Luke 18:2-8 "He said, 'In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God..."

"He said, 'In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, 'Grant me justice against my opponent.' For a while he refused, but later he said to himself, 'Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.' And the Lord said, ' Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?'" (Luke 18:2-8).

Comment:

The specific line you ask about is included in this rather odd and obscure parable that is to be found only in the Gospel of Luke; none of the other Gospels have anything like it. What Jesus seems to be saying is that goodness and justice will prevail, even against those who don't believe in goodness or justice. It may take time, and persistence, but ultimately not even cynics and nonbelievers are immune to the energy of justice and good. God, of course, is the very antithesis of the “unjust judge.” God does not deny the existence of good—God is the very expression of all Good. So how much more quickly would God respond? We still seem to feel today that prayer requires a lot of weeping and a lot of repetition—and so it may. But not because God is resistant. The delay is because, like the judge, we doubt our worthiness, or we think our challenges are too insignificant for God to bother with. As soon as our consciousness is properly aligned with the Allness of God, then that divine energy is available to us, expressing through us, healing and empowering and transforming our lives and the consciousness we share.   Blessings!

Rev. Ed