Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? To further explain to his disciples the necessity of praying without getting weary, Jesus uses the parable of the
unscrupulous judge and the importunate widow(as the New Jerusalem Bible sub-titles it). While we can sometimes fall into the trap of pitting the uncaring demeanor of the judge against is mistreatment of the widow, we should remember that the point Jesus wanted to make was the widow’s persistence. The widow knew her ‘rights.’ She also knew that the judge’s refusal to render her justice in the several previous occasions did not take away the fact that he was the (only) one who could settle the case. She remained resilient in her fight. And as Jesus later comments (
when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?), hers was not simply persistence. Hers was persistence emboldened by faith. She had faith that justice would eventually prevail. And it did.
Jesus uses the parable to remind his disciples that while persistence is necessary when praying, it must be done in faith. For if done without faith, one can get weary and give up. It is the faith one has in the one to whom he/she prays that emboldens him/her to persist. For such an individual, persistence in prayer becomes an expression of faith, for ‘God does secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him.’