18:1-8 What does this parable of the unjust judge teach?
18:1-8 What does this parable of the unjust judge teach?
This is also known as the parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow. It is used by many in the contemporary church to teach that when we bring a petition before God we should persist in praying for it like the widow persisted with the judge, until God answers us, like the judge eventually answered the widow.
But that is not what the parable is teaching at all. If it did then we are putting a just and holy God in the same category as an unjust and an unholy judge. The parable does not compare the two, it contrasts them.
The spiritual teaching of the parable is not about prayer in general, but prayer pertaining to the Lord's second coming - intercessory prayer. It is the concluding part of a very long discourse by Jesus in Lk 17 about His second coming. It is a call to believers to persevere in prayer against the works of the devil until He comes again (cp Lk 17:20-18:8).
The conjunction and in Lk 18:1 means that Lk 18:1-8 are a continuation of the discourse commenced in 17:20.
The widow's adversary in the lawsuit before the judge in the parable is the equivalent to our adversary the devil in the earth. The parable teaches us that we are not to be passive spectators in God's kingdom, but that we are to persist in faith and persevere in prayer for God's will to be done on earth in spite of continued opposition and rejection, which is what the unjust judge portrays in the parable.
This is what Jesus means when He says that men ought always to pray and not faint in Lk 18:1. He wants believers to keep praying the kingdom in and not give up, even though His second coming may not be immediate.
That is why He questions whether the Christians then remaining when He does come back will still be faithfully pressing in for the things of the kingdom and persevering in prayer, as portrayed by the widow in the parable, or will they have given up hope and lost their faith. Jesus then contrasts the unwilling and uncaring judge's tardiness in vindicating the widow, to God's willingness and readiness to vindicate His children.
When Jesus comes back God will vindicate His righteous cause and therewith the cause of His children, but they must trust Him and not lose heart in the meantime. They must here and now continue faithfully in the work He has assigned to them (see also comments on Mt 25:14-30 and Lk 19:11-27).