Exploring Prayer in Luke 18

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

Well we have entered into chapter 18 of Luke – six more chapters and we will have wrapped it up. So let’s read together starting from verse 1 and see what the Lord has for us today.

Luke 18.1
March 29th 2020

1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
2 Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
3 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Acceptance of the Kingdom Like a Child

15 ¶ And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
16 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of GodGod’s spiritual reign—fulfilled and present, not political or future..
17 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.

18 And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.
20 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
21 And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.

Prayer and Persistence

Okay, back to verse 1 of chapter 18:

1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

To always pray and not grow weary in so doing. Prayers are enigmatic in my mind, and I think this teaching is really purposeful. In the past I have described the relationship between God and human beings are a two-laned highway. God is moving toward us on the one side and we are moving toward Him on the other.

He is moving toward us by His Spirit, we are moving toward him in the Spirit and prayer is one of the ways this occurs. Since the age of fulfillment I see prayer the way Jesus describes it here as entirely possible meaning constantly and without getting weary. Why? Because He is in us, abiding with us, walking with us and ever present. But even this, for whatever reason, isn’t sufficient as He was ever with Jesus too when he walked the earth and Jesus retired to the desert often to pray.

And so the “official prayers” – the stop and kneel down if so lead, and bring things to Him verbally – seem to matter. The other day I was in one of the last places still open to the public and saw a guy that I know. He asked if I was praying for the virus to stop – something he said that the Governor of Utah asked of the citizenry. I told him it seems counter intuitive to pray and ask God to stop something that he allowed, did not cause, but allowed, in the first place. His response was, “you don’t believe in prayer?”

Understanding Prayer Through Parables

I said, “I don’t believe in prayer where we attempt to get our will done over his.” “Then how do you pray?” he asked. I told him that my prayers are to understand the will of the Father and to then learn to accept whatever that will is.

The story we are about to read speaks counter to this approach of mine in some ways. I may have to rethink my approach as we relate to God on a two-laned highway. So Luke begins by telling us that Jesus told this parable to teach men to pray always and to not grow weary in so doing. And the reason we seem to grow faint in our prayers is because the prayers we ask seem to go unanswered. So Jesus directs a parable to this end, saying (verse 2).

2 Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:

This judge was not a respecter of persons as no influence appeared to move him in his seat. God had no sway over him and men certainly had no influence over what he thought and said as a judge. Of course this judge is a picture of the Living God, the consuming fire, who does not fear anything or anyone at anytime. Here in this parable Jesus is describing the character of the invisible God! Can you believe that. What an insight for us! From this very parable we know how God operates in one small way!

The Widow and the Judge

3 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. Of course this story is taken right out of the Nation of Israel and their established culture and when we consider this we can add that this judge, according to Isaiah 1:17 and Jeremiah 22:3 was to pay particular attention to the welfare of widows who were typically defenseless, commonly poor, and were liable to be oppressed by those around her who were in power. Luke says she comes and says, “Avenge me,” which might be better translated, "Do me justice against my adversary, or vindicate me from him." It does not denote vengeance or revenge, but simply that she wished to have justice done – this was the judge's job – to bring justice to the community. And then we come to the line relative to prayer that remains a mystery: (verse 4)

4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;

But he would not for a while. Luke has told us that the reason Jesus tells this parable is to teach us to pray always and to not grow weary in doing it (to not faint) and here he explains one of the reasons we grow faint – that in some cases, our judge does not act immediately, or as Luke puts it, for a while. Why this is, we can only look at scripture and then speculate.

Perseverance in Prayer

Going back to the Old Testament we know that Jacob did not get the blessing from the angel until after he wrestled with him until the dawn. What was God doing in that wrestling match to the heart and will of Jacob, who was quite the little sneak in his life up to that time? Was he showing him that trickery, or a quick prayer was not God’s mode of fixing things but that God has greater purposes with us than to just supply our every want?

In the Apostles Record we have a poor woman of Syrophenicia who came to Jesus humbly. Her petition was not answered immediately – in fact he frankly ignored her. She was asking the Lord for something that was outside her right to ask as a non-Jew. Was his delay to reinforce this fact in her mind and to test her mettle in getting her request. Was it to put her heart through 1500 years of trials in a single instant the way the Lord tempered the Nation of Israel during that time before giving her what she desired?

Then there is Paul with the thorn in His flesh where three times he went to God for its removal and God refused to remove it, only telling Paul that His grace was sufficient. Could it be that Paul, having whatever thorn that was removed, would have viewed himself as more righteous in his flesh than he ought, and that God, knowing what is

Persistence in Prayer

Even in heaven itself, according to John the Revelator in Revelation chapter 6, describes the following scene:

9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

For whatever reason the Almighty has, we know the following: He often waits to answer our prayers, and He often does not give us what we desire – that does not mean he hasn’t answered – it simply means the answer is no. That was apparently the case when Jesus asked if the cup which was set before him could be passed over.

The Parable of Persistence

Nevertheless, in this parable, the point is to emphasize not growing weary in petitioning God for… money? No. For good fortune? No. For justice. We must note that this is the case of the parable. The widow sought justice on her avenger. She was in a justifiable position to ask, she was wronged, and she only had him, the judge, to avenge the wrong.

