Let’s talk about 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).
The parable of the widow and the judge is set in an unnamed town. Over that town presides an unjust judge who has no fear of God and no compassion for the people under his jurisdiction. In the Jewish community, a judge was expected to be impartial, to judge righteously, and to recognize that judgment ultimately belongs to God (Deuteronomy 1:16–17). Thus, the judge in this story is incompetent and unqualified for the job. Justice was not being served.
Probably all of us have thought that we know better than those in charge. Watch out! Thinking like this is not wrong in itself, but it is something that lodged itself in the mind of Helel (the name of the “covering cherub” before he became Satan): “I know better than the one in charge,” and in this case, it was God. We can begin to see how his pride was beginning to exalt itself against God. It was moving to break the relationship between them. It was coming between Helel and God so that their relationship could not continue. Helel could not continue to serve God.
Before I finish up with the story, I just want to let you guys know that we’re really glad that you’re here. Please do stick around to the end of the video. If you’d like to receive a free coloring page of the illustration that you’re seeing drawn in this video. Also, if you guys have been enjoying this video so far, please do consider liking this video as well as subscribing to our channel. It would mean a bunch to us. All right, let’s get back to the story a long time ago, God told me that he wanted me to share about him with everyone that I met. Initially, I was really afraid to do this and I didn’t know how, but I trusted God and I stepped out and I decided that I was going to share with everyone that I saw about Jesus. I started sharing day after day after day, but I didn’t find anyone that was interested in the message, but God told me to keep going and not give up. About six months later, I finally found someone that was interested in Jesus and they chose to accept Jesus into their life and make him their there, you know, that was one of the greatest days of my life. When we continue to be persistent in what God has for us, as well as spending time in prayer, God will do amazing things in our life, but it’s not easy to get there. Persistence. Isn’t an easier fun thing, but it’s something that has a great reward. Discover even more info with the The Persistent Widow video on YouTube.
In the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8), a poor, powerless person (the widow) persists in nagging a corrupt, powerful person (the judge) to do justice for her. The parable assumes John the Baptist’s teaching that holding a position of power and leadership obligates you to work justly, especially on behalf of the poor and weak. But Jesus focuses the parable on a different point, that we are “to pray always and to not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). He identifies the hearers — us — with the woman, and the prayed-to person — God — with the corrupt judge, a strange combination. Assuming that Jesus doesn’t mean that God is corrupt, the point must be that if persistence pays off with a corrupt human of limited power, how much more will it pay off with a just God of infinite power.