Episode Transcript
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Hi, I'm Josh.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: And I'm Gabriel.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: And today on reading the gospel, we are studying the parable of the persistent widow. This is found in Luke, chapter 18. And we're going to begin from verse one and read all the way down to verse eight. Follow along with us in your bibles.
[00:00:42] Speaker B: And Jesus told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
And he said, in a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, give me justice against my adversary.
[00:01:07] Speaker A: For a while he refused, but afterwards he said to himself, though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming. And the Lord said, hear what the unrighteous judge says and will not give God. Give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night. Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?
So Jesus here is giving a parable to us about being persistent in our prayer.
Why is he using an unrighteous judge, someone who doesn't care about God? Wouldn't it be better to give an example of someone who cared about God?
[00:02:05] Speaker B: Well, Jesus Christ is using day to day events, common stories, illustration from nature as well as from their agricultural life to teach a specific point.
Here. The teaching is by contrast.
It is not always by following the example in the story. It's by contrast with what this unrighteous judge said.
[00:02:39] Speaker A: So he's not saying God's unrighteous. He's giving the contrast that even if an unrighteous judge does this, how much more will God?
[00:02:48] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:02:50] Speaker A: Why do we need to bring a request to God more than once?
Why can't we just ask him and be done with it?
[00:03:01] Speaker B: It's like the same as when I got married. I told my wife that I love her. I said it in public once and forever. I never have to say that again. Yeah, because between God and us, there is a relationship. We establish a relationship, we make it stronger, we grow it, and we enjoy that relationship. So we enjoy talking to God, opening up our hearts and sharing our problems. God will never get tired of our problems, never get tired of hearing that we love him, that we want to spend the whole eternity with him.
[00:03:43] Speaker A: When I ask my wife what is wrong, you know, I want to know what is bothering her in her life, because it helps me draw closer to her and understand her relationship. And I think that's the same thing that's true with God, that as we express what's wrong with us does draw us closer to God. And I know I've experienced that in my life. When I bring my problems to God, it draws me closer to him. It doesn't necessarily solve the problems overnight, but it's good knowing that my problems are in the hands of someone who can solve it. There's nothing like having a problem that you can't fix.
[00:04:26] Speaker B: I like to put this story in a context.
The previous episode and the event right before. This parable is about the second coming of Jesus Christ and how the second coming will have an element of surprise even for the closest, most trustworthy discipleship of Jesus Christ.
The end of this parable, in verse eight, it says, nevertheless, when the son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?
So this parable of the persistent widow is sandwiched between two different stories about the second coming. What do I learn from this context?
That if there is something that we should be persistent about, is this idea to be ready, especially knowing that we will be surprised at the second coming, that we should watch, as Matthew 24 says, and we should be ready. This is the most important prayer that we should repeat over and over to ourselves, and we should express it out loud in our conversations with God.
[00:05:43] Speaker A: It's interesting.
Through my life history, I've come across different generations, and every generation is looking for Jesus to come.
And talking to my beginning mentor, pastor, my very first one, he had opted out of Social Security because he believed Jesus would come before he died.
[00:06:06] Speaker B: Before he retired.
[00:06:07] Speaker A: Before he retired, no. I was as a teenager praying that Jesus wouldn't come before I got married because I wanted to experience marriage. And I thought Jesus was going to come before I graduate high school, and I thought he was going to come before I graduate college. And there were key events in my life where I thought he was going to come.
As I get older, it's easy to fall into the tendency of, well, he's not coming, or maybe he's coming in 100 years or a thousand years or some other time, but not in my lifetime.
[00:06:42] Speaker B: We lose that sense of urgency.
[00:06:45] Speaker A: Yeah. And so whether Jesus comes in my lifetime or not, for me there is an importance in keeping that urgency, in having that before me.
He's coming like a thief. I don't know when, and I need to be ready now. I can't wait until I'm older to get ready.
[00:07:07] Speaker B: That sense of urgency is building a war of protection against invasion of this popular culture ideas. It's keeping me away from looking on the other side of the fence to see if the lawn is greener over there. It's keeping me away from insignificant goals in life, keeps me focused on the most important purpose in life. That is, we have this life and we have it only once, to prepare our characters to live with God for eternity.
