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Pray Always and Don’t Stop Believing
“Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, “Grant me justice against my opponent.” For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.” And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’"
Luke 18:1-8
In this parable from today’s Daily Office in the Book of Common Prayer, Jesus tells us a story about a widow who got justice from an unjust judge by sheer persistence. How much more then will God hear the prayers of His beloved children who cry to Him day and night?
The persistent widow’s prayer is specific. It’s for justice, for someone who has wronged her to be held to account, for something unjust to be put right. Jesus tells us that God will not delay long in granting justice, but will do it quickly. Yet, we may puzzle over this: how do we square it with the experience of so many oppressed and persecuted followers of Jesus? How has God quickly granted justice to them?
From the widow’s perspective, she may have had to pester the unjust judge for quite some time. Luke tells us that the lesson of the parable is about our “need to pray always and not to lose heart.” From our perspective, it may sometimes feel like God’s answer is delayed. The prophet Habakkuk felt this deeply, opening his book with some searing questions: “O Lord, how long shall I cry to you for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save?... So, the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth.” (Hab. 1:2, 4)
Countless Christians have found hope and strength for each day in the sure knowledge that the Almighty God is on the side of justice and that one day God’s justice will prevail. Even when it looks like injustice sits on this world’s thrones, they take heart to know that God alone is King. In this faith, saints like Oscar Romero, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Mother Theresa bore witness to God’s justice against what looked like impossible odds. So, too, can we. Let’s take heart and pray always for God’s kingdom to come, His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
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