Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 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?” Luke 18:1-8
Do you ever help people not because you have particularly loving feelings towards them, or even because you feel it’s your duty, but in order to “get them off your back”?
I recently asked a congregation that question and - guess what? - just about everybody put their hand up. They looked a bit shame-faced as they did so (me too, I must confess), but all credit to them for their honesty. The fact is that some people just wear you down by their sheer persistence till you give in.
I can’t help smiling at the fact that Jesus could tell a story comparing God himself with a judge who gets so fed up with a widow who just won’t stop pestering him that he eventually gives her what she wanted.
Not, of course, that God is remotely like that! No, it’s one of those “how much more” stories - if a heartless, cynical man like that judge could eventually be prevailed upon by a helpless widow, how much more can our loving heavenly Father be prevailed upon by us his children?
What were “judges” like in Jesus’ day? Not as we imagine them today - bewigged, wearing elaborate robes, sitting on a throne behind a bench, presiding over a solemn court involving prosecutors, defenders, a jury - and the poor suspect in the dock. No. They were men who served in local districts to sort out disputes and remedy injustices - and anyone could call on them. Their job was, essentially, to listen to the case and then make a decision.
And widows? Well, if a woman had no family support or loving friendship circle, her situation was desperate: no pensions or social security for her! Hence their sometimes desperate need to get a judge on their side - hence too the fact that the Bible so often speaks of “widows and orphans” as the neediest people in society.
This is the background to Jesus’ story, and he told it for a very clear purpose: “...to show [his disciples] that they should always pray and not give up”. It is, in essence, a challenge about persevering in prayer. I suspect this is a challenge most of us need most of the time.
But a question arises: What exactly does “persevering in prayer” mean? Once we have committed ourselves to pray regularly for a particular person, situation or need, does God expect us to go on praying for it indefinitely? Should we literally “never take no for an answer”? At risk of seeming to contradict Jesus’ story, the answer to that question is, I think, No, not necessarily.
The fact is that sometimes God answers our prayers with a “no”, in which case it is surely right to rest the matter in his hands and move on.
Think of three examples from the experience of Paul...
First, and best-known, the episode of his “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:1-10).
We simply don’t know what this mysterious affliction was, but it was some pain or other problem - physical? psychological? mental? - given to Paul “to keep me from getting conceited” after receiving remarkable visions and experiences of God.
Whatever it was, it was extremely unwelcome: “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me,” says Paul. But - and this is the point - God said, in effect, Sorry Paul, but this is something you are going to have to live with... “My grace is sufficient for you...” God was intending to use Paul’s “thorn” for his ultimate good.
And then there are Timothy and Trophimus, two of Paul’s colleagues in ministry.
Timothy seems to have been a rather sickly young man - Paul speaks of “your stomach and your frequent illnesses” (1 Timothy 5:23). But rather than promise to pray for him, or urge him to pray for himself, he advises him to “stop drinking only water” and to “drink a little wine”.
We aren’t told what was wrong with Trophimus (2 Timothy 4:20), but Paul states bluntly that “I left him ill in Miletus”. Given that he had supernatural powers of healing, it’s surely inconceivable that he hadn’t prayed for Trophimus (and of course for Timothy too).
But it seems clear that he accepted that God wasn’t going to grant them healing, so presumably he no longer prayed for it, but simply gave (in Timothy’s case at least) a little bit of homespun medical advice.
Paul, then, accepted a “no” answer to prayer - and I think that word accepted is important. The vital fact is this: we can stop praying for a particular thing either in a negative spirit, a shoulder-shrugging spirit of resignation - “Oh, I give up, I’m wasting my time” - or in a positive spirit - “All right, it seems that God is not going to grant this request, so I lay it at his feet and trust that he will bring ultimate good out of it.”
“Acceptance” and “resignation” are very different things. To accept a “no” answer in this positive spirit can be wonderfully liberating, setting us free from fretfulness and self-questioning, and allowing us to get on with our lives.
Is this something some of us need to do?
All these thoughts are prompted by Jesus’ story of the persistent widow. But there are other important things too in the story. We’ll have to return to them next time...
Loving Father, thank you that you are so unlike that hard-hearted judge in Jesus’ story - and yet so like him too, in that you really do have power to respond to my cries. Please help me, by your Spirit, to know when to persevere in prayer, and when to accept positively that you have another purpose for my life. Amen.
