The Parable of the Unjust Judge: Don’t Ever Lose Heart
“The Parable of the Unjust Judge: Don’t Ever Lose Heart”
Luke 18:1-8
David A. Shirey
Broadway Christian Church
The parable begins, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people.” Luke tells us Jesus told his disciples this parable about their need to pray always... and not to lose heart. Jesus knew what we all know: when you run up against people who have no regard for God and no respect for others, you can lose heart. There are people in this world who refuse to be accountable to anyone – “neither fear God nor respect people.” Many of the Psalms bemoan such behavior. They’re called Psalms of Lament. There are over 60 of them. That’s 40% of the Psalms! That’s a lot of lamentation about people behaving badly. Psalm 5 decries the “boastful” and “deceitful”: “There is no truth in their mouths, their hearts are destruction” (vss. 5,6,9). Psalm 64:2 laments, “the secret plots of the wicked,” the scheming of evildoers.” The Psalmist writes, “They think, ‘Who can see us? Who can search out our crimes?’” (vs. 6). Jesus’ parable laments an unjust judge, but there are all kinds of people who sneer at what is good, right, just, and true, whose behavior threatens to make you lose heart in humanity.
Can we talk about that unjust judge for a moment? If that judge revered God, he would have known that according to Deuteronomy 10:17-18, his judging should reflect the way God judges, namely: “The Lord your God... is not partial and takes no bribe, ... executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and ... loves the strangers, providing them with food and clothing.” But even if he didn’t know that verse or revere the God revealed in Scripture, he could have some compassion for a widow in desperation, couldn’t he? I remember one of the dear souls of the church I served in St. Louis, Mary Poss. When I asked Mary once what motivated her tireless compassion and incredible patience for the people who came to our church for assistance, she said, “I just tell myself, ‘That’s somebody’s daughter. That’s somebody’s son.’ And I do for them what I’d want somebody to do for my son or daughter.” I said, “Mary, you don't have children.” And she said, “God does.” Thank you, Mary! But no thanks to that hard-hearted judge! Such a lack of human decency can cause somebody to lose heart.
It’s a tragic thing when someone loses heart. Clarence was a man on the Search Committee that called me to the church in St. Louis. He became Moderator of the congregation my first year and by year two I was asking, “Where’s Clarence? I haven’t seen Clarence for several weeks.”
Finally, I reached him. I said, “Can we talk?”
And we did and he said, “David, there was a time when I would have done anything for this church but right now I wouldn’t walk across the street for it. He then presented a laundry list of grievances. In his estimation, his church and some of its members had failed him. So, he was done with church. More than that, he was done with every single church and every single Christian. Including you. Bunch of hypocrites! He’d lost heart in the church.
I remember a retired pastor I knew years ago. He lost heart. Milton was pastorally sensitive, theologically grounded, socially conscious, and intellectually astute. But in the years following his retirement he first lost his wife to a brain tumor, then lost confidence in the capacity of human beings to effect meaningful change toward a more just and equitable society, and then lost his faith to boot. I used to pick him up from his apartment and take him to Hardee’s on Friday morning for a biscuit and a cup of coffee.
“David,” he said one day, “The good die young. The wicked prosper. No good deed goes unpunished. With every cause I gave myself to, it’s been two steps forward and three steps back. I don't believe any more.” It’s a terrible thing to lose heart. And it’s a terrible thing to see someone else lose heart over tragedy, injustice, humanity’s inhumanity to humanity, institutions gone sour, or the failures of Christians and churches.
So, what did Jesus do? “Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always... and not to lose heart.” Get that? Jesus’ prescription – his antidote for losing heart – is prayer. He told them a parable “about their need to pray always.” This translation is from the RSV- Revised Shirey Version: “In a certain city there was a judge who cared nothing for God or human beings. A widow kept coming to him and asking him for justice and for the longest time he refused because he didn’t give a hoot about her. But because she kept bothering him, he finally gave in and gave her what she asked for. She was about to wear him out.”
