Another Lulu From Luke: The Unjust Judge (Luke 18: 1-8)

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Here's another lulu from Luke. Again, it is an account which doesn't appear elsewhere in the gospels.


Jesus tells a parable to show the disciples they should pray always and not lose heart. The story is called either "The Unjust Judge" or "The Persistent Widow".

The story involves a judge who neither fears God nor respects people. He is approached by a widow seeking justice against her adversary. The judge initially refuses to help her, but in the end, he grants her request so she will stop bothering him. He fears becoming worn out by her unending pleas.
 
Always interesting when Jesus prays or teaches the disciples about prayer.

What is your reaction to this passage?
 
This parable has much to teach us Spiritually in our attitude toward being persistent in praying and not to loose heart ---- that is to cave in and quit the process

The very first verses tells us what Jesus is teaching in this parable ----

The Parable of the Persistent Widow​

18 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

I say
You have a a poor ---powerless widow who is relentless in her persistence to nag powerful Judge to do justice for her to keep her adversaries away ------so for me the widow represents the people who hear the word and understand they have a just right to ask for this request --This judge holds a position of power and ability and has the ability to grant her this petition ----so the Judge in my view would be God -----as He is the only one who can give her the ability to keep her adversaries away from her ------

We see the Widow never gives up on her request to get what she deserves and when the Judge doesn't answer her request right away she continues to keep going back to the Judge to ask -----

And this is what we Christians are told to do when God doesn't answer our request right away we are to keep praying for that request ----that is what the first sentence in this Scripture is saying -----pary always and don't cave in --We see the Judge does grant her what she deserves because she is relentless in her request -----and God will Grant our request when God feels the time is right --not when we want it granted -----God knows the right time --we don't -----

Satan is a master at taking away our focus when we are praying for our request ----and so Jesus is preparing His Disciples to keep their focus on God through their continual praying ----

Praying with Doubt in the mind makes the prayer useless as doubt blocks prayer as you are not in Faith -your in doubt

Jesus is teaching His Disciples that even in the face of danger they should keep praying and not cave in and quit --this Widow had no idea what might happen to her if she kept going back to the Judge ---he could have ordered her to get stay away from him ---or put her in jail for harassment ----but she know she had to keep going back with her request to get it answered ----

That is what Jesus is teaching to His Disciples in this Parable in my view -----so in my opinion there is a lot of Spiritual Teaching on staying the course in prayer in all situations and wait patiently for the answer ---
 
Isn't it curious that Jesus didn't simply tell the twelve that they should pray? And that they should be persistent about it?

Why bring in the unjust judge? Is it possible that Jesus himself sometimes got discouraged in his prayer life?
 
Moved @unsafe's comments on this parable over from the Luke 16 thread and edited the date so it wouldn't be the first post.
 
A serious problem with unsafe's interpretation is that she's put Godde in the role of the Unjust Judge, which doesn't cast Godde in a very good light, which I just don't see from Jesus' general philosophy, which is that only Godde is good.
 
A serious problem with unsafe's interpretation is that she's put Godde in the role of the Unjust Judge, which doesn't cast Godde in a very good light, which I just don't see from Jesus' general philosophy, which is that only Godde is good.
If the Unjust Judge is meant to represent God, then God is certainly not very appealing. The judge in the parable is both disrespectful and self-serving.

Yet v.6 tells us to listen to what the unrighteous judge says. The judge grants justice because he fears being worn out by the widow's unending pleas.

Not sure what we are being asked to listen to here.

The text also assures us that God will not delay to answer his chosen ones who cry out to him. He will grant justice speedily.

Isn't this a big leap in logic from the story?
 
A serious problem with unsafe's interpretation is that she's put Godde in the role of the Unjust Judge, which doesn't cast Godde in a very good light, which I just don't see from Jesus' general philosophy, which is that only Godde is good.


BetteTheRed ------my view on your comment

God is never an unjust judge ------we are the ones who are unjust in our expectations of God answering us when we want -------God who is the righteous judge knows when to answer our request ---so just like the widow who didn't get an answer right away from an unjust judge --she kept going back and asking -----which is what we need to do so the righteous judge can grant our request on His time --not our time -----

This unjust judge didn't answer for the right reasons -----He answered out of fear ----as he thought she would kill him if he didn't answer ----so her answer was given not from Love but from fear ---Fear comes from Satan ---not God -----
 
The passage doesn't even mention faith until v.8

An almost rhetorical question is posed. When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?

Curious. The faith of the widow/ her trust in the judge is not discussed in the parable. Rather the focus is on her persistence.
 
I suppose we could all find someone to say and do what we want them to do....this woman found an unjust judge. But was justice served?
 
I suppose we could all find someone to say and do what we want them to do....this woman found an unjust judge. But was justice served?
Yes, I think justice was served. The widow received what she was seeking from the judge.

But there is an expression . . . Doing the right thing for the wrong reason. Could the expression have come about as a result of this scripture lesson?
 
Yes, I think justice was served. The widow received what she was seeking from the judge.

But there is an expression . . . Doing the right thing for the wrong reason. Could the expression have come about as a result of this scripture lesson?
She was seeking justice against her adversary, we dont know the whole story or the other side, only that she wants it to go her way. So in a city where it is well known that this judge has no respect for people and doesn't fear God, she looks for his "justice". The scales of justice seems compromised to me, because the judge felt bothered and failed to consider the whole picture.
When we pray to God, shouldn't we expect the whole truth as an answer? Given to us on Gods time, not ours?
 
When we pray to God, shouldn't we expect the whole truth as an answer? Given to us on Gods time, not ours?

Agreed, in that when we pray, it's often hard to tell if we're praying for what is truly good for us. A "good parent" doesn't let their kid eat crap and stay up all night, even if that's what the kid prays for.
 
This was presented as a story. There no judge or widow though asking questions about them provides avenues for further exploration of a variety of issues. The call to have faith would come from an earlier conversation. The story would have been an aside to encourage persistence in prayer.

We do not know for sure what Jesus expected from his preaching and healing. The question about finding faith could have come if he was disappointed with how people were responding to his ministry. I believe moments like this happen to many or most clergy ad well as to many others. Maybe the story was for his benefit as well as for others?
 
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