On first reading, Jesus’ parable about the persistent widow and the unjust judge (Luke 18:1-8) seems to suggest that, if we don’t get what we initially want from God, then we ought to keep badgering the Almighty until we do. However, according to Luke, the reason Jesus told this story was not to turn us into nagging prayer pests. It was that we not “lose heart” if those prayers appear to go unanswered.

In the parable, we are never told exactly what this woman’s complaint was. But since she is a widow, it likely involved her deceased husband’s estate. Keep in mind that, under Jewish law, she cannot inherit a thing. The entire estate will go either to her sons or to her brothers-in-law. However, she was allowed to live off of it. That is, unless someone is trying to cheat her out of it, which is probably the case here. The fact that she is standing alone at the courthouse, crying out for justice, is a pretty good indicator that none of the men in her family are on her side.

Her primary obstacle to obtaining justice is a less-than-respectable judge, who simply refuses to hear her case. By his own admission, he fears neither God nor anyone else. Maybe he believes that makes him a better judge—more impartial and all of that—or maybe he has sat on the bench long enough to know that family matters like this are usually messy and complicated, and he’s just not in mood to deal with that right now.

Whatever the reason, he seems to take a great deal of pride in being impervious. God’s law does not bother him. Other people’s opinions do not bother him. However, eventually, this persistent widow does! In fact, that’s why he finally agrees to hear her case. In a word, she has become a bother.

So what does this parable say about God? Should we turn our daily prayers into temper tantrums until we get what we’re after? Should we keep bellyaching until God finally says, “Enough already, I give up”?

I don’t think so. Actually, I’m not sure this parable is as much about God as it is about us. The person Jesus seems to want us to notice in this story is not the judge; it is the widow. In particular, he wants us to notice how, even when she found herself all alone, she does not lose heart.

She knew what she wanted, and she knew who had the legal authority to give it to her. Whether he actually would give it to her was beyond her control. But she was willing to keep saying it—out loud, over and over again, whether she got it or not—because saying it was the surest way to remember what had been promised her.

Think of it this way: What would have been her alternative? Retreat home and crawl into bed with a box of Kleenex? Give up on the judicial system? Spend the rest of her days bitter and resentful?

She can’t do that; and she won’t do it. The reason she keeps going back to this courthouse is because it’s the only way to remain true to who she is. And maybe that’s why we keep praying—even when it sometimes seems as if no one up there is listening—because it’s the best way to keep in touch with our own hearts, and to remember what we have been promised as children of God!