“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 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?” Luke 18:1-8
Do you ever help people not because you have particularly loving feelings towards them, or even because you feel it’s your duty, but in order to “get them off your back”?
I recently asked a congregation that question and - guess what? - just about everybody put their hand up. They looked a bit shame-faced as they did so (me too, I must confess), but all credit to them for their honesty. The fact is that some people just wear you down by their sheer persistence till you give in.
I can’t help smiling at the fact that Jesus could tell a story comparing God himself with a judge who gets so fed up with a widow who just won’t stop pestering him that he eventually gives her what she wanted.
Not, of course, that God is remotely like that! No, it’s one of those “how much more” stories - if a heartless, cynical man like that judge could eventually be prevailed upon by a helpless widow, how much more can our loving heavenly Father be prevailed upon by us his children?
What were “judges” like in Jesus’ day? Not as we imagine them today - bewigged, wearing elaborate robes, sitting on a throne behind a bench, presiding over a solemn court involving prosecutors, defenders, a jury - and the poor suspect in the dock. No. They were men who served in local districts to sort out disputes and remedy injustices - and anyone could call on them. Their job was, essentially, to listen to the case and then make a decision.
And widows? Well, if a woman had no family support or loving friendship circle, her situation was desperate: no pensions or social security for her! Hence their sometimes desperate need to get a judge on their side - hence too the fact that the Bible so often speaks of “widows and orphans” as the neediest people in society.
This is the background to Jesus’ story, and he told it for a very clear purpose: “...to show [his disciples] that they should always pray and not give up”. It is, in essence, a challenge about persevering in prayer. I suspect this is a challenge most of us need most of the time.
But a question arises: What exactly does “persevering in prayer” mean? Once we have committed ourselves to pray regularly for a particular person, situation or need, does God expect us to go on praying for it indefinitely? Should we literally “never take no for an answer”? At risk of seeming to contradict Jesus’ story, the answer to that question is, I think, No, not necessarily.
The fact is that sometimes God answers our prayers with a “no”, in which case it is surely right to rest the matter in his hands and move on.
Think of three examples from the experience of Paul...
First, and best-known, the episode of his “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:1-10).
We simply don’t know what this mysterious affliction was, but it was some pain or other problem - physical? psychological? mental? - given to Paul “to keep me from getting conceited” after receiving remarkable visions and experiences of God.
Whatever it was, it was extremely unwelcome: “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me,” says Paul. But - and this is the point - God said, in effect, Sorry Paul, but this is something you are going to have to live with... “My grace is sufficient for you...” God was intending to use Paul’s “thorn” for his ultimate good.
And then there are Timothy and Trophimus, two of Paul’s colleagues in ministry.
Timothy seems to have been a rather sickly young man - Paul speaks of “your stomach and your frequent illnesses” (1 Timothy 5:23). But rather than promise to pray for him, or urge him to pray for himself, he advises him to “stop drinking only water” and to “drink a little wine”.
We aren’t told what was wrong with Trophimus (2 Timothy 4:20), but Paul states bluntly that “I left him ill in Miletus”. Given that he had supernatural powers of healing, it’s surely inconceivable that he hadn’t prayed for Trophimus (and of course for Timothy too).
But it seems clear that he accepted that God wasn’t going to grant them healing, so presumably he no longer prayed for it, but simply gave (in Timothy’s case at least) a little bit of homespun medical advice.
Paul, then, accepted a “no” answer to prayer - and I think that word accepted is important. The vital fact is this: we can stop praying for a particular thing either in a negative spirit, a shoulder-shrugging spirit of resignation - “Oh, I give up, I’m wasting my time” - or in a positive spirit - “All right, it seems that God is not going to grant this request, so I lay it at his feet and trust that he will bring ultimate good out of it.”
“Acceptance” and “resignation” are very different things. To accept a “no” answer in this positive spirit can be wonderfully liberating, setting us free from fretfulness and self-questioning, and allowing us to get on with our lives.
Is this something some of us need to do?
All these thoughts are prompted by Jesus’ story of the persistent widow. But there are other important things too in the story. We’ll have to return to them next time...
Loving Father, thank you that you are so unlike that hard-hearted judge in Jesus’ story - and yet so like him too, in that you really do have power to respond to my cries. Please help me, by your Spirit, to know when to persevere in prayer, and when to accept positively that you have another purpose for my life. Amen.
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