Luke 18.1-14
Sunday 19 October 2025
©Suzanne Grimmett
Today we have a rare occurrence in Jesus’ recorded storytelling where we are offered the purpose of the parable before it begins. Luke tells us it is a story offered to the disciples about ‘their need to pray always and not to lose heart. ‘
The immediate question therefore comes to mind, “Why would they need to be reminded just then, not to lose heart?” Unfortunately, we are always a bit at the mercy of the lectionary here in how these passages are divided up. Unlike other parts of the church, our Australian Lectionary also gives us today not only the persistent widow but also the story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. What we don’t get is the context for what came before- why is Jesus needing to tell them a story about persistent prayer and not losing heart?
We might be even more confused if we read the sentence that immediately precedes this story.
Jesus said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
This is a saying that we might associate in colloquial terms with moments where people flock to a source of profit or opportunity often taking advantage of the powerless. But what was Jesus meaning?
This is less clear as scholars have debated for centuries and there is even doubt about the translations; whether Jesus meant vultures or eagles, for instance. The saying appears after Jesus had been talking about the coming of the Son of Man; of a time when people will go on eating and drinking, oblivious to the inbreaking reign of God and to that approaching time when the end will come, whether that be the end of all things in apocalyptic terms or in the taking of our last breath on earth. The setting for this parable is our place of struggle in this in-between time where the kingdom has not yet come to the full revelation of God in human history …and there is so much we do not understand. Jesus points to God’s reign also already being within us and amongst us- wherever the hungry are fed, the sick healed and the good news proclaimed to the poor. This is not an either /or- God’s kingdom is coming and is already here.
But what of vultures and corpses and why does Jesus follow this message about the coming reign of God with a story about an unjust judge and annoying widow?
Jesus seems to be describing times where it will seem like God’s reign is far off and the temptation to despair is great. Perhaps the reference to vultures flocking around a corpse may be about those who deal in death, taking advantage of the vulnerable or exposed and rushing with others to grab what they can.
But what about the story that follows? In any saying or parable it can be revealing to ask, “Who has the power here?” We are so habituated to thinking about God as an all-powerful being that even though Jesus makes it clear that the judge character is not God, we still tend to read it that way. We imagine our prayers hammering on the door of the Almighty, as if hoping to manipulate God’s response through our persistence. Most of us have also been in that heartrending place in our lives when our prayers seem to go unanswered. Such a poor reading of this parable where God is cast as the silent authoritarian judge could risk leaving us feeling like we have not prayed persistently enough, or that our faith was inadequate.
We keep thinking in these ways even though throughout scripture we find God not all-powerful but always identifying with the vulnerable, the oppressed, the downtrodden and the humble. The story begins, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people.” Far from representing God, this judge is not even a decent human being. The story also has a bit of the farcical about it, as we hear clearly in Kimberly Long’s paraphrase;
A woman pounds and pounds on the door of a rotten politician who could not care less about her plight, until finally he sticks his head out the window and shouts, “All right, already! Knock it off! I will give you whatever you want if you will just shut up!”[1]
Perhaps Jesus’ audience were all too familiar with such characters. The rulers and judges who will ignore the plight of the needy and take whatever they can for themselves were as familiar as those whom society is leaving behind, continually battering on the doors of power, noisily demanding justice for themselves and their people. Those gathered there would have seen and perhaps known first-hand the ways the powerful neglect the plight of the poor and religious authorities refuse mercy to the little ones. Perhaps as Jesus talks about the coming reign of God, listening hearts would start to beat faster as they are reminded of a God who sees them and will not stop crying out on their behalf. God’s faithful and persistent demands for justice and the divine allegiance is present with all those who have been oppressed, forgotten or preyed upon.
We might begin to sense the connection between the swarms of vultures gathering around a corpse and all those who are unthinkingly enjoying privileges in this world, swarming around, taking what they can for themselves. Jesus is saying prayer is like- and even saying God is like- that persistent widow who refuses to accept injustice and the careless apathy and evil neglect of the powerful. Once again, God’s voice and presence is seen and heard from the margins. The humble know what the proud and entitled can never understand. Tax collectors go home justified and free, but Pharisees are blinded and trapped by their confidence in their own righteousness.
Faithful persistent prayer is consistent with the ways of the faithful, covenanting God revealed throughout scripture. It is a way of proclaiming and making real the reign of God on earth. It is what hope looks and sounds like in the midst of struggle or even despair. We pray despite sadness and grief, and in the face of apparent defeat and even death itself because our prayers align us with the presence, being and action of God in the world. Jesus did not seem to differentiate between his life of prayer and action. His teaching was so often revealed in what he did as much as what he said. In the same way, when we pray for the coming of the kingdom, we are called to align our lives with this prayer. It is what we will be celebrating today in the ministry expo- that our prayers are not just words but also have skin on them. God’s kingdom is known and draws close as we persist in praying and working for justice and peace, loving one another and denying the compulsions of a self-interested and self-aggrandizing age to gather as community before God in worship.
There is so much we do not understand, and so much that is wrong in the world. Yet we are resurrection people.
The reign of God is here within and amongst us…is in the process of becoming through our lives and by our prayers….and is yet to be in its fullness.
And so, filled with the Spirit, longing for the kingdom to come, we join with the risen Jesus in crying out and pounding the door.
+Amen
[1] Bartlett, David L.; Taylor, Barbara Brown. Feasting on the Word— Year C, Volume 4: Season after Pentecost 2 (Propers 17-Reign of Christ) (Feasting on the Word: Year C) (p. 497). (Function). Kindle Edition.