Hi everyone, welcome back to logical Bible study where we do
a verse by verse exegesis of the gospels.
Our goal here is to help you really understand the literal
sense of scripture. What does it mean on the most
fundamental level? Today, we're looking at Luke
chapter, 18 verses 1 to 8 Jesus told his disciples.
A parable about the need to pray continually and never lose
heart. There was a judge in a certain
town he said who had neither fear of God nor respect for a
man in the same town. There was a widow who kept on
coming to him and saying I want Justice from you against my
enemy. For a long time he refused but
at last he said to himself maybe I have neither fear of God nor
respect for men but since she keeps pestering me, I must give
this with her her adjust rights or she will persist in coming
and worry me to death. And the Lord said he noticed
what the unjust judge has to say.
Now will not God see Justice Done To His chosen who cry to
him day and night. Even when he delays to help them
I promise you, he will see Justice Done to them and done
speedily. But when the son of man comes,
will he find any faith on Earth? So this is the parable of the
unjust judge and it's only found in Luke.
You might have heard this one. You might not have heard it.
What's the context here? Jesus is moving From Galilee up
to Jerusalem for the Final Phase of his ministry.
And his speaking to the crowds along the way.
If you've been listening to this podcast for a while.
We all know that for quite a while, we've been in this middle
section of Luke, where Jesus is moving From Galilee to Jerusalem
and we're getting very close to the end of that.
Now, he's almost at Jerusalem. Verse 1.
Jesus told his disciples. A parable about the need to pray
continually and never lose heart.
Notice this Luke tells us the point of the parable and we
should be thankful for him for that because sometimes were not
100% sure of the meaning of a parable.
But here the inspired author, Luke tells us what Jesus meant
by this, Parable right up front. He says this Parable is about
the need to pray continually and never lose heart.
So we need to keep this in mind. That's going to help us Stanley
Parable other translations have this as they ought to always
pray and never lose heart. Now this is similar to another
Parable. Jesus has given earlier in
chapter 11 verses 5 to 8, remember the parable about the
persistent neighbor, who's knocking, at the door, asking
for bread? And it's very similar to that
kind of thing. They're both about perseverance
in prayer, and what we're going to see here is particularly
important given. What Jesus has just said in
chapter 17 about the That his disciples will experience in the
coming years. So, that's probably in the
background here. He's just told them about the
coming of the son of man and how there's going to be suffering
for Christians. That's all in the background and
now he gets to this. Parable about the need to pray
continually and never lose heart.
So the parable of the unjust judge is only found in Luke and
a key to understanding this unjust, an unrighteous of the
same basic word in Greek unjust, unrighteous that actually helps
us understand a lot of the New Testament actually, because if
we keep in mind, Justice and righteousness, they're the same
word in the New Testament and it's particularly important in
The Sermon on the Mount actually, because they're Jesus,
says things like seek righteousness, seek after
righteousness, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
That can be translated those in hunger, and who hunger and
thirst after Justice. Basically, what that means
Justice or righteousness is to do, what God desires people to
do in society. If you're doing, if you're
giving someone Justice, you're giving them what's due to them
according to God. So we have here a judge who's
supposed to be just he's supposed to be righteous to give
people what they're owed according to God, but his unjust
he doesn't do that. His unrighteous verse 2.
There was a judge in a certain Town who had neither fear of God
nor respect of man. So this is a fictional scenario.
It's a parable and there's this judge in the town, he's a bad
judge. He hasn't either fear of God nor
respect for me. And now this would actually be a
violation of Justice according to God.
So if you look at Deuteronomy 27, verse 19, it talks about how
judges need to be in line with the law of God, but this judge
is not. And then we have a widow who
appears and there's a lab it to say here about Do is it'll help
us understand it. There's this Widow in the same
town that the judge lives in widows were very vulnerable in
that culture, they had no husband to support them
financially and typically in that Society if you're a woman
you need a man to support you financially but her husband's
gone so there's no one left to support.
Her widow's had very low social status.
They needed the Law Courts to support them.
If there's an enemy who's trying to sue them or there's someone
who's being unkind or unfair to them, they haven't got a husband
who can look out for them, so they really needed a judge to
defend them on their behalf. This is why God in the Old
Testament and in the New Testament is constantly on
about. If you are following me, if
you're following God, then you need to defend widows.
You need to stand up widows because they have no one else to
stand up for them. So, a key part of righteousness,
both in the Old Testament, and the New Testament is looking at
Two widows, God cares about them.
And in fact, Jesus cares about them, as we'll see here.
And also Luke has an interest in widows Luke highlights.
Widows quite a few times, remember early in the Gospel of
Luke, there's the woman in the temple who's there on the day
that Jesus is presented when he's a baby and she's a widow
Anna, her name is, and she is basically dedicated her life to
service of the temple. So, Luke takes a particular
interest in these widows. So Jesus, he says, in the
parable in the same town, there was a widow who kept on coming
to the judge and saying, I want Justice from you against my
enemy or you can translate that as vindicate me against my
adversary. So she's involved in some sort
of dispute and apparently, she's the one in the right, and the
person who is pursuing her, as the one in the wrong.
