The Parable of the Persistent Widow
This is sometimes called The Parable of the Unjust Judge, and it is only found in Luke 18. And Luke says that the point of the parable is to show that we should always pray and never give up.
The 2 characters in the parable are completely mismatched. This is what we would call a “David and Goliath fight.” It would be like a normal person suing a corporate giant.
The little widow has been wronged in some way. We aren’t told the how. And the judge she is required to go before to settle the dispute is an immoral, arrogant jerk.
😐 Does the Bible really call him that?
Well, it says that the judge “neither feared God nor cared about people.” I’d say “immoral, arrogant jerk” is putting it nicely.
🤓 He sounds like Bob Parr’s boss.
😯 Who?
🤓 Mr. Incredible. Remember how awful and uncaring his annoying boss is? Here… watch.
Oh yeah… Voiced by Wallace Shawn who played Vizzini in The Princess Bride. Inconceivable!
Uh oh…
🤓 😯 What?
Now when I read this text, I hear Wallace Shawn doing the voice…
“The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’”
Luke 18:4-5 NLT
The powerless little widow woman uses the “squeaky wheel” approach. She just keeps coming back and “squeaking” and refuses to give up until she gets the justice she needs. Perseverance will wring justice even out of an unjust judge.
Now, our Heavenly Father is not an arrogant jerk or an unjust judge. And He has children who come to Him for justice. I bet Jesus has encountered a lot of them. There are probably plenty of poor widows and orphans and people without influential friends who have been steamrolled by the rich and powerful; including the religious elites. Remember back when the prophets warned the kings and priests of Judah that if they didn’t stop oppressing the poor and murdering the vulnerable, the Lord would bring judgment and justice on them? And He did. He sent the Babylonians to destroy the city and take the people captive. And if they don’t repent, there is another such judgment coming in 70AD.
The LORD hears the cry of His persecuted saints around the world today. He will not put off judgment forever. It will certainly fall. The Lord will right every wrong. Just keep praying and never give up.
The Pharisee & The Tax Collector
This is another parable that is only recorded here in Luke 18. It was for the holier-than-thou people.
The Pharisee’s prayer is a thinly veiled boast. The tax collector’s prayer is a humble request for mercy.
Jesus said that the tax collector was forgiven. Justified. Made right with God, while the Pharisee was not.
The Pharisee was not making stuff up. He really did all the right things according to the Law. But it did not make him righteous. It made him proud. It’s important to understand that it was Jesus Himself, not Paul, who introduced the idea that righteousness does not come from keeping the Law. It comes through humble dependence on the mercy of God.
Jesus Blesses the Children
If, as I have claimed, the disciples were nearly all very young men – teens – it would make a lot of sense why they would shoo away the “little kids.” Most teen guys want nothing to do with small children; especially ones needing a diaper change. I could see the disciples feeling a bit protective and jealous of Jesus and annoyed.
And I would think that the last thing a young man wants to hear is that he needs to be more like a little child. He’s trying to be tough and strong and thought of as a man. I don’t think Jesus is suggesting that they behave immaturely. There’s a VAST difference between being child-ish and child-like.
Child-ish is selfishness, lack of discipline and self-control, insecure, fearful…
Child-like is wonder, trust, contentment, curiosity, carefree…
“Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
Luke 18:17 ESV
The kingdom has to be received before it can be entered.
Think about how an infant or small child receives something. They will reach out their little hands and want to touch whatever is (or often is not) offered to them. They have no preconceived ideas about it, except that it may possibly taste good so it should go in the mouth.
If you gave a literal earthly kingdom to a bunch of 5 year olds, they would want to dress up like princes and princesses, spend a hundred dollars on candy and play with toys until they fell asleep exhausted. They would have no idea how to run the thing nor would they care. They can’t even grasp the difference between a hundred and a thousand or a hundred feet and a hundred miles.
Grown-ups tend to want answers and explanations. Compare them to children:
GOD: Here you go.. a whole kingdom!
👧🏻 4-year-old: Yay! I’m a real princess now. 👑 Do I get a unicorn pony? 🦄 I want to have a princess tea party. 🫖
GOD: No unicorn ponies today but a tea party would be nice. I invented tea just so there could be tea parties.
👧🏻 4-year-old: Let’s invite ALLLLL the princesses. And we’ll have cupcakes! 🧁
VS.. a grown up…
GOD: Here you go.. a whole kingdom!
👩🏻 Grown-up: Wait. What? What do I do? Am I, like, in charge, or do I wait to be told what to do? Do I have a staff? And do any of them know what they’re doing? Do I have an assistant? Please let there be an assistant…
GOD: Would you like a cup of tea?
👩🏻 Grown-up: Uh… I’d prefer to know how much money I have access to.
I think we would all do well to keep a little childlike wonder in our souls.
Tea and cupcakes are a great help with that.
THE RICH YOUNG RULER
He gets this title because Luke 18:18 calls him a “ruler.”
While Matthew 19:22 calls him a “young man.”
And he is, of course, very rich.
His question is: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Now remember, Jesus can’t say, “Believe the Gospel” because even though there are (figuratively speaking) only a few minutes left on the clock in the Old Covenant “game,” the rules still apply.
So Jesus says, “Keep the commandments.” In Luke’s account, Jesus quotes 5 and in Matthew’s version the same 5 are mentioned plus the summary commandment “love your neighbor as yourself.” I would assume that Jesus is referring to all of the commandments. I don’t think He meant “just pick 5 out of 10 and you’re good.”
This young man was taught well and already keeps the commandments.
Maybe his conscience bothered him. Maybe he just wanted to be sure he was right with God. Whatever the reason, he seems to have felt like he was lacking something.
In Matthew’s account, Jesus says, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell your possessions…” It’s not perfect as in- without flaw. The Greek word is about being complete.
I don’t think that Jesus was suggesting that this young man would go to hell if he didn’t take a vow of poverty. And I also don’t think Jesus is making poverty a requirement for salvation. For this particular young man, if he wanted to achieve maximum fullness of moral character, then selling everything and following Jesus would be just the challenge to shape him.
It’s not a sin to have wealth. If it is, Abraham and David were terrible sinners because they were both wildly wealthy. But it IS a problem if wealth has you.
I’m sure many of us have heard that when Jesus talked about a camel going through the “eye of a needle” that it was referring to some small opening in a wall. I’m not convinced, because unloading and squeezing a camel through a small door is difficult but not impossible. I think Jesus is using more hyperbole here. And it shocks the listeners as intended. “Who can be saved?!”
“But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.””
Luke 18:27 ESV
It’s impossible for any man, rich or poor, to save himself, but it is totally possible with God. Jesus is about to make it possible. And He tells the disciples what is about to happen, and in great detail. But they do not grasp it.
I’m not sure which part of mocking, flogging, and death was so hard to understand, but they seriously do not have “Death of Messiah” anywhere on their theological Bingo card.
Guess I better leave a little bit of content for Mark 10… See you over there.
To The Reader 