Back in the summer of 1994, I worked as a park supervisor through the Indiana County Youth Employment Program. It was the cushiest job in the world. I got paid to play basketball, kickball, softball, and pitch horseshoes with kids all day. My only real responsibilities were to make sure that the equipment was put away and to break up an occasion fight. The one downside to the job was that it required going to school one day a week. I got paid to go, but it was still school. It was a “career preparation” class that met every Monday and we learned how to fill out job applications, write resumes, and develop interview skills.
During that class, our instructor Mr. Iandorio, gave us a piece of advice that has helped me get a lot of jobs over the years. He told us, “When it comes to getting the job you want, persistence pays off!”
A few years later when I got to college, I wanted to get a job at the Solhiem Center because I loved sports and knew that this was where all of the Chicago Bulls’ opponents practiced before each game. I figured that I could most likely score some free Bulls tickets if I worked there.
So, I marched right into the gym and asked for an application. The girl at the desk told me that they weren’t hiring right now. I was undaunted by this and asked to see the manager. The girl rolled her eyes as she phoned the office in the back. A few minutes later, the manger came out and greeted me. I introduced myself and described my athletic background and asked him for a job directly. He said, “Jason, you seem like a fine young man, but we already have a full staff. We’ll keep your application on file and if something comes available, we’ll give you a call.” Politely but boldly, I said, “Sir, I desperately need a job and I really want to work here!” He sighed and said, “I am really sorry, but we just don’t have any jobs right now. You’ll find a good job somewhere else.”
At that moment, I thought about walking away, but the words of my career instructor entered my mind. So, I tried again saying, “Mr. Demoss, with all due respect, you don’t understand…I don’t want to work anywhere else. I want to work for you right here. Please give me a shot. I’ll do anything; I won’t let you down!” At that moment, he cracked a smile and began shaking his head and said, “Can you start on Monday?” That was the day I learned: persistence pays off!
This is precisely the point that Jesus was making to his disciples about prayer! He had just finished telling them about the consummation of the kingdom of God that would take place at his second coming. But this begged the question of what his disciples should be doing between Jesus’ first coming and his second coming. He wanted them to keep the faith by being persistent in prayer. He wanted them to know that persistence in prayer pays off! So he tells them a parable about an unjust judge and a persistent widow!
The Unjust Judge (2)
First, Jesus introduces the unjust judge. He lists his judicial credentials as neither fearing God nor respecting people, two qualities that are absolutely essential for the proper administration of justice. This guy was corrupt to the core! He had less integrity than Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump combined, and that is really saying something. This judge ignored the plight of the oppressed and turned a blind eye toward those who had been treated unfairly. He was an absolute disgrace to the justice system!
The Persistent Widow (3)
Second, Jesus introduces the persistent widow. We don’t know how old she was or how long she had been a widow, but we do know that as a widow, she was at a serious societal disadvantage. In the ancient world, widows had an extremely low social standing and often did not have means to take care of even their basic necessities. They were often the victims of injustice, which is exactly the case with this particular widow. Again, we don’t know the precise nature of the injustice she experienced, but we do know that she had some adversary who was taking advantage of her. The issue probably centered around money or property. But what this woman lacked in position and prestige, she more than made up for with her persistence. Somewhere along the line, she learned the principle persistence pays off.
The Power of Persistence (4-5)
The persistent widow took her plea before the unjust judge day after day. She relentlessly pursued the judge and repeated the phrase, “Grant me justice against my adversary!” For some time, the judge tried to ignore her; then he tried to overlook her; then he tried to disregard her; then he tried to snub her! But nothing worked! She was complexly undaunted by the judge’s rejections! Eventually, even the judge realized that this widow was never going to give up until she received justice.
The unjust judge was a pragmatic man and he finally reckoned that it would be better for him if he just gave the widow what she wanted. This would actually take less time and energy than withholding justice from her. He figured to himself, “I’ll give her what she wants to get her off my back.” A more precise translation of this Greek phase is “so she doesn’t give me a black eye.” He was literally afraid of being hand-bagged by a wounded widow! (I certainly don’t blame him. I have met some pretty feisty widows with big hand bags in my day too!) Anyway, both the judge and the widow learned the power of persistence—that persistence pays off!
