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Author: Stephen Weller
564 words, 3 minutes read time

A Lesser to Greater Condition

Scripture: Luke 18:1

With the previous lesson we finished the section on the healing of the ten lepers and determined that the kingdom of God is unseen and is already being formed in our midst. With this lesson we will start a new section, which is about the parable of the persistent widow.

^{Lk 18:1} “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”

When one first reads through the parable it is noticed that a lesser condition is established as true which then led to reasoning that something greater would therefore be true. In this parable, the lesser condition was that of an unrighteous judge that finally yielded to a persistent widow and granted her request. If an unrighteous judge would so respond, then surely a just God would surely grant our request. We find a similar argument of lesser to greater in Luke 11:11 – 13; 12:6 – 7; 12:25 – 27; 13:15 – 16.

“And he told them” refers to his disciples. We know this from Luke 17:22: “And he said to his disciples” and the fact that he has spoken to no one else up to this point. Therefore, Jesus is speaking to his disciples and instructing them to always pray when they begin to lose heart because of something. As Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 – 18 ESV: ¹⁷ “Pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Looking back to Luke 17: 20 – 37, we find the “not lose heart” refers to the delay of Lord’s return. With conditions being so evil on earth, why doesn’t Jesus Christ return as he promised? We must wait for his timing and pray so as to not lose heart over the delay.

Luke 18:1, Luke 18:9 and Luke 19:11 introduce three parables and serves as the guide to the respective parable. 18:1 instructs us to pray and not lose heart for God will provide; 18:9 guides us in our selection of who we trust in; is it self or God; 19:11 speaks of the coming of the kingdom of God. Three parables that relate to his return; pray and do not lose heart over his delay, trust not in yourself but trust in God, and realizing there will be a delay in his coming.

Jesus then said, ^{Lk 18:2} “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. ³ And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ ⁴ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’”

Following the verse 1 introduction to pray and not lose heart, Jesus now presents a parable to illustrate what he meant. A discussion of this parable will be covered in the next lesson.

Conclusion

When you encounter various situations in your life is prayer your first response? What does your answer to that question reveal about the closeness of your relationship to God through Jesus Christ?