PERSEVERANCE IN PRAYER AND HUMILITY
Key Scripture: Luke 18:1-14
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always prapy and not give up.
He said, “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men.
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 do not fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming.”
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?”
To those who were confident in their own righteousness Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men- robbers, evildoers, adulterers- or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.
But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven but beat his breast and said, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”
I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
As with all the parables that Jesus told, this is a story that can be true or hypothetical story that is also true. The purpose of this parable that Luke talks about in this chapter is to show that we ought to pray all the time and not lose heart. Why is this important? There could be a number of reasons and the first primary reason is that patience is a virtue that we as human beings need to develop. In our instant social media gratification driven society, we want resolutionsto our problems quickly. When the desire for such results is relayed, we get frustrated as well as discouraged, and the longer the delay takes, the greater our frustration and discouragement becomes. This can be even greater when what is desired in putting right whatever is wrong that has been suffered as is the case in this parable. We as the righteous desirwe for justice to be done.
Pro 21:15
When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous
But terror to evildoers.
There are several psalms that express the frustration of having justic e delayed. In Psalm 94 there is a petition that asks God to intervene and it asks the question of how long the wicked will rejoice, because the psalmist then describes the actions of the wicked before describing the character of God and the hope of His future relief of the righteous and punishment of the wicked. In Revelation 6 it describes the martyrs crying out to God during the first half of the tribulation period to avenge their blood on those who dwell on the earth. (Rev 6:10). Anybody who has suffered at the hands of the urghteous desire for justice to be done and there comes within us a frustration when such justice is delayed. That’s the situation that the widow finds herself in because she has been wronged and is now seeking justice to be done.
The Bible also says to us in numerous passages that we are not to seek our own vengeance.
Lev 19:18
Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your own people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the LORD.
Pro 24:29
Do not say, “I’ll do to him as he has done to me.
I’ll pay that man back for what he did.
Rom 12:19
Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, /i will repay,” says the LORD.
1. The Widow: The actions of the widow were righteous ,but she was in a vulnerable position and there were no other options available to her. The fact that she is the one revealing the case to the judge tells us that she has no male relatives to help her and in that sense she has no protector that could pressurise the judge to acts, if that was at all possible. Her ctions are thus seen as acts of desperation as she continually comes before the judge
2. The judge: The point that Jesus makes in telling us this parable is because this judge did not fear God or respecting men under him, whatever he deemed right and wrong it was only right or wrong in his viewpoint. By him not fearing man, he had no interest in following the law so became a law unto himself. He was a bad man and as such it is expected that he would be an unjust judge.
3. The reward of her persistence is that even though he was a bad judge, with her keeping on allowing the judge to grant her request. The Greek word used for wear me out is huppiaz. It means she would strike him under the eye, but is used in a metaphorical sense because the judge is not afraid of being stuck by her.
4. The comparison: Then Jesus makes the comparison between the unrighteous judge and God who judges in righteousness. God will see to it that justice is carried out quickly when His children cry out to Him on a continual basis, whether it is day or night.
The point of this parable is to show that we ought always to pray and not give up. If this widow could be persistent with the unrighteous judge then we can be persistent in our prayers, knowing that God will act in His time and way and not ours.
5. The Pharisee: the Pharisee used by Jesus in this parable is boasting in his self righteousness. In the book of Acts that is how Paul described himself as a son of the Pharisees and basing his righteousness in obedience to their law. They prided themselves on their genealogical heritage, that they were disciples of Moses with tradition that fulfilled the legal requirements of the law, which resulted in arrogant self-righteousness
6. The tax collector: He was the opposite of the Pharisee. They were considered by many to be the worst of sinners and their place was equated with Gentiles, drunkards, gluttons, prostitutes. The tax collector petitions God because He is the only one that can bring about change. The word translated merciful in the Greek is hilaskomai, which means it is seen as a plea for mercy and for God to acts in His kindness in order to bring about change in the tax collector’s heart.
7. Justification: Jesus ends this parable by saying that the tax collector, rather than the Pharisee, who prided himself in self righteousness, went home justified because of his humility
Psa 138:6
Though the LORD is on high, he looks upon the lowly
But the proud he knows from afar
Pro 3:34
He mocks proud mockers
But gives grace to the humble
This passage contains a warning that you need to be ready to humble yourself before God and Jesus showed you mercy by paying the price of God’s wrath by His death on the cross for our sins. The only way it is possible for you to be saved for eternity is by accepting by faith what Jesus has made available to you on the cross. This is done by the leading of the Holy Spirit.
