Saturday in the 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, November 16, 2024

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?”

“Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.”  St. Luke prefaces his record of the Lord’s parable with a comment of his own in which he explains what the Lord’s point is.  St. John also often offers his own comments.  We can compare this with the Gospels of Saint Matthew and Saint Mark, who only speak when they are describing the Lord’s actions.  Luke does this here in order to draw a distinction between what Jesus had just said about the end of time, and his teaching on persevering in prayer.  In recounting the Parable of the Good Samaritan and that of the Prodigal Son, Luke shows how they come as responses to challenges issued by the Pharisees.  But here the parable has a different subject from that on which the Lord has spoken just before.

“There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being.”  Judges in Israel at the time of Jesus were the sole governing authorities in many towns and cities.  Their decisions and rulings  could not be appealed.  Within their jurisdiction, their rulings were law.  The cases brought before him consisted purely of civil and property matters, for the scribes attended to questions regarding the Mosaic Law.  The judge in the parable feared neither God nor man but ruled according to whim and possibly according to bribes.  “Render a just decision for me against my adversary.”  The Lord’s hearers would have assumed that the widow was seeking protection for her inheritance of her husband’s property.  With no husband to support her, this meant her very survival.

“For a long time the judge was unwilling.”  It seemed a petty matter to him and he would certainly not gain anything for himself by examining the widow’s claims.  “Because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.”  He cares nothing for justice but decides to rule simply for his own sake.  His fear of the widow striking him, as well as her persistence, speaks to her desperation.

“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?”  The Lord teaches that the loving Father will answer the prayers of his elect.  Jesus says, specifically, “secure the rights”.  That is, to grant salvation to the saints.  “His chosen ones who call out to him day and night.”  Those who love God with all their hearts desperately long to stand in his presence and to see him face to face.  “Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.”  That is, to fill those who love him with grace so that they might persevere and come directly to heaven after they complete their lives on earth.

“But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”  This question goes with the Lord’s words when asked if only a few would be saved: “Strive to enter by the narrow gate: for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter and shall not be able” (Luke 13, 24).  God will indeed answer the prayers of his faithful, but will there be many or few of them?

Almighty God very much desires us to pray for what we need in order to be saved and to assist others in their salvation — far more desirous than we are to ask for this.  Let us ask so that we might receive.