Bible stories : The Persistent Widow? The parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge (Luke 18:1–8) is part of a series of illustrative lessons Jesus Christ used to teach His disciples about prayer. Luke introduces this lesson as a parable meant to show the disciples “that they should always pray and never give up” (verse 1, NLT).
Faithful, never-ceasing, persistent prayer is the permanent calling of every true disciple of Christ who is dedicated to living for the Kingdom of God. Like the persistent widow, we are needy, dependent sinners who trust in our gracious, loving, and merciful God alone to supply what we need.
It ends in warfare against God, which is why a person of pride cannot have a good relationship with Him. A proud person cannot have faith in God, at least not very much. A small amount of faith can be there, but pride will definitely be a hindrance. This is why the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican in Luke 18:9-14 follows immediately after of the Parable of the Importunate Widow (Luke 18:1-8), which Jesus ends with, “When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on earth?”—because humility is essential to faith.
Today’s story is called the parable of the persistent widow. One day, Jesus wanted to tell his disciples how to pray, and he wanted them to know what to pray without giving up. So he told this story, he said in a town, there was a judge who didn’t care about people. And he even didn’t care about God. Also in this town, there was a widow who had been wronged by someone else in the town. She came to the judge to seek justice, but he didn’t give it to her. So she continued to come back to the judge and ask him to grant justice against the person who had done this wrong to her. He said no time and time again. The finally, after some time he thought to himself, even though I don’t care about this problem, this widow is not going to stop bothering me because of this. See more information on the The Persistent Widow video on YouTube.
The second point is that only God can bring about justice in a corrupt world. That is why we must pray and not give up in our work. God can bring miraculous justice in a corrupt world, just as God can bring miraculous healing in a sick world. Suddenly, the Berlin wall opens, the apartheid regime crumbles, peace breaks out. In the parable of the persistent widow, God does not intervene. The widow’s persistence alone leads the judge to act justly. But Jesus indicates that God is the unseen actor. “Will not God grant justice for his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?” (Luke 18:7).