The Persistent Widow: Seeking Justice and Faith

2. “The Rudest Man in Washington” James Clark McReynolds Supreme Court Justice 1914-1941

3. Charles Hamilton Houston

4. Louis Brandeis

6. Luke 18:1 (ESV) – “He told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”

8. Luke 18:2-3 (ESV) – “‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’”

9. Jesus describes the judge as someone who does not fear God or respect people The Talmud, which contains the writings and opinions of the ancient rabbis, speaks of some judges who were willing to pervert justice for a bowl of meat

10. Perhaps she was being evicted from her home, as was inclined to happen in those days • Luke 20:47a (NLT) – [The teachers of religious law] shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public.”

11. She didn’t have money to offer a bribe, so her persistence was her only defense • She stepped into a man’s world before the judge, and when rebuffed, she persisted because she was seeking what was rightfully hers

12. Luke 18:4-5 (ESV) – “For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’”

13. Luke 18:4-5 (ESV) – “For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” • The phrase translated as “beat me down” comes from a word that literally means to “beat black and blue.”

14. Luke 18:4-5 (ESV) – “For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” • The Greek phrase used for “continual” implies going on forever…the widow was waging a war of attrition!

15. Luke 18:6-8a (ESV) – “And the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not 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.’” Jesus wants us to learn something about how He and the Father administer their “courtroom”

16. Luke 18:6-8a (ESV) – “And the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not 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.’”

17. Luke 18:8b (ESV) – “‘Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’” • Will he find faith like the widows? • She had faith that her cause was just and she was in the right • She had faith that even the hardest-hearted old judge could be reached with the plight of a widow

18. “Faith is the furnace of our lives. Its fuel is the grace of God. And the divinely appointed shovel for feeding the burner is prayer. If you lose heart and lay down the shovel, the fire will go out, you will grow cold and hard…” John Piper

19. Luke 18:6-8a (ESV) – “And the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not 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.’” The Greek word translated as justice in this story is translated in other places in the New Testament as avenge, vindicate, and bringing punishment to evildoers

20. Do not lose heart! “…they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” (c.18, v.1) Keep persistently praying as an extension of your faith!