Question for Christians

[Treasure Hunter]

Luke 18:1-8

Bible Gateway passage: Luke 18 - New International Version

The Parable of the Persistent Widow - Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him...

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In the Parable of the Persistent Widow, there is a judge who does not fear God and does not care what people think. We can think of the judge as apathetic to some degree.

Moreover, this judge has a bit of a thorn in the side which is the persistent widow seeking justice. This can be interpreted as a constant, underlying, restless feeling of dissatisfaction. That there is something wrong which needs correcting. The story says that the judge feels compelled to act or something bad might happen.

I’m wondering how many of the Christians here can relate to this feeling. Thanks.

 

[Treasure Hunter]

This thorn in the side — the anxious feeling that I need to be doing something more — is quite clearly socially conditioned and enforced. The reason why the description, “doesn’t care what other people think” is included is so we see beyond the socially conditioned aspect.

The judge in the story is like a sheep separated from the flock. The realization is that the nagging feeling is deeper than mere social construction. Someone mentioned conscience before and I think it’s spot on. But, again, it’s beyond the social conscience. The point is to recognize the conscience beyond the social conscience and to realize that the social conscience is a barrier to this conscience beyond.

Whether or not we should follow this second conscience is skipping too far ahead. It’s useful to first understand that if I feel stuck or disappointed with life, there is another option available to me, if I’m willing to turn in and dig a bit deeper into myself.

This second conscience beyond the (original) social conscience Jesus associates with a persistent widow desiring justice.