Have you learned that lesson yet? If we keep asking for something long enough, sometimes we can get what we want, even if people do not really want to give it to us. Eventually they realize that it will cost them less to give in than it will to put up with our persistent pleading. Children master this strategy at an early age, because often their stubbornness is the only resource they have.
Or consider the strange case of the rancher from Powder Bluff, Colorado, who was asked if he wanted to resubscribe to National Geographic. The computer handling the magazine’s mailing list malfunctioned and generated 9,734 separate renewal notices! The rancher couldn’t resist: he traveled ten miles to the nearest post office and sent in a check to renew his subscription, along with a note that read, “I give up! Send me your magazine!” (Ryken 247)
Persistence in Prayer Pays Off (6-8)
Once Jesus finishes his parable and makes the point that persistence pays off, he immediately applies this principle to prayer. He tells his disciples to listen to what the unjust judge says. If an unjust judge grants justice through persistent pleas, how much more will a just and benevolent God bring about justice for his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night? Will he continue to put them off? No, God will indeed grant them justice. But the question remains, when Jesus returns his all of his glory, will he find such faith on earth? Will he find such persistence in prayer?
I suspect that every single one of us sitting here today has experienced feelings of frustration about prayer. We have either felt like God has not heard our prayer or that he doesn’t have our best interest in mind because he did not answer a prayer the way we wanted him to or expected him to. Some of us have been praying for the same thing for a long time, perhaps even many years. Some of us have been praying for a loved one to put their faith in Jesus, to overcome an addiction, to get out of a bad situation, to get the right job, to be healed from a disease, to be delivered from chronic pain, and nothing seems to have changed!
But whatever you do, don’t ever give up! Keep on praying! Keep on crying out to God day and night! Be like the persistent widow! Keep going back to God day after day after day. Don’t become daunted or disillusioned! Hang in there! Endure! Be persistent in prayer because persistence in prayer pays off!
Allow me to share a story with you about how persistence in prayer pays off. It is one of my favorite stories from church history. St. Monica was a great woman of God. Though her husband was a pagan, Monica prayed that her family might eventually all come to Christ. She attempted to bring her children up in the ways of the Lord, and it pained her to see them stray from the truth she had taught them. Her most promising son was given an excellent education, and Monica hoped this might be a means of his more fully reaching God.
But he ignored his mother’s warnings against youthful lusts and pursued a life of self-gratification and immorality while continuing his education. He lived with a woman not his wife and fathered a child out of wedlock. Monica didn’t have the words to convince her son of the truth of Christianity, but she determined never to stop praying that he would turn to God.
As her son grew older it seemed like he ran further and further away from God. He became very successful in his career, experimented with a number of religions, and continued living a life of wild immorality by sleeping with numerous women. At one point to mock Christianity, he even prayed, “God grant me chastity, but not yet!” He flat out rejected Christianity! But God was not confounded by his rejection!
Just when his mother thought that her son had sunk to the very depths of debauchery, he joined a religious cult and fell even further away from his Christian heritage. Although Monica often found herself on the edge of despair when she thought about her wayward son, she prayed for his soul every single day, typically with tears streaming down her face. She beseeched the Lord to bring her prodigal to his senses and deliver him from the mud and mire.
During this anguished period of prayer for her son, Monica consulted her pastor, who had himself had lived a life of decadence before he became a Christian. He declined to intervene because he observed that the young man was not open to hearing the truth. She persisted tearfully, but he refused to intervene. Nevertheless, the wise pastor consoled Monica that “the child of those tears shall never perish”, which she took as a sign from God and she constantly prayed for her son over the next nine years.
Sometime later, Monica’s son moved to a new town where he met the pastor at the local church. He was impressed by the pastor’s wisdom and compassion and the two of them started meeting together. And at age 32 the young man finally became a Christian and later one of the world’s most influential pastors and theologians of all time. The boy’s name is Augustine. We know him today as St. Augustine of Hippo who lived 1500 years ago.
In this case it took nine long years, but persistence in prayer pays off.
In a large gathering of persons concerned about certain unfair and oppressive conditions in our society, an elderly black minister read this parable and gave a one-sentence interpretation: “Until you have stood for years knocking at a locked door, your knuckles bleeding, you don’t really know what prayer is.”
Do you know what prayer is?