son of Man will find faith on earth when he comes.

The faith that the Son of Man will look for is not simply an identification with his message, nor a faith that avoids strange teaching. Rather, the context indicates that the Son of Man will be looking for those who are looking for him.

In the interim, will believers keep the faith? Will they continue to pray and look for vindication? Even though Jesus expresses the idea as a question, he is exhorting them to keep watching. He is calling for a faith that perseveres in allegiance to Jesus.

The message is be vigilant. The disciples is to look forward to the day when Jesus will come and defend his elect by exercising righteous judgment over the whole earth. In fact, there are other passages in Luke that talks about how he wants them to keep watch.

The Application: Prayer, Perseverance, and Longing for Christ's Return

So, with that in mind, let me just remind you again the meaning and the purpose of the parable. And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. That's verse 1 of 18.

The application for this. When I thought about it, I thought that it was good for the Lord to give us warnings and exhortation. Why does he give us warnings and exhortations? Because we need them and we're more likely or apt to do the things that he doesn't want us to do.

Sometimes when I pray, I don't ask for the Lord to return. Usually my mind is on the current events or the things that are happening right now. Like if someone has a job that needs a job, I'd pray for that.

That's usually what I pray for and it's not usually, you know, Lord, come back. And when I thought about it, it may have to do with, because this parable talks about how the elect wants to be avenged or to have justice.

It deals with sometimes the persecution that people get. And in some ways, like the more persecution you get, the less of the things of this world become less and less. And the more like, Lord, please come back.

You know, please return. It's the same way, like sometimes getting these warnings and exhortation is not something that we want. It's like someone saying, oh, you know, you're this kind of a person that they're basically telling you a character fault or something like that.

I thought about Peter when he told the Lord that he would never deny him. And then the Lord basically told him that he will deny me, you will deny me three times. And it made me think about how Peter needed to hear that because he also needed to hear how the Lord has prayed for him that his faith would not fail.

The Lord gives us this exhortation so that we can know that the Lord will listen and he will answer our prayers. That's why we shouldn't lose heart. We shouldn't give up praying. And we shouldn't allow the things that we see to affect how we pray and how fervent or how constant we pray.

Pastor Steve made a comment about even so, Lord, come quickly. Is that right? Well, that was one of the things that I was going to go over. In Revelation chapter 22, it says in verses 7 to 21, and he said to me, these words are trustworthy and true.

And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place. And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.

I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me. But he said to me, you must not do that. I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers, the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book.

Worship God. And then note what John writes next. And he said to me, do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. And then he says, let the evil doer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.

So what John's message there is that for us to continue to endure, to do what is right, to keep praying for his coming. And at the end, John makes a prayer and he says, Amen, come Lord Jesus. Another thing that I thought of was how as Christians we ought to love his return.

In 2 Timothy 4, verses 7 to 9, Paul describes Christians as this way. He says, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day.

And then he says, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved or longed for his appearing. Any other thoughts? In fact, like that passage in Luke 17, no one was looking for his coming. They were giving marriage.

Again, Pastor T told me to make sure that people get the point of the parable. And so I'll say it one last time. And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart or not grow weary.

Closing Prayer

Okay, let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for your word. And I just pray that your word would not go out void and that you would use it in each one of our lives. So that when a situation comes in our lives or when a thinking comes in our hearts, that we would judge it according to your word.

And I just ask you that you would work in us, that we would not grow weary in praying and asking that you would soon return. And that we would continue to do that throughout our days until you do return.

Please continue to work in us. In Jesus' name, amen.