Preaching Paths 19 October 2025 Proper 24C

Sally A Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary

This week’s gospel text, Luke 18:1-8, presents us with another parable unique to Luke. The parable sets in juxtaposition two readily recognizable “stock” characters of the time—a mistreated widow who seeks justice and a self-absorbed judge who has no regard either for God or human beings. The parable is unusual, in that its message relies on semantic dynamics of both similitude and contrast.

Luke provides his readers with a hermeneutical preamble to the parable (18:1), presumably because it might quite easily be misunderstood. Jesus intends for us to identify positively with the persistence of a defrauded widow who tirelessly demands justice from an indifferent judge. Like her, we need to persist in our prayers and “not…lose heart.” Yet, when we consider the character of the judge, on one hand, and the character of God, on the other, this is a parable of contrast (vv 7-8). The widow persists because she is dealing with a judge well known for his heartless indifference. Our persistence in prayer is rooted in confidence that we petition a God ready to hear and respond to our concerns. Sermons on this parable need to turn a spotlight on this dual dynamic of similitude and contrast, lest listeners conclude that we have to persist in prayer because God is bored, distracted, and indifferent.  

Perhaps the greatest challenge preachers face in preaching this week’s gospel text is less about the text itself, and more about the faces looking back at us from the pews—the faces of faithful Christians we know well, who have prayed with all their hearts for divine intervention that did not come. The longed-for pregnancy never happened. The cancer grew and spread and took a beloved one’s life. Long-sought employment has still not materialized. A miscarriage of justice has left someone impoverished and maligned. Silent questions fill the sanctuary: “If God is so ready to listen and to respond, what is wrong with my prayers?” “Does God care?” The parable answers the latter question in the affirmative; but it indicates that change may not come on our timetable.

It is important to understand this parable in its literary and theological context. Jesus tells it as he advances toward the crisis he knows will unfold in Jerusalem. His disciples expect the reign of God to be established in the holy city; Jesus knows he will die there. In recent chapters, Jesus has been persistently redirecting his followers’ expectations to a more distant, eschatological horizon, using eschatologically-themed parables and imagery. Jesus’ question following today’s parable—“When the son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (18:8b)—indicates that this parable, like others in Luke, aligns with that horizon-stretching trajectory. This parable challenges us to pray for the coming reordering of the world that Mary lauds in her Magnificat (Lk 1:46-55).

Mary sings a world where abusive powers have lost their grip, the hungry are filled, the lowly experience justice, and broken hearts are made whole. Our prayers, too—whether they are sighs of distress or songs of gratitude—reach toward that horizon where God’s will shall be done on earth as in heaven. Prayer also expresses itself in action. Showing compassion, shielding the vulnerable, and pressing for justice, we embody our longing for that coming day when God shall make all things new.