She was not asking that a loved one live. David did that and his child died. And this is perhaps how we can parse this passage out in our minds – by looking at the example Jesus gives to justify persistence in prayer – Justice. And nothing more.

Remember the time and the age. The people were being preyed upon by both their religious leaders and the Romans. This parable was perfectly timed and delivered as Jesus commends HIS disciples to not cease praying for vengeance upon their enemies – same as for the widow in the parable. And the same as the saints who had been slain by the sword who were under the throne of God asking when he would act.

So the praying always must, according to this parable, be aimed at getting justice – which God may take a long time exacting.

Understanding God's Delay

Placing these factors squarely before us now we can better understand the context of the advice given here, and the driver behind the Judge who said “Within himself,” who came to this conclusion on his own, saying: “Though I fear not God or man” (Verse 5)

5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. 6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.

So, through persistence toward getting vengeance, the widow troubled the unjust judge enough, long enough, wearied him enough, that he decided to act – because he was tired of hearing her complaints.

Now I am going to step out on a huge limb here and openly admit that this is pure conjecture on my part as to why this parable that Jesus tells describing God through the person of an unjust judge and a widow, but to me, the following might be the case: There is a two-lane highway in the relationship between God and human beings. God is Good, and he is longsuffering, and he patiently gives all of us time to act and turn and change our course and minds.

God’s Justice and Patience

In the case of His avenging the widow for a wrong done toward her, these thing would be the reason for His delay – to give the evil party time to repent and change. In the case of the Saints under the throne of God calling out for vengeance this might also be the case – God was giving the evil perpetrators time to change and repent.

Where we who have been offended, God who is good and is love wants to give our attackers time – and so he delays his wrath. But God is also Just. And he knows that justice is required for those who have been harmed, like the widow in the story. There is a debt and the widow is demanding that that debt be paid – through her constant tireless petitions on the weary Judge.

So it appears – it appears, that when we are waiting on Justice to be meted out by God on our behalf – and this is good because vengeance is HIS, and we do trust in this and wait for Him to act, it SEEMS – IT SEEMS that in this specific case.

The Parable of Persistent Faith

Of our being offended and the offenders not being brought to justice, that our tireless prayers for God to act on our behalf carry weight! And here Jesus seems to be promoting this fact and approach to his disciples. Radical, contextual, and really interesting. And in the end Jesus says to those following him: Hear what the unjust judge saith. Which was, “she wearies me,” which in antiquity was a word applied to boxers who had their faces bloodied and bruised to the point that they are exhausted.

And then we arrive and the heart of the teaching:

7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?

This is a very pointed parable, truly aimed at that place and that time – though the principles remain applicable to us today. But to them Jesus reminds them that God will avenge his own elect who cry to him day and night even though he “bears long” with them – even though he takes his time. And then tying the whole thing to the end of that age and to His return, Jesus now adds:

8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

In the previous chapter, which appears to be the same setting here, Jesus talked about the signs coming and the things that they were to be looking for prior to His arrival to rescue them. Here he continues with the theme and admits that the avenging will be sudden, and then asks:

Nevertheless, WHEN the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

Faithfulness in Awaiting

So while it is true that God will speedily avenge his elect in that day, Jesus posits a question, beginning with, “nevertheless.” Meaning, notwithstanding this fact, though God will avenge his very elect, the danger remains of “will he find, upon his return to the earth, his elect faithful?” Note that the word here translated, upon the earth,” is upon the ghay, which means the land, the vicinity, the area, and not the kosmos or world.

Will his faithful remain faithful is the question. If you recall in our verse by verseTGNN’s Bible teaching series—book-by-book, through the lens of fulfillment and spiritual liberty. through Revelation, Jesus Himself speaks to the seven actual churches in Asia Minor and this was the thrust of his message to them – “are you being faithful to what I expect of my bride, because if you aren’t you will lose your reward.”

And at this point Luke has Jesus shift gears in his teaching and we read at verse 9:

9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:

Verse nine sets the stage on why Jesus taught this parable: it was to “certain (people) who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others.” Look out – because when it comes to religiosity, we all have a tendency to adopt such an attitude, right? That we believe, that we go to church, that we have been called and elected, and those repobates around us are just lost, chattel, and perhaps even fodder for the fires of hell.

Now, of course, this parable also has direct application to the people then because the Jews, under the law, did see themselves as justified and righteous before God due to their allegiance to the law, and not because of God and His righteousness. And so this parable must first be seen in this light.

Paul spoke to this attitude in Romans chapter 10 when he wrote the following:

Romans 10:

1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

We could assign these verses to anyone – ourselves included – who believe that their righteousness is from within themselves and not the gift of God’s grace through faith.

Illustration of Humble Faith

In any case, as a means to illustrate justification before God not being of proud works-righteousness but of humble contritional faith, Jesus says:

10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.

We note something right off the bat don’t we? Both men – both of them – went to the temple to pray. So there was a driving urge in both men.