Now, be careful. I say that because you and I may have been taught to read parables allegorically. That is, we were taught that each of the characters in the parable represent somebody else, including God. And the way that usually works is if there’s an authority figure in the parable, well, that figure must represent God. But do you want to make that inference here? As if we’re the poor widow who asks for justice and God is the unjust judge who won’t answer our requests. Is the point of the parable if we keep on praying-- knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door-- God, like the judge, just to get us off God’s back, will throw us a bone now and then and answer our prayers? Is the moral of the story persist in prayer, make yourself a nuisance, and God’ll give in?
No, no, no, no. Jesus makes sure we don’t take that tack. He tells the parable and then says, “And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?” (vs. 7) In other words, Jesus’ logic is, “If even unjust judges finally grant justice, how much more will the Compassionate and Righteous Judge of Heaven and Earth work for justice for all who seek it!" Jesus encourages us to persist in prayer not because God has to be worn out before God gives in, but to assure us that the One to whom we take our deepest hurts and grievances and most heartfelt desires has an open-door policy-- an open ear and open heart. So, pray with persistence born of the confidence you’ll be heard because our good, great, and gracious God is at work to make things right.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but the teller of this parable, Jesus of Nazareth, cried out to the Judge, did he not? Jesus cried out from the cross, a victim of betrayal, lies, deceit, violence, abuse of power, religion gone sour. You name it – any bad thing – and it was party to Jesus’ crucifixion. And from the cross, he prayed a lament psalm (22): “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” It’s enough to make you lose heart, I tell you, to know that Jesus was crucified. Talk about no regard for God or human beings: the Son of God/ the Son of Man nailed to a cross! No wonder enslaved people saw Jesus on the cross, the victim of rank injustice and cruelty, as a lynching, and sang the incomparable spiritual, “O-o-o-oh. Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.” Jesus cried out to the Judge from a cross.
And our faith trumpets the good news of the gospel! The Judge, the Righteous Judge, God Almighty, heard Jesus’ prayer and on the third day raised him up. Hallelujah! So, pray with persistence born of the confidence you will be heard because you know thanks to the resurrection that God is at work to make things right. Hebrews 7:25 says, “Consequently, Christ is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” We do not lost heart, but we pray knowing our prayers are uplifted by none other than our risen Lord’s prayers.
Mind you, that doesn’t mean we have license to ask for anything. I think I can make a case biblically that Jesus invites prayers for five things that encompass many things:
He invites prayers for life’s necessities. “Give us this day our daily bread.” Not daily cake. We can pray for necessities, not luxuries.
We can pray for justice. This parable is a case in point.
We can pray for the Holy Spirit to empower and guide us. Jesus says, “If you... know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11:13
We can pray “Thy kingdom come” and all that means. How does Revelation end? “And I will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more. Neither will there be suffering nor sorrow nor pain anymore. For behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:4, 5)
And we can pray for forgiveness (“Forgive us our trespasses”)
We can pray for those things and everything they encompass without losing heart in the confidence God is at work to provide them.
Do you remember what Jesus asks at the close of his parable? He asks, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Will Jesus find people who have not lost heart, but who steadfastly keep on keepin’ on “the path of righteousness for his name’s sake?”
Will he find people who believe deep down that the moral arc of the universe does bend toward justice, that the meek will inherit the earth, that love is stronger than hate, that life is stronger than death?
“When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth” or a wasteland of hollowed out souls who have lost heart?
Dying of cancer years ago, NC State basketball coach Jim Valvano said, “Don't give up. Don’t give up. Don't ever give up.”
Writing to the Galatians, Paul wrote, “Do not grow weary in well-doing.” (6:9)
And the same people who sang “Sometimes it causes me tremble” sing, “Sometimes I feel discouraged and think my work’s in vain, but then the Holy Spirit revives my soul again.”
“Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always... and not to lose heart.”
We serve a risen Savior. Don’t ever, ever, ever lose heart!
Let all God’s prayerful people say with bold hearts AMEN