And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 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.’ For a while he refused, but afterward 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 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?”
The last verse in the above passage is highlighted in bold and italics. This verse is the point of Jesus parable and Luke’s recount of it. In this entire section Jesus is preparing His disciples for the coming of the Kingdom of God. They, like others, had a wrong view of it, thinking it was a physical realm rather than one of spiritual dimension. Jesus is telling them to prepare for the spiritual kingdom of God by having faith in God. He tells the story of this persistent widow to demonstrate that persistent faith is what He is looking for and expects from His followers. The widow is an example of believers persevering in prayer. The judge, however, is not a metaphor for God, as he is an unjust judge. The point of the parable is that if even a poor widow can get something from an unjust and wicked judge, imagine what could happen if a child of God was persistent in faith toward their righteous and just God? What would that just God do in this case? He would give justice to this person of faith ... with much speed. That is what God wants on this earth: People of faith. That is how the Kingdom of God will arrive. A spiritual kingdom can only come by spiritual faith. The question Jesus asks is whether there will be faith on the earth when He returns. We, as His children, are to be a people of faith and to be waiting by faith for His kingdom.
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