[00:07:49] Speaker A: So how is this passage speaking to you today? And what are you going to do about it?
[00:07:59] Speaker B: I grew up in a jewish german context, and we didn't use that many words enough to express respect and to communicate the fundamentals.
And for some reason, my prayers were maybe shorter than other people's prayers because this is how I was raised and this is how we communicate.
And for me, it's a little bit harder to come before God, to repeat the same idea over and over.
I want to stay away from those other extremes. When they wrote a prayer and they put it on a cylinder moved by the wind, like in different parts of the world, like the Tibet, and they believed that every time that prayer was moving in front of the sun, that prayer was heard in heaven and more you repeat that prayer, the higher the chances that God will answer it.
For me, the communication with God should be meaningful. It should be essential, and it should be about what is the most important.
I'm learning from this story that our persistence expresses or reveals our values, what is important for us.
So God is looking to my prayers to see what is important in my life. If I just pray for food and I pray for cars to be fixed and I pray for my kids to do well in school, if I pray for what is good and what is necessary day by day, but not for what is essential from the perspective of eternity, that reveals something about me. God wants me to come before him with what is the most important, the most significant need in my life. And this is why I see this parable, sandwiched or booked end, between two elements related to the second coming of Christ.
[00:10:20] Speaker A: As I'm reading this, it is speaking to me in bringing our promise to God, it makes them okay.
It doesn't mean God's going to answer them right away. We might not see the answer while we're alive, but as I'm reading this passage today, it's speaking personally to me that things are ultimately going to be all right, that I can rely on God, I can put my trust in him, and he will answer it in his time. The second way it speaks to me is that last phrase, when the son of man comes will he find faith on earth? I find my faith grows through prayer, through spending time with God, through talking with him, through reviewing my day. It's in those moments of prayer that I realize what God has done without reflecting back. I would go through a day and not realize that God had blessed me, not realize he had answered prayer.
This came to me recently. We oftentimes will pray before a meal, pray a blessing on the food, but do we thank him at the end?
We'll pray that God will get us somewhere safely.
But at the end, do we thank him for getting us there safely?
I know I'm guilty of not praying at the end as much as I should, and it's those times at the end of the day that help me look for those blessings.
We're doing this a little backwards today, but how does this passage reveal God to you? How is it speaking to you about God?
[00:12:06] Speaker B: I like how Jesus Christ contrasted God with this unrighteous justice.
Jesus Christ said, verse seven, will not God give justice to his elect?
How much more than this unrighteous judge?
God is way above humans.
He is not only better than this unrighteous judge, he is better than any righteous judge and any righteous person.
He's a father because he knows what we need. And also I like something about God. Jesus said, will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give them justice speedily. That means this persistent widow example is not something that should happen forever and ever and ever.
The Lord will not delay long over them. Now, as christians, we have to understand what we ask for and what God is able to do with that, because some of our requests may not be answered until later in life or until the second coming of Christ.
But those the Lord can answer today will be answered speedily.
[00:13:38] Speaker A: I think that's what how it's speaking to me this he will not delay long over them.
And I think I'm thinking more in regards to sin.
And when I come to God and I confess my sin, he doesn't delay long over it. It's not like he debates. He sits down and weighs the pros and cons of forgiving me and checks how many times he's forgave me in the past, sees if I'm really worthy of forgiveness as far as the east is from the west. That's how far he removes the transgression speedily. He forgives me of those sins and cleanses me from all unrighteousness. And my response to that should be to repent and stop doing what I did. And that's again a job that God does in us. He gives us the ability to repent, to change our hearts. I see a lot of our prayers are answered immediately.
We just don't see the physical results here on earth until later or maybe in eternity.
But God does answer in his way, in his time. Let's pray. Father God, I pray that you will come speedily.
[00:14:55] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:14:55] Speaker A: That you will come and take us to heaven, that your kingdom will come.
But Father, I pray that we'll be ready each and every day. I pray that you will take out problems and apply your solutions to them.
That as we come to you in prayer this time in prayer will build relationship.
[00:15:14] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:15:15] Speaker A: Trust and an ability to let go of our problems and give them to you. I pray, Father, that you will give justice to those who need justice.
Please be present with us in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.
