Luke 18:1-8 is a parable concerning the dishonest judge. The source is material unique to Luke, although some view it as coming from the Q tradition.
I would like to take note of the context of this passage. Luke 18:1-8 is part of the final teachings of Jesus as he journeys to Jerusalem for the second half of his public ministry (9:51-19:27; the first, shorter portion of his ministry had been in Galilee, 4:14-9:50). Within this large block of material, much of it peculiar to the gospel of Luke, the story of the unjust judge and the widow (or, as it was once known, the story of the importunate widow) is unparalleled by material in either Mark or Matthew.
Luke provides the introduction. 1Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. The theme of persistence in prayer[1] is one we find elsewhere in Luke at 11:5-13, about the neighbor who goes to a friend at midnight asking for a loaf of bread for his late-arriving guests. Although the friend will not get up to fetch a loaf of bread in the name of friendship, he does so because of the neighbor's perseverance. The inference that Jesus draws in this case is that God, unlike the friend, does not need to be browbeaten into answering our prayers. "Ask, and it will be given you" (11:9). Luke intended such a parable to equip the community for the attenuated period between Jesus' ascension and his eschatological return. He offers an eschatology of hope thoroughly consistent with the parable Jesus taught.
Luke 18:2-5 appear to be the parable. As we will see, neither verse 1 or verse 8b relate with ease to the parable. We would need to use some creative imagination to recover the original setting of the parable.[2]
2 Once there was a judge in this town. Jesus locates his story “in a certain city,” the traditional locale for magistrates in the ancient Mediterranean world. Courts existed by the time of Jesus. Yet, the juridical background is more likely the custom found in the Hebrew Bible (at, e.g., Genesis 23:10, 18, 34:20; Exodus 32:26; Deuteronomy 21:19, 22:15; etc.). The judge administered local justice at the gate of the largest city in a given jurisdiction, usually by city or tribal elders (although circuit judges such as Samuel, as in 1 Samuel 7:15. By the time of Jesus, a professional class of judges had arisen and, like all professions, judges were liable to professional misconduct. Luke, more than any of the other evangelists, favors the indeterminate expression "a certain" in recounting Jesus' teachings about human representatives of general spiritual truths (e.g., 7:41, 10:38, 11:1, 18:18). Jesus further identifies the judge as one who neither feared God nor cared about people (an expression we find only in Luke). The idea that fear of God bestowed wisdom and discernment as well as piety has deep roots in the social and religious milieu of Jesus' time (see, e.g., Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7, 4:7, 9:10). In addition, the professional competence derived from their training in case and common law, authorities naturally expected judges to exhibit in their personal lives those characteristics of balance and critical soundness commensurate with the decision-making demands of their office. The judge in this case is derelict, making the point of the parable even more forceful. 3 In that same town was a widow who kept coming to him and demanding: `Give me a ruling against the person I'm suing.' Widows, being socially marginalized and economically precarious (see, e.g., Ruth 1:20-21; Isaiah 54:4), were persons of special concern in the legal systems and social customs of the ancient Near East (including the Bible's, although in different form from neighboring civilizations; see, e.g., Exodus 22:22; Deuteronomy 10:18, 24:17, 19-21; Isaiah 1:23, 10:2). By extension, widows became, along with orphans and the poor, symbols of the disadvantaged and vulnerable, and their protection became a particular duty of the powerful, not only in the Bible. II Samuel 14 is an example. In the Ugaritic legend of King Kirta, Kirta's rebellious son calls for his ailing father's abdication by saying, "You do not decide the complaint of the widow, you do not render judgment for the distressed".[3] H. B. Tristram went to the city of Nisbis in present-day Iraq in the 1890's. He went to the court proceedings. The judge sat in a large hall, flanked by secretaries all around him. The front of the hall was crowded with people demanding that their case be heard. Those who were wealthy enough got up close to the secretary and bribed him so that he could get the case heard. The proceedings went very smoothly until a poor woman broke through the crowd with loud cries for justice. Everyone told her to be quiet, and condemned her for coming every day with this complaint. But she said, "And so l will do, until the judge hears my case." Finally, at the end of the session for that day, the judge said, very impatiently," What do you want, woman?" She told her story. Some tax collectors wanted her to pay taxes, even though her only son was in military service, which was against the law. The judge quickly decided the case. She was rewarded for her patience.