So she keeps coming to the judge hoping that he'll help her and
that he will defend her. There's no one else who can help
her again. This is similar to the man.
Knocks on his neighbor's door repeatedly, in the middle of the
night. That's chapter 11 verse 7.
He says, help me open up. Give me some bread.
That's a similar kind of concept verse 4 for a long time.
He refused but at last he said to himself.
Maybe I have neither fear of God nor respect for men but since
she keeps pestering me I must give this with her her just
rights or she will persist in coming and worry me to death.
You can translate this as because this Widow bothers me.
I will vindicate her or she will wear me out by her continual
coming so the judge eventually gives in.
He says, look, I know I'm not a good judge, like I don't really
care about this, but she's getting so annoying.
She's been so persistent that I'll give him.
Otherwise, she's going to wear me out.
So he gives you the out of selfish motives, not not out of
righteous motives, but out of selfish motives because he wants
the woman, the Widow to leave him alone.
Interestingly, you can translate this.
The phrase she'll wear me out as she Strike me.
That's what it literally says in the Greek.
So he's worried that she's going to come and hit him basically.
Now, this is a good example of a parable where we should not try
to see a one-to-one relationship between God and the judge in
every characteristic. Because God is just God does
care about people, it's an analogy.
So when we read Parables, typically, there's one main
comparison or point that Jesus wants to make between God and
one of the figures in the parable Jesus is not saying God
is Is like the unjust judge in every respect just one respect.
And in fact Jesus is going to tell us what that one respect is
what's the point here verse 6? And the Lord, that's Jesus
interesting that Luke calls him. The Lord here and the Lord said
you notice what the unjust judge has to say.
A better translation of this would be hear what the
unrighteous judge says. You can imagine him sort of
Jesus looking around at his disciples here, hear what the
unrighteous judge says as in. Notice that the judge eventually
gives the Widow what she wants. That's the point.
He wants his disciples to take away from it.
The judge eventually, although not immediately but eventually
he gives the Widow what she wants verse 7.
Now, will not God see Justice done and we've course we know as
Christians that God is in the business of saying that Justice
is done. Just like the judge will not God
see Justice Done To His chosen who cry to him day and night.
You can Like that is his elect and this phrase elector chosen
has had a lot of controversy over the years and this is
something we've discussed elsewhere in the podcast.
Basically the chosen or the elect, if we understand it
properly from a Catholic perspective, that's those who
choose to follow God and his teachings, particularly the
teachings of God as revealed through Jesus, the Messiah,
that's who his elect are, those who are in God's favor because
they choose to follow him. He says here, will he not see
Justice Done To His Rosen who cry to him day and night even
when he delays to help them. Or you can translate this this,
as will he delay long over them? So, what's the teaching here?
Jesus is telling his disciples that God will vindicate his
righteous followers even if it does not happen, immediately
just as the Widow pleaded for justice.
So the Christian, this is Jesus point, so the Christian should
persevere in faith and tirelessly petition, God for our
needs, that's the teaching. So, we, we need to keep praying
and not lose, heart as Luke. At the start here, despite the
persecution that Christians will face particularly the
Christians. In the first century, Jesus is
warning them. Look, you are going to face
persecution but don't lose heart.
Keep praying. God will vindicate you
eventually even if the situation looks hopeless, that's the point
of the parable. And that certainly fits with
what Jesus said. In chapter 17 about there's
going to be lots of trouble, there's going to be, you're
going to be looking for the days of the son of man, you're going
to be crying out to be Vindicated.
And here Jesus says, trust that it will happen.
Don't give up, keep praying. Verse 8, I promise you he will
see Justice Done to them and done speedily or he will
vindicate them speedily is another translation.
This is a promise from Jesus to his disciples.
God will see Justice done and done speedily.
Now there is some difficulties with the translation of the word
that we have here is speedily God will see it done.
Speedily some think a better translation of this phrase would
be. He is patient towards them and
in that case, there's no No promise here.
That it will be done, quickly, it would just imply that they
might not see, just a straight away, or even in this life at
all. In fact, but God is patient
towards them and God hears them. So that verse 8 is a
translational difficulty which is debated by Scholars.
Not now the point of this Parable is obviously not that
God is like the judge in every respect.
That's not the point. Rather it's an argument from the
Lesser to the greater. You always want to be looking
out for this. Jesus does quite a few of these
arguments. The Lesser to the greater.
He often. Does it in reference to David.
If David could do this, surely the Messiah can do this well
here. It's if the unjust judge can
give the Widow, what do to her if the judge eventually gives in
to persistence to answer the Widow's request.
How much more would a good loving God, a good loving
father, listen to the requests of his people and help them.
That's kind of a meaning of the parable here.
Now there's a little more here in the text before we finish.
And before we do that, let's look at the word coming,
understanding. This Greek word coming or
parousia in Greek, is really helpful in understanding these
texts which appear to point towards the end of the world,
but maybe not. So we're about to see here.