Understanding the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican

To communicate with God. And of course, we know that a publican was a dreaded hated tax collector in that age and that a Pharisee was a strict religionist. The courts of the temple were the common place people in that day went to pray.

So . . . verse 11

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, “God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.” Again, the purpose of the parable was “unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others.” And automatically we see that the Pharisee represented the person to whom Jesus was speaking about. And how does he describe him when he went to the temple to pray?

He stood and prayed like this: “God I thank you that I am not as other men are (so there is a man who trusted in himself that he was righteous and here comes the part where he despised others, calling these other men), “extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.” Extortioners were workers of evil who took from others goods by force and/or they were those who took advantage of the necessities of others, the poor and the oppressed, and extort their property from them. The unjust are those who are not fair and honest in their dealings; who get the property of others by fraud. They are different from extortioners because they appear honest; but are not – and we already know about the publicans who extracted taxes from the Jews often skimming off the top.

Contrast Between the Pharisee and the Publican

What is interesting about the words Jesus has the Pharisee say here about others is he accuses the Pharisees of doing the very same things in different places in the Record. In any case, this praying Pharisee either didn’t remember his own sins or he wasn’t guilty of them and was there to gloat over his righteousness before God, saying:

“I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.” The Pharisees are said to have fasted regularly on the second and fifth days of every week in private. These fastings were in addition to the public days of fasting required in the law of Moses, and they therefore made their voluntary fastings a bigger matter of merit. And “I give tithes of ALL that I possess.” A tithe means the tenth part of a thing. A tenth part of the possessions of the Jews was required for the support of the Levites according to Numbers 18:21. In addition to the tithes required strictly by law, the Pharisees decide to tithe on everything which they possessed–even the smallest matters—like seasonings. And it seems that this was probably what Jesus had him priding himself on. Like fasting, this Pharisee was doing even more, making himself even more righteous, through his own efforts AND despising others of lesser devotion – like the publican standing nearby. Who Jesus now describes and says:

13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

The Publican's Humble Approach

We first note that the publican did not center himself right smack dab in the middle of everyone praying nor closest to the temple, which is where a Pharisee would have stood. But instead, he removed himself a distance (afar off) from the popular locations to humbly admit he was not worthy for any better place. “And he would not so much as lift his eyes to heaven.” This is shame and consciousness of guilt. In the publican, we have the opposite temperament of the Pharisees who seems to have no consciousness of guilt but only consciousness of greatness! But the publican couldn’t even lift his eyes toward heaven he was so aware of his lack of righteousness. It’s sort of a human trait – dogs do it too – we look the opposite direction of heaven with our shame and keep our eyes to the ground. And he smote upon his breast, which was in that culture, and is also at times in ours, an outward expression of grief and anguish in view of his sins. And his prayer was not to justify himself before God but instead to say, “God be merciful to me a sinner.”

We can see in the comparison – the PARAble

That it is not the man who has the most orthodox beliefs that has, of course, the most piety or true heart before God.

True Righteousness and Humility

We also see that boasting before God of what we are and of what we have done is abominable in his sight. That the scripture is true, the Lord is near to those that have a broken heart and saves such as have a contrite spirit.

Micah 6:8 says: “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”

Jesus' Parable Explained

So what does Jesus say as a summary of his parable that he just delivered? He says:

14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Jesus says, “I tell you.”

The Pharisees and those like them even in our day and age, would have said that the first man, the Pharisee, was the one approved of and justified, not the latter. But not so with God, and Jesus assures us that such thinking is erroneous. God does NOT judge as men judge.

“I tell you, this man (the humble Publican) went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

The Heart Overworks

Justified means “seen as righteous – forgiven, deemed as having paid in full.” And this summary is a gigantic rejection of works righteousness before God, and a supreme endorsement of how much God loves a broken heart filled with humble contrition; how much he loves open honest introspection before Him; and how little our works of righteousness mean by comparison.

And yet religion thrives (in the hearts of fleshly humans) reassuring us that God is pleased with our meager offerings and in the face of them justifies people who despise others who do not offer them too. What we are really talking about here folks is what effectively lies right on the surface of our flesh as this attitude is one of the most fleshly ways humans naturally see themselves before God – As meritorious because we choose to do something, do more to prove our goodness, when all he wants is a BROKEN HEART AND CONTRITE spirit for the weaknesses we all naturally possess – if we are willing to look hard enough at our hearts, and minds, and truest selves.

Receiving the Kingdom of God Like a Child

Let’s quickly wrap the next three verses up before ending for today – verses 15-17:

15 And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
16 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
17 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.

Back in chapter 9 of Luke we read several months ago when the disciples were vying for who would be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven:

47 And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a child, and set him by him,
48 And said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great.

Here the people – presumably parents – brought him babies – infants not children in the sense of young children but infants… that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
16 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
17 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.

And in this, we have an affirmation not to the immature acts of children but that the Kingdom of Heaven is filled with people with total reliance upon God (like a babe has for her mother) and who have the humble…

Contrition of Self Before God

Jesus says, Such is the kingdom of heaven and unless we are like them in this way we will nowise enter in.

Conclusion

We will end here for the day and pick it up next week!

Prayer

Let’s pray!