[4] That it is a widow who importunes the judge for justice places an additional burden on the judge to do right. This parable is one of several examples of the importance Luke attaches to widows (with eight of 14 appearances of widows in the gospels occurring in Luke), consistent with the third evangelist's concern for right economic and social relations, especially between the haves and the have-nots. Widows were usually poor, uninfluential people in the ancient world. In marked contrast to the widow is the other figure in the parable, the judge. The widow, having exhausted her appeals in the religious courts, now seeks, at the risk of people publicly identifying her as a shameless, belligerent woman of both poverty and loose morals, to have her quarrel redressed by an administrative judge, whom she may even wish to be not only her judge, but her advocate as well. The religious court, which often consisted of a panel of judges, could throw out a case on the grounds the case could only be commended to God, who alone could provide justice or vengeance. The administrative courts could do no such thing, although a judge could resist hearing a case, or at least put off hearing a case if this was his inclination.[5] This widow was not content to wait for God to grant her justice and vengeance at some unspecified day in the future. She therefore pursues the matter in the administrative courts. Usually such a woman has an advocate who will act on her behalf. Not this woman, however. Poor and alone, she dares pester the judge into looking into her case. 4 For a while he refused; but eventually he said to himself, `I'm not afraid of God and I don't care about people, his self-analysis as a person who had no "respect for people" could either be a reference to his impartiality as a judge or to his hardhearted character. The judge is an unsympathetic and unappealing character. Despite the judge's character and despite his mishandling of the case, the widow prevailed. Using the only weapon in her arsenal, her relentless persistence, she wore the judge down and won her case. Jesus provides no reason, aside from general moral turpitude, for the judge's refusal to hear the widow's case, but his indifference is less the point of the parable than his eventual change of heart, a theme of towering importance in Lucan theology. Does anyone change their minds about anything anymore? Luke puts the emphasis upon the persistence of the widow. However, focusing upon the willingness of the judge to change his mind could be interesting. In a time of ideology and over-identification of ourselves with the beliefs our tribe, the fact that this judge was willing to change his mind is exemplary. The judge grants the widow's request not because her case has merit or because he is impartial and just in his verdicts. He decides in her favor to be rid of her. He may have some concern about his own reputation. The judge may give in because the widow's hectoring makes him vulnerable to public gossip relative to both the widow herself and her adversary. 5 but this widow keeps pestering me. The judge, not inclined on humanitarian grounds to assist this woman, finally does so as a matter of personal convenience. It is unlikely that this judge was a referee and defender of the Torah law in the Jewish religious and judicial system. More probably, the judge was a functionary of the administrative law that was overlaid upon the religious law and had pre-eminence over it when the two occasionally were in conflict. So I'm going to give her a favorable ruling, or else she'll keep coming back until she wears me down.'
The story itself ends with verse 5. The primary agent in the parable is the widow. Her persistence is similar to Jesus inviting (Luke 11:5-8) his hearers to consider what they would do if a friend awakened them in the middle of the night asking for bread. Jesus stresses that even if they did not help because of friendship, which would be the higher motive, they would at least arise out of the self-interest of not allowing the persistence of the friend to bother them further. We might even ponder whether Jesus is telling his followers that since God is obviously not like this judge, they do not need to pester God the way the widow pestered the judge. We can also shift our focus to the judge. We find him to be a disagreeable person. However, his self-interest leads to a change of heart. In this way, he is like the friend a neighbor awakens from his sleep in the middle of the night by a request for bread in Luke 11:5-8. Even if the friend would not arise out of friendship, he will have a change of heart out of self-interest.[6] The motives of the judge are similar to the self-interest of the dishonest manager, another unsavory character who has a change of heart out of self-interest (Luke 16:1-9). This passage also has appended sayings of Jesus that aid in interpretation. The famous parable of the prodigal son, the paradigmatic representation of a change of heart, is one we find only in Luke (15:11-32), and the judge's change of heart reveals Luke's theological insight that a modicum of self-interest goes far in the economy of salvation. All of this is a reminder that such reflection on parables is precisely what Jesus wanted. We need to have an imaginative engagement with parables, allowing them to provoke us.
