Day 84

Luke 18:1–8 (NIV)

¹ Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ² He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. ³ And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ ⁴ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, ⁵ 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!’ ”

⁶ And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ 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? ⁸ 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?”

Pray for God to show you something to use from the passage

Read the Passage

Who is in the passage?

What action verbs do you see?

What other words stick out in your mind

Questions

What is Jesus trying to teach us about prayer in this passage? Why is it hard not to do this?

What does “quickly” mean in terms of vs 8? Does it seem that way?

Why does Jesus ask the question at the end of verse 8?

Notes

We are waiting and longing for Jesus to come and bring justice (vs 17:22) with the kingdom of God being completed. So what should be our attitude as we wait for that day?

vs 1 To pray for it's coming (thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven) and not give up. Keep looking for it! Do not lose heart! That is the attitude we should have! -- DO I?--

He tells the parable to prove His point.

vs 2- The judge while local would have the authority to decide whatever the issue is that the widow needs help on. The judge is described as not fearing God and uncaring towards men. In other words his judgments are not based on compassion or justice from God's point of view. He would be a good man to bribe in order to get what you wanted.

vs 3 The widow would have very little power in the courts system. She was the low person in the town in terms of power and position. Her coming to the judge herself indicates that she has no male family member to bring her case before the judge. Therefore her hopes of having this unjust judge rule in her favor are slim.

vs 4 -5 She will not leave him alone. (Jesus very well may tell this story with an expression of humor) She pesters him continually. The phrase "wears me out" actually means "to give someone a black eye" She will not leave him alone so he decides in her favor just to shut her up. (reminds me of 11:7-8)

vs 6-8a If an unjust judge responds to persistence, then God, who loves you will hear and respond as well. Note the understanding that while we wait we wait in adverse circumstances. The idea of crying out tells of the situation believers find themselves. (see Rev 6:9-11 for another view of this wanting the kingdom to come from persecuted believers already in heaven)

Quickly- what does that mean? From our perspective it can seem long. Jesus understands this point of view thus he tells the parable to remind us God has not forgotten us (reminds me of the cry of Israel in their Egyptian captivity Exodus 3:7-9)

8b- the question for us is will we still hold on to our faith even when we have to wait? Will we still have faith?