​Persistent Prayer (Luke 18:1-7)

Chapter divisions can cause problems when reading a verse like verse 1. Who are the ‘they’ who ought always to pray and not lose heart? The parable itself does not say. The answer is the disciples, but we must go back to verse 22 of the previous chapter to find that out.

Moreover, when we go back to that verse, we discover the context for this parable about prayer. As we know, we should always understand something according to its context, and the context of the parable is teaching by Jesus about aspects of his second coming. His main point about the second coming in this passage is that it will be sudden. Life will be going on as normal – feasting, marrying, trading, and building – and suddenly, the second coming will happen.

But that is not the only thing that he says. In verse 22, he tells the disciples that ‘The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.’ What is a day of the Son of Man? The Son of Man is a royal title and points to Jesus being enthroned at God’s right hand. A day of the Son of Man is a time when he reveals his power in a special manner. The disciples would like one of them to occur. Some commentators say that the phrase ‘the days of the Son of Man’ describes the entire future age, not the present one. Either case fits with the fact that Jesus seems to say to them that the next day of the Son of Man that they will see will be when he returns on the Day of Judgement. That will certainly be an awesome day for everyone.

In order to help them accept what he has said, Jesus tells his disciples details about several events that he knows about in a supernatural way. He tells them that he is going to suffer and be rejected by the current generation of Jews. He tells them what life was like in the time of Noah. He tells them what people in Sodom were doing in the days of Lot, even their involvement in building. He tells them that the world at Noah’s time and the community of Sodom in Lot’s time were punished. How did he know those details? Because he is God.

The punishment that came on them was sudden, and the punishment that will come at the end, when he returns, will be sudden. Not only will it be sudden, but it will result in permanent separation. Business partners working together, man and wife living together, separated for ever. He even gives an example – Lot’s wife. The implication for the disciples is obvious – a day of separation is coming when the Son of Man returns.

How would you feel if you had just heard that assessment of the future? If someone said, ‘Let’s have a prayer meeting,’ you might say that you have no heart for it. After all, you have just been told that you will not see one of the days of the Son of Man until judgement day. But then you observe that Jesus is about to tell a parable. What will he say? He talks about an unjust judge and a pestering widow and uses that as an explanation of why the disciples should continue to pray. So, living in light of the end is a motive for prayer because inevitably there are going to be great difficulties for which we will need God’s help.

Details of the parable

It is important to say that the unjust judge does not picture God the Father – he is the opposite of God. The point of the parable is not an exposition of the character of God, although we can ask why God delays an answer. As someone has pointed out, what kind of person would portray God since every person in this life is a sinner? The point of the parable is the necessity of persistence in prayer in challenging times.

Who does the widow represent? Jesus tells us that she represents the church. He does not say that she represents the church at one given time, say when there is a particularly hard experience. Rather, it is the church at all times, praying for something to happen. The cry of the church is for justice. Justice is what the widow wanted, justice is what the unjust judge gave, justice is what will be given when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, and justice is one matter that the church should be praying for. Justice is different from revenge.

What does Jesus mean when he asks if there will be faith on the earth when he returns? In response, we need to ask what he means by faith here. Does he mean faith in the sense of trust in him for salvation or does he mean faith as expressed by the determined action of the widow? We can ask ourselves at this moment what kind of faith do we have. We may have the faith that receives salvation, but do we have the faith that perseveres despite the odds?

Important lessons

There are important lessons for us about prayer in this parable and in its context. Here are some suggestions.

First, the disciples of the Lord must watch out for spiritual escapism. Was that what the disciples were looking for when they desired one of the days of the Son of Man? It is easy to fantasise in a manner that is not very biblical. We can imagine the gospel transforming society and forget to wrestle in prayer for God to send his power. As we know, there is a difference between taking about something, and talking to God about it.

Second, the disciples of the Lord must realise that there are no ideal times for prayer. When is the best time to pray? The answer to that question is now. We can wonder if somehow an atmosphere can be created in which it is easier to pray. The fact is we pray in a time when people have the same priorities that the people had in the days of Noah and in the days of Lot in Sodom. That is the kind of time that marks every period. People of the world are living for this world, and any time for prayer will be spent in such a society.

Third, when we pray, we should remember our poverty. Is that not the point of the widow as an illustration? She was helpless, with no power in herself. The forces against her seemed invincible. There was none to help. And we are powerless without the Lord coming in gracious ways to bless the gospel and provide help.

Fourth, when we pray, we should remember our circumstances. That is what the woman did. She brought her circumstances to the unjust judge and reminded him of the need for action. We are to tell the Lord what life is like in our twenty-first century environment. We are to tell him that the church is marginalised and seems powerless. We are to tell him that we are concerned about the direction of society. Doing so proves that we are distressed at the state of things.

Fifth, when we pray, we should remember our identity. Jesus here draws attention to the fact that the church is God’s elect. They are his favoured ones, those he has chosen from all eternity to bless. And should we not remember that reality when we draw near to him in prayer? Our closeness to him as his children can be a powerful argument when we call upon him. Surely the fact that he always has a regard for his people should be a factor in prayer.

Sixth, there are times when prayer is a necessity. That may seem like an odd thing to say, since in truth there are no times when prayer is not a necessity. Yet there is a difference between praying in a time when churches are full and praying in a time when they are shut or are only sparsely attended. Some of us can remember when a congregation of four or five hundred was not regarded as a big congregation. So there is a different necessity about prayer today compared to the necessity to pray in previous times.

Seventh, the disciples of the Lord should realise that persistence is a good description of prayer. No doubt, we have heard this instruction from Isaiah 62:6-7: ‘You who put the Lord in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth.’ Giving someone no rest sounds like persevering. Then there is the lament a couple of chapters later, in Isaiah 64:7: ‘There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.’ 

In the Sermon on the Mount, we have this wonderful encouragement to pray: ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened’ (Matt. 7:7-8). The verbs are imperatives, an invitation to keep on asking, seeking, and knocking. Knocking sounds like what the widow did in the parable.

Eighth, the Lord’s answers to some prayers come at the end. There are some prayers that we will not see answered unless we live to the time of the second coming. In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray, ‘May your will be done on earth, as it is heaven.’ That petition will not be answered until the perfect world comes in the new heavens and new earth. We pray for the church to be united, but its full union will not be recognised until then.

Ninth, we should realise that the Lord knows when to answer our prayers. Part of our difficulty in prayer is that we expect the Lord to answer immediately, and that if he does not answer immediately, then somehow we have not prayed in faith. How long realistically should we pray about a matter? Until the Lord answers in his providence in one way or another.

Tenth, the disciples of the Lord should ensure that their faith is lively. That is a solemn question that Jesus asks how whether faith will be on the earth when he returns. As indicated earlier, he is not asking if there will be believers on earth when he returns. We know from Paul’s letters that there will be those who will be alive when Jesus descends the skies. But is he asking about the quality because we know that in times of difficulty the love of many will become cold? And one evidence of coldness is when prayer fails to be persistent. Or he is asking about what he will be looking for when he comes, and we stand before him. As our lives are assessed, what kind of faith will he find? Of course, he will know where to look, and one of the places is in our prayer lives.

It is easy to say this, but it is the case, I think. Today is a time to pray because there are so few doing so, at least in the way that this widow persisted in pleading.