Nevertheless, scholars disagree over whether the parable itself ends with verse 5.[7] The issue for scholars is whether the next sayings were part of the original setting, if Luke has united independent sayings to this context, or whether Luke has created sayings that elucidate a rather ambiguous parable. Recent commentators include verses 6-8a as part of the parable. As I have pondered the sayings, I am convinced Jesus could have said them all. 6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. The saying shifts the focus from the actions of an importunate widow to a story about a widow and an unjust judge, since the judge now plays a more significant role in the parable. In light of the parable's context - the coming of the eschatological rule of God, inaugurated by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus (17:20-18:34), it seems appropriate for this parable to have as its principal focus the nature and behavior of the cosmic judge. The saying suggests an eschatology of hope. This comment by one outside the narrative shifts our attention to a possible theological import of the parable. The parable does not disclose the outcome of the widow's persistence explicitly, but only implied in the judge's reflection, to which Jesus directs his hearers' attention. The widow will receive a favorable ruling and receive justice. By implication, the persistence of Jesus and the disciples in their prayers will lead to a just and favorable ruling from God. Jesus then contrasts the judge with God. 7 And will not God grant justice to his chosen (unique description in the New Testament) ones who cry to him day and night? We find Jesus offering an eschatology of hope. If an earthly judge who has no fear of God can hear the cry of a widow, how much more will God come quickly to the aid of those who "cry to him day and night"? If an unjust judge hears the prayers of a woman, how much more will the just God and Father of all! If a helpless widow's persistence gets a hearing, how much more will be persistence of disciples! The parable thus far explains the aspect of the message of the rule of God that involves trust in God.[8] The message of the judge's eventual granting of the woman's request intended to reassure the disciples as well as the later Christian community in a context of mounting uncertainty concerning the Parousia (the Greek word for "coming," referring to the second coming of Jesus; see Matthew 24:27). Will he delay long in helping them? Most of us would challenge this saying. Does God delay long in helping us? From our perspective, the answer is yes, God does delay. If we think in terms of justice offered to humanity, it has been a long time since the resurrection of Jesus and the promise of the coming rule of God. 8a I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. God will act "quickly" in contrast to the judge who "for a while" refused to take the widow's case, but "later" agreed. Thus, the observation that the point of the parable, as with all parables, was greater than the characters and or details featured in it, finds expression as early as Luke himself. In this particular instance, the key to the message of the parable lay in its introductory verse and in its punch line as well as in its context with regard to the rest of the gospel. It functions as an exhortation to the poor and oppressed that they should not lose heart. For those who await God's intervention, the only worthy spiritual posture is an unhesitating and confident faith. Thus, the additions in verses 6-8a that make perfect sense if one interprets the segment considering the heavy eschatological tones present throughout. The fact that Luke places this parable immediately following an eschatological (even apocalyptic) section shows that this is the proper hermeneutical direction to follow. Luke offers instruction about the coming of a future kingdom (17:22-37). No wonder, that after references to "lightning flashes" (17:24), suffering and rejection (17:25), "fire and sulphur" (17:29), losing one's life (17:33), one being taken and "the other left" (17:35), and following Jesus' words, "Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather" (17:37) -- Luke should intervene editorially to encourage the "chosen ones" (v. 7) "not to lose heart" (v. 1).
8bAnd yet, when the eschatological figure of the Son of Man comes,[9] will he find faith on earth?”Jesus' final words[10] reflect the growing concern of Luke for the post-Resurrection ecclesial community living with the fervent expectation of the Parousia. Yet, I can imagine Jesus of Nazareth saying this to his beleaguered and confused disciples. The saying also applies to the beleaguered and confused followers of Jesus to whom Luke writes. It also applies to us. The writings of Luke have a special concern for numbers. In this case, Luke wonders whether the Son of Man will find any faith at all when he returns.[11] The "Son of Man" is coming, and therefore Jesus offers an eschatology of hope. When he comes, it would be a good idea if he discovers "chosen ones" who have found heart instead of losing heart and have kept the faith rather than abandoning it. Luke's insistence on keeping the faith (v. 8b) and praying always (v.1) inextricably links prayer and faith. The obvious conclusion is that those who "pray always" (v. 1) and remember that the God to whom they pray, "quickly grants justice" and will not "delay long in helping" (v. 7) will be among those who have kept the faith when "the Son of Man comes" (v. 8b).
The parable and the sayings that follow raise some intriguing questions regarding trust in God today even when God delays in delivering justice. We may well be persistent and persevere in just prayers. We may well grow wear in such prayers. In fact, how can the disciples of Jesus today maintain a vital faith when so much both within and beyond the believing community seems to militate against it? Luke's answer? Pray! Pray actively, persistently, relentlessly and with an indomitable trust that God does and will act. There may even be some blackened eyes along the way. However, never cease to pray. God hears the prayers of those who believe. God is the one who listens to the prayers of faith. People do not only have the privilege of hearing from God and worshipping God. They also have the privilege of God hearing them. Luke admits a place for Christian patience and submission is present in prayer. Yet, even this quality shows itself as genuine when it accompanies restlessness of the prayer that runs to God and beseeches God, by the chance that we for our part will take divine mercy to hear and live by it.[12]
In watching the television program “Supernatural” on Netflix, Season 8, Episode 16, concludes with Dean in a room alone. He asks for help from Cass, an angel who has not been around for a while to help him in the battle against evil. He tells Cass that he does not like to pray because it feels like begging. He then submits his request for help. Usually in the show, Cass shows up, but not his time. The room is empty.
