This Sunday we near the end of our sermon series on the parables of Jesus, guided by the book Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi by Amy-Jill Levine.
I’m not sure about you, but the idea of praying continuously wears me out. Honestly, I feel like I have been! I feel especially like I’ve been praying for the end of this pandemic since it started, and it doesn’t look like it’s ended to me. I’ve been praying for our culture to be less divisive. That hasn’t happened either. I’d kind of love to win a giant lottery prize or equivalent windfall, but alas…
This parable is addressed to those who “need to pray continuously and not to be discouraged.” So in a way, I feel like this parable is for me. Maybe it’s for you too…
Luke 18:1-8
1 Jesus was telling them a parable about their need to pray continuously and not to be discouraged. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people. 3 In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him, asking, ‘Give me justice in this case against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused but finally said to himself, I don’t fear God or respect people, 5 but I will give this widow justice because she keeps bothering me. Otherwise, there will be no end to her coming here and embarrassing me.” 6 The Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 Won’t God provide justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he be slow to help them? 8 I tell you, he will give them justice quickly. But when the Human One comes, will he find faithfulness on earth?”
Consider these questions:
- What do you think is the purpose of this parable?
- Do you see yourself in this parable? Where? What does it say to you with that in mind?
- Whether or not you see yourself in the parable, who do you think the judge might symbolize? Who do you think the widow might symbolize?
- Who do you think the original listeners might see in those personified in this parable?