This essay first appeared in our weekly Scripture reflection newsletter on October 18, 2025.
Ex 17: 8-13; 2 Tim 3:14-4:2; Lk 18:1-8
You can find the readings for the 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time here.
Understanding context always helps us to better understand a Gospel passage.
This Sunday’s reading—often called the “The Parable of Widow and the Unjust Judge” or “The Parable of the Persistent Widow”—focuses on prayer. But it’s helpful to know that this is one of two parables that Jesus offers to his disciples in this section of Luke, as he moves to his final journey to Jerusalem. Immediately following this comes “The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican,” in which the humble tax collector is contrasted to the proud Pharisee. (Just a warning to avoid stereotyping all the Pharisees. After all, there are plenty of proud religious leaders in the Catholic Church today!)
In this week’s parable, a widow badgers a judge to give her justice against an adversary. In a humorous comment, the judge decides to attend to her plea because he is worried that she will, in the translation we use at Mass, “strike me.” The Greek is much earthier: the word hypōpiazē means to strike under the eye. An alternate translation, then, would be, “I will give her a just decision, so she doesn’t give me a black eye!” Jesus then asks us to follow the example of the persistent widow.
Jesus’ comments about prayer can be challenging for many of us: What about people who have been praying for something that never happens?
A few caveats: At first blush, the judge seems to be a stand-in for God. Does God, then, mete out justice only when God is, in a sense, threatened? Does God answer prayers only in this kind of transactional way? Not at all. As Dennis Hamm, S.J., writes in the Paulist Biblical Commentary, “The point of the parable is a contrast, not a parallel.” Jesus is saying, in essence, if this unjust judge will answer someone’s plea, how much more will the all-loving God do so. Thus, Jesus’ emphasis on praying with persistence. (In the rabbinic tradition, this is an example of a qal wehomer, from the lighter to the heavier. If the unjust judge can be just, how much more will God be just.)
As another aside, this isn’t an exhortation to a ceaseless or even mystical prayer—a perfect state of mystical union isn’t required. Rather, it’s an encouragement to continue to pray even though it seems like your prayer may not seem “effective.”
Jesus’ comments about prayer can be challenging for many of us: What about people who have been praying for something that never happens? In another passage Jesus says, bluntly, “Ask and you shall receive” (Mt 7:7-8). Yet many of us have asked and have seemingly not received. And many of us have been, like the widow, persistent in our prayer. When my father was diagnosed with the lung cancer that would eventually kill him, I prayed for him to be healed. He wasn’t.
Even if things are not going our way, and we feel disappointed or angry at God, God still wants to be in relationship with us.
Now, some might say that what Jesus meant by that passage in Matthew was that the gift of the Holy Spirit would be given to all who ask. But we must admit that sometimes we do not get exactly what we ask for in prayer, even if we are, like the widow, persistent. The point of today’s parable, however, is that Jesus is asking us to be persistent even if our prayers don’t seem to be answered as we would like. And note that even when she is not given justice, the widow still believes the judge can give it to her.
For me, it is all about the relationship between human beings and God. Even if things are not going our way, and we feel disappointed or angry at God, God still wants to be in relationship with us.
But in the end, we know that God’s justice and mercy are firm. We may not be able to see or understand the answers to our prayers here on earth, but in time we will. The key is to continue to be in relationship with a God whom we sometimes don’t understand. And as for prayer, keep at it.
