The Parables of our Lord Jesus Christ

Whosoever

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“No one ever spoke like this man!” John 7:46

Our Lord Jesus Christ was the greatest teacher who ever walked on the face of the earth. Not only was He the very incarnation of truth—and so the content of His teaching was impeccable and of divine origin. With His unique declaration of truth with authority, Jesus is perhaps most noted for His use of parables.

In the first one I want to look at Jesus called His people to be faithful and not faint in times of difficulty. He does so in the parable of the unjust judge in Luke 18:1–8:

ALSO [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to turn coward (faint, lose heart, and give up).
2 He said, In a certain city there was a judge who neither reverenced and feared God nor respected or considered man.
3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, Protect and defend and give me justice against my adversary.
4 And for a time he would not; but later he said to himself, Though I have neither reverence or fear for God nor respect or consideration for man,
5 Yet because this widow continues to bother me, I will defend and protect and avenge her, lest she give me intolerable annoyance and wear me out by her continual coming or at the last she come and rail on me or assault me or strangle me.
6 Then the Lord said, Listen to what the unjust judge says!
7 And will not [our just] God defend and protect and avenge His elect (His chosen ones), who cry to Him day and night? Will He defer them and delay help on their behalf?
8 I tell you, He will defend and protect and avenge them speedily. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [persistence in] faith on the earth?

At the very start of this parable, the text tells us its central point: “They ought always to pray and not lose heart.” This parable is about persistent prayer. It’s about persistent prayer in the midst of trouble, even when it seems as if our prayers go no higher than the ceiling. To communicate this exhortation to constant prayer, Jesus tells the story of two people, a judge and a widow. This widow has no one to represent her, no one to defend her in the courts, and no one to find vindication for her against her adversary.

I found it in God's word that there’s a special place in the heart of God for widows, who seem to be the most vulnerable people in the world. James tells us that the essence of true religion is the care of widows and orphans because, particularly in the ancient world, the widow was helpless. And so Jesus tells the story of such a person, who has been unjustly treated. She has been wronged. She’s suffering, and her only hope is to find justice at the hands of the courts. So she wants to present her case to the judge.

Jesus tells us about this particular judge, saying that he cared nothing for God or people. If you put those two together, how much do you think he cared about justice? Sometimes, in the midst of complex systems of trying cases, the fundamental question of justice is lost.

The judge in this parable cared only for his own prestige. But he was supposed to bring justice to this poor widow who had no one to plead her case. And so she asked the judge to hear her case:

And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, Protect and defend and give me justice against my adversary.
4 And for a time he would not; but later he said to himself, Though I have neither reverence or fear for God nor respect or consideration for man, Luke 18:3–4

He brushed her off because he didn’t care about her predicament, and he just wanted to be left alone.

But she would not faint. She would not give up. She came again and again, saying, “Give me justice against my adversary.” He again and again refused to hear her.

This woman would not take no for an answer. Eventually, the judge 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” Luke 18:4–5

This parable is sometimes called the parable of the importunate widow. Importunate means overly persistent. This woman would not give up; she kept beating on the door of the unjust judge until finally, out of pure expediency—not out of a conversion to the legitimacy of justice—he gave her some attention. He said, “She’s wearying me. I’ve gotten tired of it. I’ll hear her case. I’ll vindicate her just so she’ll stop banging on the door.”

Many parables contrast how fallen creatures behave with how God behaves. This parable talks about the unjust judge as a contrast with God. In making this point, Jesus says: “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” (vv. 7–8). The God we serve is a God who vindicates and avenges His people.

We know that when we are wronged or exploited, we may not seek vengeance. Vengeance is not on the agenda for the Christian. So does God say that vengeance itself is a bad thing? No. He says, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay”. Our God is an avenging God. He will right every wrong that His people have experienced. We see this in the grand example of the exodus, where the people of God cried out day after day, mixing their cries with their groaning, until God said

“I have heard the groans coming up to me from my people, therefore Pharaoh, who is an unjust judge of Egypt, who regards neither God nor man, will let my people go so that they may come and worship me”. Exodus 3:9

And the exodus was a foretaste of a greater exodus that comes to pass in the New Testament, when God delivers His people from the world, the flesh, and the devil, and from all of those who spitefully use us. Oh happy day! And so we ought not to faint, we ought not to lose faith, because we serve a God who hears us and who cares.

Jesus ends the parable this way: “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Luke 18:8

Will Christ find faith in His church? Or will it all disintegrate into unbelief, because people have stopped praying and, in the midst of adversity, have fainted? Our Lord obviously knew the answer to that question. He knows that when He returns He will find faith on the earth, not because we are so faithful, but because He is faithful to keep those whom the Father has given Him.
 
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