Luke 18:1-8 NRSVue
1Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. 2He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. 3In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my accuser.’ 4For a while he refused, but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, 5yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’ ” 6And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? 8I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
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Reflection on Luke 18:1-8
Inspiration from 2025-11-15 Daily Prayer
Some people who have made their requests to God again and again and still have not received them begin to doubt that God is listening to them. But God hears every prayer and will answer in the way that is best for each person. Since prayer is all about a relationship, every prayer from our hearts changes us and brings us nearer to God. In a real sense, prayer is its own reward and an extraordinary privilege. Let us pray for a deeper trust.
Further reflection
How does Jesus' parable about how ready God is to answer our prayers move me? Does it confirm my own experience, or not? Do I sometimes feel like the widow during the long period where she's not getting an answer?
Can I hold my own experience and listen again to Jesus's sure statement of God's eagerness to be good to me? I might need to ask for more light on this.
Is there maybe a twinkle in Jesus' eye as he compares God to an unjust and lazy judge?
Lord, you puzzle me. I hear you telling me to persist in prayer, to entreat God until he is weary of me. You say he will quickly grant justice. But then I think of good people suffering famine, Aids, loss of children, sickness and death though they pray to God. I think of the Jews in Auschwitz, still singing the psalms as they walked into the gas chambers. Surely there are times when you delay in helping us?
At times like this I turn to the memory of your Passion, and your agonised prayer in the Garden. You have faced a dark and apparently empty heaven, yet stayed faithful. Keep me with you.