Jesus, use the word coming. And what does it mean?
Parousia in Greek, literally means presence, but it can
denote, appearing, or visitation as well.
It's use 20 times in the New Testament, Now, in the Greek
literature at this time, it's used to describe the visitation
of a king or a high official to a city that has previously
conquered remember that? It's used in reference to a king
or a city official who is coming to return to an area.
He has already conquered. So it presumes a period of
absence before the Kings return, the Bible uses it in the Old
Testament, as well in a similar way, the most important usage of
it in the New Testament is, of course, the coming of Jesus
Christ. What?
A lot of people think of his second coming, we know that
Jesus will return to bring judgment on his enemies and he's
going to rescue his faithful disciple.
So it has this idea that Jesus has already set up a kingdom and
he goes away for a while to heaven, but then one day he will
return to Earth to judge his kingdom and to clean it out as
such. So this word parousia when it's
used in the New Testament, it can refer both to Christ's
middle coming, his visitation of Destruction, upon Jerusalem in
70 AD or to His second coming at the end of time, as judge, both
the living and the dead and the New Testament uses it in both
ways. So there's a middle coming in 70
AD, and a second coming still in the future.
So here's the second half of verse 8 in, Luke 18, but when
the son of man comes, will he find any faith on Earth?
That's the same basic phrase here.
When the son of man comes, some people have taken this to be a
reference to the second coming. Remember this word can be used
either. In terms of the second coming or
in terms of Jesus middle coming, I think that given the Jesus has
just been talking about his middle coming in Luke chapter
17, as he would have heard us talk about in the last few days.
I think that's what's in view here as well.
When Jesus says to his disciples when the son of man comes, will
he find any faith on Earth? I think he's mostly referring to
ad 70. Although there might be a link
here. Of course, a greater fulfillment
of this at the end of time at the second coming.
So the verse here verse a seems to mean something like remember,
Jesus is speaking to his disciples here.
Will any of you believe this enough to keep praying, even
when things are difficult in the coming years, or when I return,
we'll you all have given up hoping that you will be
Vindicated. That's what it means.
So it's both a warning and an encouragement from Jesus, really
So that's the end of verse is 128, the next section verses 9
to 14. It's another Parable.
It's the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.
You've probably all heard this one.
That's another parable about prayer the right way to do
prayer. Now that's not read on weekdays.
So you weren't here this episode tomorrow, the Pharisee and the
tax collector Parable, but it is red on the Saturday of week 3 in
Lent. So, if you want to hear the next
bit, chronologically Saturday of week 3 in Lent is the best place
to look for that. Then after that, it's verses 15
to 34, there's this whole section of text of Luke 18,
which is completely skipped. It's never covered in the
lectionary that section verses 15 and 34 includes some really
important teachings, particularly the teaching about
the Rich Young Ruler and it's harder for a camel to pass
through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the
kingdom of God. All of those really interesting
teachings in this section of text, which is skipped.
So most of Luke 18 is never read in the Nari.
So, we will cover this as a bonus episode of the podcast.
If you want to hear a verse by verse exegesis of that final
part of Luke 18, then that is available to you through the
patreon page, and the link for that is in the show notes.
And I'd certainly encourage you to think about whether you'd
like to get access to those, if you become a financial supporter
of the ministry of ten dollars a month or more, then you can get
access to all those bonus episodes.
And I know many of you are, benefiting from hearing these
parts of the gospels that you would never hear it.
Mass. So the link for the patreon page
is in the show notes. So, in the next week day
episode, we'll pick it up from verse 35 of Luke 18.
Let's now turn to the catechism to have a quick look at a couple
of passages, which make reference to this.
So, paragraph 2098, this isn't about the section about
Adoration of God, the acts of faith, hope and charity in
joined by the first commandment are accomplished in prayer.
Lifting up, the Mind towards God is an expression of our
Adoration of God, prayer of praise and Giving intercession
and petition prayer is an indispensable condition for
being able to pray to obey God's Commandments.
We ought to always pray and to not lose heart, so you'll hear
that last part there is a direct quote, from the start of Luke
18, the catechism of the Catholic Church says that.
If we want to fulfill God's Commandments, we need to keep
praying and not lose heart, just as Luke says, here in, Luke 18,
paragraph 675, this is about the end times, it's in the Section
called the church's ultimate trial before.
Christ's Second Coming. The church must pass through a
final trial that will shake the faith of many Believers.
So that last part there, and it will the paragraph goes on from
there. But that last phrase in that
sentence, there will be a trial that will shake the faith of
many Believers. It directly references here.
Luke 18 verse 8. When Jesus says, when the son of
man comes, will he find any faith on Earth?
So although this is primarily about a 20.
The church says here, that Jesus could also be speaking of his
second coming. And if that's the case, the
teaching here from Jesus is that when he returns at his second
coming, many Believers will have gone through such a difficult
trial in the end times that their faith will be shaken.
Really interesting link there. We'll leave it there for today.
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