The 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 16, 2022

Luke 18, 1–8

Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. He said, “There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being. And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, ‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’ For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, ‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.’” The Lord said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says. Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

A short parable by Jesus on prayer contains more wealth than many treatises.  St. Luke introduced this particular parable by explaining what the Lord meant to teach through it, but he only speaks of one of its aspects: “The necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.”  Now, this is true so far as it goes but there is more.  First, we should be aware that the Greek word Luke uses which is translated here as “always” should be “at all times”, meaning continually, at all times of the day.  Only in heaven will we be able to pray literally without ceasing.  We should then pray in the morning, the mid-morning, the mid-afternoon, the evening, and at night.  Our faith grows in this way and we are prepared to receive the answer the Lord has for us.  Praying in this way allows us to continue praying and not to grow weary or to “faint”, as the Greek has it.

“There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being.”  Probably many in the crowd hearing the Lord had sad experience with a judge of this character.  He neither feared the divine justice he was bringing upon himself for his judgments nor anything a defrauded human being might do to him.  He enjoyed his power and whatever graft he could get through it.  He lived utterly remote from the lives and concerns of the people he was supposed to serve.  “And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, ‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’ ”  This widow was probably dealing with property or inheritance issues and was fighting for her existence.  As a widow without powerful supporters, she meant nothing to this judge.  As soon as she came forward, he would have had her hauled out of court.  This went on for some time.  The woman may have badgered him over the course of many days in succession: “For a long time the judge was unwilling.”  But what seemed at first a minor distraction, and then a joke, became a considerable problem:

“Eventually he thought, ‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.”  The widow became more and more desperate as time went on, and it was this desperation that the judge feared.  She had nothing to lose for if she did not obtain justice, she would die in poverty on the street.  He then acts out of his own self-interest.  We note that the woman demands a “just” decision, leaving what that meant to the judge and not specifying it and imposing it on him, which would have reduced what was really just to a matter of revenge.  The judge, for his part, finally agrees to render a “just” decision on her case.

Certainly, the Lord insists on perseverance in prayer. He does this not because God is an unjust judge who can only be moved by threats, but because we are unworthy plaintiffs.  We do not know what we are asking for, we do specify exactly how God is to answer our prayers, and we are not grateful for what this Judge has already done for us.  By compelling us to come to him again and again over a matter, as it were, he softens us so that we know how much we depend on him for everything.  Clearly, this opens is for gratitude to him.  But it also causes us to reevaluate what we are asking for, and we realize that we are not asking for justice but for vengeance, or that we are asking for serpents whereas we should be asking for fish, and so, understanding that we do not know what to ask for, we simply ask for what it is he knows we need.  The most important outcome of prayer is to be conformed to the will of God to whatever he desires for us.

“Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.”  Since we are asking Almighty God to answer our prayers and not an unjust judge, we believe that he will help us in our need.  Now, the Lord Jesus uses the word “speedily” in opposition to the word “slowly” but we should understand from this that he is speaking of certainty versus uncertainty.  God will certainly see to it that justice is done for us.  He will definitely do this.  It might seem to us to take time, but it always seems to the one who is waiting that time passes slowly.  Meantime, God is preparing us for the reception of his answer.  

Coming before the Lord again and again also strengthens our faith, for we  increasingly realize that only Almighty God can help us.  But there are those who have not nourished their faith as they should have who lose it altogether when they pray a little and do not receive exactly what they demand.  For this reason, the Lord adds to what he has already said, “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”