The Persistent Widow

Imagine it’s your first day of work at your new job. You get up early, get ready, head out the door, only to find your tire on your car is flat! In a desperate attempt to change it without getting dirty, you realize you can’t find your jack. Plan B. Call your neighbor and ask them if they’d be willing to take you to work, but you discover they are on vacation! So, you go another route; you call a friend across town and beg them to take you to work. The phone rings and rings, but…no answer! Finally, you call an acquaintance that you hope will be merciful to you and come pick you up. They agree, and you get your ride and show up with five minutes to spare.

In that scenario, the desperation drives you to do something you normally wouldn’t do: humble yourself and ask for help. Perhaps that scene is more real to you than you’d like to admit. When we are in a serious pinch, we tend to become bolder or more courageous.

As Jesus is describing the nature of God’s kingdom to His followers and the Pharisees, He shares the story of the Persistent Widow. It’s a story of a woman, all alone, needing something she can’t provide on her own. And Jesus reveals that it was her persistence that paid off.

In comparison, the Pharisees did not feel they were in a desperate situation. As far as they were concerned, they were a perfect example for the people. Just read Matthew 23:1-7 or verse 15, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.” Even Paul had considered himself to be a higher caliber of person before coming to Christ – Philippians 3:4-6.

Satan constantly points us in different directions to chase after things that make us feel secure, but ultimately, they are “meaningless!”, like the author of Ecclesiastes says. False security tends to kill perseverance. Perseverance is the fruit of hope as Paul writes in Romans 5:2-6, “…we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

God’s kingdom isn’t like the kingdoms of this world. Therefore, we find security in His power to make all things right in the end. That’s what the souls under the altar learned when the slaughtered lamb opened the Fifth Seal in Revelations 6:9-11. They learned they would need to wait on the Lord’s justice to avenge the wrongs they had faced. We have to do the same thing – be patient, trusting, “never give up in doing good” (Galatians 6:9).