The text of a sermon preached at St Bartholomew’s Church, Warleggan and at St Neot, Cornwall on Sunday 19th October 2025
Today’s readings were, Jeremiah 3127-34 2 Timothy 314-45 Luke 181-8
Why did Jesus use parables when he was teaching the crowds who came to hear him?
Right now you’re probably thinking something like, He told colourful stories to teach us about the kingdom of God, or To reveal what God wants us to do and to be.
But if that’s all he’s doing, why doesn’t he just tell us? Why doesn’t he say something like, The kingdom of God is like a place where everybody just gets on with each other, where everybody is supported and cared for by everybody else, where no one cheats, or lies, or hurts other people; be the sort of people who can make that happen, but he doesn’t; he tells us about a good Samaritan, or a prodigal son, or about the wise and foolish bridesmaids, or about sheep and goats, or, as this morning, about a corrupt judge and a persistent widow.
There’s more to parables than telling us about the kingdom or about God. There are clues in the gospels to tell us why Jesus uses parables and we find one in Luke’s gospel when Jesus’ disciples ask him what the parable of the sower means, and he replies,
To you is granted to understand the secrets of the kingdom of God; for the rest it remains in parables, so that
they may look but not perceive,
listen but not understand.
So parables are used both to reveal and to hide the truth. Reveal it to those who are ready to hear but to hide it from those who are not.
We might say that the truth of Jesus’ teaching is revealed only to those who are prepared to reflect upon what he says, to mull it over, to think deeply about it.
Now, it has to be admitted that some parables are easier to understand than others – the good Samaritan and the prodigal son are pretty straightforward for us to make sense of, but others are much trickier.
Today’s parable falls into that second category. It’s not immediately obvious what the truth is that is being revealed.
At a first reading it seems as if Jesus is telling us that it is by pestering God in prayer that we get the response we want. But a moments thought tells us that this cannot be right. God cannot be badgered into doing what we want. Prayer surely doesn’t change God – it changes us!
So we must look a little closer and think again and we see other themes, some of which we can easily relate to.
The widow has clearly been cheated. We don’t know how. Perhaps she has been swindled in the market place, or a workman has failed to do the work that he promised and she paid for, perhaps a neighbour has borrowed a precious possession and now refuses to return it. Maybe an official has been exploiting her for his own gain. We don’t know and it doesn’t matter – she has clearly been wronged and it seems quite likely that someone with power has taken advantage of her vulnerable status as a widow. And now the judge is adding wrong to wrong. However, her persistence pays off and justice is granted.
So we have a story with a satisfactory ending, but what does it teach us about God and about the kingdom?
In the character of the judge we can surely detect a warning about what is not acceptable to God. His actions remind us that there are people who exploit the vulnerable and the needy. They use their power and authority for their own advantage and not for the good of the society In which they live. His actions remind us that there are many vulnerable people who can easily be taken advantage of and that those people deserve justice, support and care – no less true today than in the time of Jesus.
It reminds us that God is on the side of the weak and powerless. He sides with the poor. This message is reinforced time and again in Luke’s gospel.
In the parable of the prodigal son we can see, in the father, God with his readiness to forgive; we can see ourselves in the brother with his bitterness and jealousy. The lesson here seems clear. These associations that we make help us to get inside the story and make sense of it.
In today’s parable, though, we cannot see God in either of the characters in the same way. He cannot be seen in the actions of the judge – God does not act so unjustly, nor does he withhold or delay justice in this callous fashion. So we have to conclude that this parable teaches us little about God or the kingdom. It seems more a case of teaching us what the kingdom is NOT like rather than what it is like. So we must look elsewhere.
Neither can we very fruitfully put ourselves into the story. Doing so might give us some insight into how the judge and the widow experience the story but it’s not gong to provide a key to unlock the message for us.
In the previous chapter Jesus has been warning his disciples what the Day of the Lord will be like.
He’s warned his disciples not to be fooled by false alarms about the end. It will come at an unexpected moment, some will be taken, others left; it will be awful and sudden. Therefore they need to be in a continual state of readiness for it.
This is the context in which he delivers this parable and Luke helps us to unpack its meaning by his introduction to it,
Then he told them a parable about the need to pray continually and never lose heart.
The widow is commended to us because of her persistence. She goes back to the judge again and again until he gives in and grants her the justice she deserves – even if it is not done out of the noblest of motives. He does it because he fears that she will wear him out with her persistence (although that phrase could mean that she might slap him in the face – the widow becomes, for the judge, a formidable and even terrifying adversary!)
Her persistence reveals the same attitude that we need to prayer. Not because God needs persuading, but because we need not to lose sight of our final goal. The woman is entirely focussed on getting justice and so persists. We should be entirely focussed on our place in the kingdom, and our readiness for the Day of the Lord. The way to do that is through prayer – by continually putting ourselves in God’s presence, not because of what that does to God, but because of what it will do to us. And what it should do to us is to drive us to action. Prayer can never be a passive exercise.
That constant prayer will ensure that we are always ready for the Day of the Lord. It will ensure that our focus, our attention is in the right place – on God and on responding to his love by the way we live and interact with those among whom we live.
Because this is not just about being reflective and prayerful – this is about God’s justice and our response to injustice in the world. It is about being empowered by our prayer and making the kingdom present. Because our prayer means nothing if it changes nothing. It is about whether we stand with and for God – and especially with the weak and vulnerable – or with the world
This parable is a challenge to us to pray continually and to make God and his kingdom present in the world today.
exultemus 