Yes, prayer is difficult for many of us, maybe all of us. What I share here is as a fellow struggler.
Is prayer begging? To pray is to ask. It suggests a need or desire, which could lead us to an anxiety that will hinder prayer. It can lead to defiance. Yes, it can lead us into begging. In fact, our need or desire can lead us down many paths other than prayer. Yet, what God wills of human beings is that they should pray to God and come to God with their requests.[13]
Prayer is a problem for many modern people. Most of those problems center upon prayers of petition and intercession, when we ask God for things that we need or that we desire for others. What are we doing when we pray? Why pray when God already knows what we want? What are we supposed to ask for? What do we say? Why pray when there is so much suffering in the world? Why pray when so many good prayers seem to go unanswered?
When people say they have no time for prayer, they do not realize that it deals with the most decisive business of life. Sadly, prayer has become little more than a polite nod toward God.
Since disciples then and now can be a bit slow, Luke comes out of the gate with the meaning of the story: their “need to pray always and not to lose heart” (v. 1). These words are not hard to understand. They are hard to live.
First, persistent prayer is the way to pray. This is what Luke means when he says “pray always.” Jesus was teaching, so he was not praying at the moment. Luke was writing, so he was not praying at that moment. The point is not the quantity, but the quality, the regularity, and the persistence.
Whenever the story of a friend, the message of a sermon, what one reads, what people express at work, by news of what is happening around the globe affects one’s heart and soul, we pray. We pray each time an issue comes to mind. Prayer is like a reflex in the body. When we step on something sharp, we instantly put all our weight on the other foot. It is natural and immediate. Prayer can eventually become like this ... with practice. We pray quick sentence prayers as a response to God, based on anything our eyes and ears perceive.
St. Augustine tells a beautiful story in his Confessions. His mother was a devout Christian woman. She desired, above everything else, that Augustine would become a Christian. Nevertheless, he steadfastly refused to do so. Finally, he was determined to go to Rome. His mother did not want this. He would be leaving the influence of her Christian living. He would be going to a city known for its alluring ways of sin and wealth and power. She feared that if he left, he would never become a Christian. Therefore, she prayed fervently that God would stop her son from getting upon the boat and going to Rome. However, God did not answer that prayer. Augustine went to Rome. Soon after his arrival, he met one of the great Christian writers of the time, Ambrose. Not long after that Augustine committed himself to Christ. Augustine makes this comment about his mother's prayer: "Thou, in the depth of thy counsels, hearing the main point of her desire, regarded not what she then asked, that thou might make me what she ever desired."
Second, persistent prayer is faith-inspired prayer. We are not “to lose heart.” When facing evil, brokenness and injustice, the last thing we need to do is to give up fighting against it. When praying for the sick relative, the obstinate boss or the desired relationship, our only real option is to rely on the God option. And that is hard enough for most that they relent, giving up their hope and letting wrong win — entering evil. That is why Jesus’ second thrust addresses our theology of justice.
Jesus claims that the persistent receive justice quickly and without delay (v. 7). Really? I question that. I would be surprised if you did not question it as well. I still am not sure I know what that means.
I have tried to share as a fellow struggler with prayer. Prayer, truly Christian prayer, does not come naturally. Someone must teach us to pray. We must also pray to learn to pray.
Let us be clear about prayer. Prayer is a means of God getting what God wants in and through us. We are continuing to lay ourselves open to the presence of God, no matter what. In prayer, we ally ourselves with that will, making our desires more congruent with God's desires. Our work is an extension of our prayer, not a substitute for it. Gradually, if we keep at it, as the Scriptures urge us to be persistent in prayer, we find that we have converted our desires as we lift them up to God. "Give me, give me" sometimes becomes "Make me, make me." Prayer changes things - even us!
