Power of the Prayer Parables
A persistent widow and a humble tax collector walk into two of Jesus' most pointed parables about prayer. What He taught through both still challenges how we approach God today.
The Persistent Widow parable in Luke 18:1-8
Then Jesus used this story to teach his followers that they should always pray and never lose hope. “In a certain town there was a judge who did not respect God or care about people. In that same town there was a widow who kept coming to this judge, saying, ‘Give me my rights against my enemy.’ For a while the judge refused to help her. But afterwards, he thought to himself, ‘Even though I don’t respect God or care about people, I will see that she gets her rights. Otherwise, she will continue to bother me until I am worn out.’”
The Lord said, “Listen to what the unfair judge said. God will always give what is right to his people who cry to him night and day, and he will not be slow to answer them. I tell you, God will help his people quickly. But when the Son of Man comes again, will he find those on earth who believe in him?”
This is one of two parables that Jesus taught about prayer. In this parable, Jesus talked about a widow who came to a judge persistently asking him for justice. She asked him repeatedly for help so she might be delivered from the inhumane treatment by an unnamed adversary. He was unmoved by her unfair treatment but the regularity with which she came before him prompted him to act. We can learn how we should pray by her example. We do not always pray like we should and when we do not get a response from God, we stop.
However, this parable teaches us that we should not stop asking God for what we need. We can keep bringing our needs to Him and not lose hope. God is good, fair, and eager to help, unlike the selfish judge in the story. Even when answers take time, persistence on our part shows true and lasting faith – we need to stay persistent during hard times and keep our focus on God.
The other prayer parable is known as the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14). In this parable Jesus offers hope and encouragement to His people to pray and shows true prayer requires humble honesty before God rather than pride or self-praise. In the parable, Jesus teaches that a humble heart asking for mercy wins God's favor over a boastful attitude.
The Pharisee and Tax Collector parable in Luke 18:9-14
Jesus told this story to some people who thought they were very good and looked down on everyone else: “A Pharisee and a tax collector both went to the Temple to pray. The Pharisee stood alone and prayed, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people who steal, cheat, or take part in adultery, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I give one-tenth of everything I get!’
“The tax collector, standing at a distance, would not even look up to heaven. But he beat on his chest because he was so sad. He said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ I tell you, when this man went home, he was right with God, but the Pharisee was not. All who make themselves great will be made humble, but all who make themselves humble will be made great.”
The Pharisee prayed a prideful prayer by thanking God that he was not like the tax collector. His prayer was evil and consisted of boasting in his own goodness and in his own self-righteousness. His prayer had no elements of humble confession of sin to God. On the other hand, the tax collector stood before God and prayed a confession of unworthiness. He humbly confessed he was a sinner. Jesus reminds His hearers that it is the spirit of self-humiliation and repentance that is acceptable to God. It is the tax collector who was made right with God. If we have truly repented over our sin, we can be assured of God’s boundless love and forgiveness in Christ.
Conclusion
Jesus reminds people not to give up in asking God for what they need in prayer, even though God does not always respond to prayer in the way we would like because He knows what we need more than we do in His perfect timing.
Ephesians 6:18 is a great verse as a reminder to prayer:
“Pray in the Spirit at all times with all kinds of prayers, asking for everything you need. To do this you must always be ready and never give up. Always pray for all God’s people.”