Don’t Stop Praying (Matthew 19, Mark 10, Luke 18, and John 12)

A Few Thoughts to Consider

Are you tired of praying, and do you feel like God isn’t working in this world?

The longer we pray and seem to hear no response, the easier it can be to grow discouraged. It’s especially tough when we think the world keeps getting worse. Recognizing this common temptation, Jesus shares a parable about the importance of always praying and never giving up in Luke 18:2-8. He says,

² “There was a judge in a certain town who didn’t fear God or respect people. ³ And a widow in that town kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ ⁴ “For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or respect people, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice, so that she doesn’t wear me out by her persistent coming.’” ⁶ Then the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ Will not God grant justice to his elect who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay helping them? ⁸ I tell you that he will swiftly grant them justice. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

This parable, unique to Luke’s gospel, is directly linked to the preceding verses in chapter 17 when Jesus talked about the Kingdom of God and the future of humanity. As Darrell Bock writes, “The kingdom’s coming tended to be portrayed in two ways. Some treated its arrival in prophetic terms, which meant that it would come within the normal movement of history. God would raise up a Messiah from the seed of David or from some other origin to deliver the nation.³ Others spoke in more apocalyptically oriented imagery about a figure who would come from above with heavenly signs and great power.”^[1] We see both forms in the Old Testament, but different groups of people in Jesus’ day had differing pictures of how this would play out.

Jesus’ call for persistent prayer in this parable is not designed to satisfy every whimsical request. It is rooted in the ideals of the Kingdom of God. This parable is of what one commentator called a “How much more” variety. It is not saying God is an unrighteous and unfair judge. Jesus is saying that if this is what an unrighteous judge would do, just imagine how much your perfect judge and Father would do for you.

While this judge probably anticipated a bribe, this woman was too poor and had nowhere else to turn. As Howard Marshall writes, “Persistence was her only weapon.”^[2] So she keeps on “pestering” the judge, which could be more literally translated as “strike under the eye” or “give a black eye to.”^[3] She is in a vulnerable position and knows that this judge has a cultural and moral obligation to be sensitive to her, and she isn’t going to stop until he listens.

As Walter L. Liefeld and David W. Pao write, “The story is not intended to apply to prayer in general, as though one needed to pester God for every need until he reluctantly responds. The theme is that of the vindication of God’s misunderstood and suffering people.”^[4] This is a theme we see all through the Bible. Psalm 25:3 says, “No one who waits for you will be disgraced.” In Revelation 6:10, the martyrs long for vindication and cry, “How long until you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?”

There are no direct answers to these questions. All we know is that one day, God will wipe every tear from our eyes. But until that day, we must not give up. We must keep praying and keep believing.