In Luke 18 Jesus presents prayer in adversarial terms. The three players in the unfolding drama, are a poor widow, an unrighteous judge and an unnamed adversary. The word for adversary, ἀντίδικος (antidikos) was used in the ancient world in a precise way to describe someone who was bringing an accusation in court against another. In that regard the widow is seeking to defend herself in an undescribed struggle, the severity of which is indicated by her desperate approaches to the judge to find reprieve. In the human scenario Jesus concludes that it was the widow’s perseverance in petitioning the judge that resulted in her justification and Jesus is using the parable to reinforce his opening point that the disciples ‘should always pray and not give up’ (Luke 18:1 NIV).

In many ways, the short parable goes some way to answering the question, what really happens when we pray, and why our prayers do not always seem to be answered. In short, the world is not as it should be, and the will of God is frustrated on earth - it is a brute fact confirmed in perhaps the best known prayer of all time in which Jesus encourages his disciples to pray that God’s will would be done and his kingdom come. Implicit therefore in the teaching of Jesus is the revelation that there is opposition to the will of God and that God’s people are called to engage in the struggle of prayer to see God’s kingdom and his will established. Prayer is in that sense an appeal to God for the realities of Christ’s victory on the cross to be manifest on earth. Excitingly, the parable brings a reassurance that God will move to answer the cries of his ‘chosen ones’, and affirms the truth that answered prayer should be the norm. Jesus is it seems directly alluding to the importance of the priestly commission of the church to appeal to God over a broken world, albeit, it is a commission that the villain of the parable wants to derail.

The villain of the story is the accuser, and his target is the church. Unsurprisingly, the main form of his attack is to undermine the legitimacy and authority of the believer through accusation, Satan even means ‘accuser’ or ‘adversary’. Indeed, at its heart, the case for the prosecution is a simple one, to demonstrate that the believer does not have the right to pray or expect anything from God. Any lie will do in his attempt to obscure the truth that the church has been fully endowed with the authority and power to fulfil its intercessory role. It is a sobering thought that the day and night intercession of the church is matched by the endeavour of the adversary against the elect, who ‘accuses them before our God day and night’ (Revelation 12:10 NIV).

Additionally, whilst answered prayer should be the norm, Jesus’ final words of the parable, provide a twist of realism to the parable that acknowledges the severity of the challenge the church will find herself up against in the last days: ‘However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”’ It is a statement, at first sight, that seems to bear no correspondence to what Jesus has been talking about. However, on consideration it seems that Jesus is framing his statement in the context of end time realities described in apocalyptic books such as Daniel in which the enemy is presented as ‘waging war against the holy people and defeating them’ (Daniel 7:12 NIV). Agreed, it is an unpalatable thought but is suggestive of the need for the church to preserve in the face of difficulties and adverse circumstances when prayer does not seem to be changing them. The verse should not be a source of discouragement however, as Jesus is firmly announcing that if true gospel justice does not always arrive quickly, it will arrive ultimately. As per Matthew 24:13 it is the job of the believer to keep praying and stand firm until the end. The encouragement of the parable then is ultimately a reminder that we shouldn’t stop praying as the answer may come sooner than we think!