Twenty-ninth Sunday Gospel C

Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. 

This parable is found only in the Gospel of Luke.

This encouragement to pray always is also found in 1 Thess 5:17. 

How often we find ourselves in this state of mind. We pray and nothing                                                               happens. So we practically stop praying. This happens because we don’t believe that God hears us. In this parable Jesus teaches us the importance of continuing to pray even if there seems at the moment to be no response.

He said, “There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being. And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, ‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’ 

Widows were often powerless and vulnerable at that time. Many depended on the support of others, mainly family. 

Maybe the reason the judge seemed to ignore her was that her adversary may have been a rich friend of his whom he didn’t want to alienate.

For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, ‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being,  because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.’” 

As she persisted in her petition, the parable urges us to be persistent in our prayer. We should persevere in faith and tirelessly petition God for our needs. 

She is pleading, not for a handout, but for justice, that which is due to her. The judge was acting indifferent, at first, to her need which was a violation of justice. He eventually caved in because of her persistence and what she was asking for was her due. 

The Lord said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says.  Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them?  I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.”

God will come to our aid, not because we are pestering him, but because our persistence reflects our trust and faith in him.

But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

That is a haunting question. In spite of the difficulties of our human life, will our faith in him as our Lord and God, continue to be present, even when our prayers do not seem to be answered? How strong is your faith in the midst of tragedy and struggles?