*Luke 18:1-14
Jesus tells a parable about a persistent widow who teaches perseverance in prayer, contrasted with a boastful Pharisee.
- Parable of the Persistent Widow:
- Jesus shares a parable to teach the importance of persistent prayer.
- He tells of a judge who neither fears God nor cares for people.
- A widow repeatedly seeks justice from the judge against an adversary.
- Initially refusing, the judge eventually grants her request due to her persistence, lest she wear him out.
- Jesus emphasizes that if an unjust judge responds to persistence, how much more will God, the just judge, grant justice to his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night.
- Encouragement to Faithfulness:
- Jesus assures that God will deliver justice quickly to those who seek him.
- He ends the parable with a challenge: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
- Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector:
- Jesus tells a parable aimed at those who are confident in their own righteousness and look down on others.
- He describes a Pharisee and a tax collector going to the temple to pray.
- The Pharisee prays about his good deeds, thanking God that he isn’t like others, including the tax collector nearby.
- The tax collector, standing far off and unable to lift his eyes, humbly pleads for God’s mercy, confessing himself as a sinner.
- Jesus states that the tax collector, not the Pharisee, goes home justified before God.
- He emphasizes that those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
18:1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; 18:2 Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: 18:3 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
18:4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 18:5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
18:6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
18:7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 18:8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? 18:9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 18:10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
18:12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
18:13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.