God loves humanity and makes common cause with humanity. Human beings who pray to God have something to say to God and dare to say it, not because they can, but because God invites and summons them to do so, because God who has spoken to humanity expects human beings in return to speak with God. Whether human beings speak well and badly is unimportant; what matters is that they may speak with God. If human beings simply lay their need before God and come to God as a suppliant, then they come to God simply with their request. They come with empty hands. If we come making a request with full hands, we come with the answer already in hand. Empty hands are necessary when human beings spread out their hands before God and God fills them. These empty hands God wills of us when God bids us pray to God.[14]
The prayer I propose is growing friendship with God. God adopts human beings into a new family, where new relationships need to develop. Prayer becomes a delight at the heart of the relationship. God made human beings as conversation partners with whom God can relate. God has made human beings for a heart to heart relationship with God. Close friends talk often and spend time with each other. Conversation is central to friendship. A healthy relationship with God involves making prayer central rather than incidental. Prayer is the means for our growing in this friendship with God and with the world.
The prayer I propose is growing friendship with the world. By world, I mean that which John 3:16 says that God so loved much that God sent the Son to save it. People sometimes fear that living a prayerful life is also one that insulates us from the needs of the world. The life of Jesus suggests that a life prayerfully centered in God is also a life alive to the needs of the world. As we develop closeness to God, we will turn toward the world that God loves. We see the needs of the world that God loves in a new way. Becoming a friend of God and a friend of grace will open us to become friends of the world that God loves.
[1] The exhortation to perseverance akin to the widow's, therefore, is likely to have been part of the early Christian community's homiletical arsenal to combat lethargy and impatience in the face of unmet expectations. Thus, this question, together with Luke's opening comment that the parable was taught to encourage the disciples "to pray always and not to lose heart" clearly show us, not what appears to be the point of the parable, namely that God does not need to be pestered into coming to the help of his people, but that Luke's use of this parable goes beyond its original rhetorical intention to include an eschatological theology of hope.
[2] For other scholars, Luke has created the framework in verse 1, 6-7. According to the Jesus Seminar, he has added verse 8 in order to connect it with the theme of verses 22-37. The parable as stated in verses 2-5 has no specific application. Its unconventional features are characteristic of Jesus, according to the Jesus Seminar. The parable of the widow and the unjust judge is prefaced by Luke’s annotation that provides Jesus' ostensible rhetorical purpose. The parable that follows, Luke announces, is "about their [the disciples'] need to pray always and not to lose heart" (v. 1). The opening verse explains the rationale for the parable: the disciples' need for constant prayer and steadfastness. A similarly prosaic introduction is found in the following parable, vv. 9-14 ("... to some who trusted in themselves ... ", v. 9). The opening verse of verses 1-8 represents the first layer of the interpretative tradition that was already beginning to coalesce around Jesus' parables (see further below). This segment begins with an uncharacteristically prosaic explanation of the purpose and meaning of the parable that follows: the need to remain steadfast in prayer. The parable, as the introductory verse states, is about persistence in our relationship with God.
Luke's thesis statement and the concluding comment of verse 8b do not seem to relate with apparent ease to the parable. Most scholars regard these two statements as Luke’s additions and, indeed, the parable's original setting is lost to us.
[3] KTU 1.16.6.33-34 original in The Cuneiform Alphabetic Texts from Ugarit, Ras Ibn Hani and Other Places, ed. M. Dietrich, O. Loretz, J. Sanmartin [Muenster: Ugarit-Verlag, 1995], 46.)
[4] Jeremias, The Parables of Jesus, 154.
[5] (For more on the law in Jewish society, see Derrett, "Law in the New Testament" [New Testament Studies 18 (January 1972)], 178-191.)
[6] (For more on the law in Jewish society, see Derrett, "Law in the New Testament" [New Testament Studies 18 (January 1972)], 178-191.)
[7] (see the discussion in Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke X-XXIV [Anchor Bible 28A; Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1985], 1176).
[8] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 333.
[9] Generally dated to the last third of the first century, the gospel of Luke reflects the anxiety over the delay of the return of the "Son of Man", an appellation of Jesus that is heavily weighted with theological meaning and never occurs in the gospels apart from Jesus referring to himself (or in second-hand accounts of the same). The occurrence of the expression here, one of several Lucan usages unparalleled in either Matthew or Mark (see also 19:10, 21:36, 22:48, 24:7), makes the term part of the interpretive framework for the parable, and, like its occurrences at Matthew 13:37, 41, 25:31, the phrase is not an integral feature of the parable proper. This has led some scholars to conclude that the phrase was a prominent feature not of Jesus' own teaching (concentrated as it was in parables), but of the early Christian communities' preaching about Jesus.
[10] Inserted here by Luke, according to many scholars.
[11] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.2 [67.2] 647.
[12] Barth, Church Dogmatics II.1 [32.2] 510-1.
[13] Barth, Church Dogmatics 53.3.
[14] Barth, Church Dogmatics 53.3.
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