Jesus always makes really hard things easy for us to understand when he uses parables to explain. This Gospel in Luke is no exception as we hear Jesus tell the people a parable with a simple but important message to ‘pray always and not to lose heart’.
The parable is of a widow who goes each day to ask a Judge to give her justice. We don’t know why she is looking for justice, we do not know who has treated her wrong either. We also do not know why the judge does not give her the answer she is seeking straight away. We hear how he eventually decides to give her justice so she will stop bothering him.
Jesus explains that when we turn to the Lord and pray we may know why we are asking for something, unlike in the parable, the Lord will also know why we are asking. We may however have to wait like the widow. There is a difference between what we might want and what we might need and the Lord will know what we need. And so it can help to remember Jesus’ advice to ‘pray always and not to lose heart’. We need to persist in our prayer and be patient.