The verse here is Luke 18; 1-5. [This is my reconstruction of the verse from consulting both the KJV Greek interlinear (BLB) and the Peshitta interlinear (Younan)*. I consider Luke 18 a continuation of Luke 17 where Jesus is addressing his students].
Luke 18; Verses 1-5: Jesus, speaking to his disciples, gave them a parable to aid them in understanding the need to pray constantly in order not to lose courage [in their faith]:
In a certain city there was a Judge, who did not fear God nor respect men. There was a widow in this city who came to the Judge demanding justice from an adversary. The Judge stalled for a long time in making a decision, but eventually he thought to himself, ‘Though I do not fear God and care not about the opinions of others, this widow troubles me. I will grant her request for justice so that she will not weary me with her repeated requests.”
As with the Parable of the Unjust Steward, we have a small story that seems difficult to interpret. We have a judge that, while being anti-social and atheistic, is not painted as corrupt. At the same time, he apparently decides to find in the favor of the widow, regardless of the merits of the case, because she harasses him. Other than seeing the “squeaky wheel” principle at work, the meaning here is rather obscure.
In verses 6-8, Luke adds an interpretation of the parable “as said by Jesus” that is obviously a later interpolation. It uses the image of a vengeful God, the idea of an “elect” and even the metaphoric attribution of “God” to the “Judge” – who fears not himself apparently and has no regard for men. This is Luke talking to a much later audience. What Luke presents is the idea that praying equates to faith; it gives one courage to continue under the burden of separation from God and from persecution of men. The tribulations of chosenness will be avenged swiftly whenever God gets to it. Finally, being steadfast in prayer will contribute to a world of the faithful whenever the Christ returns.
In evaluating the Parable of the Persistent Widow, at first we see only two actors involved. Recall that in the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard there is the vineyard, the master, the laborers and a paymaster. In the Parable of the unjust Steward there is the steward, the master, and those with debts. Here we see only the widow and the judge. Actually, the conscience of the Judge and the nature of prayer are independent actors as well. With this understanding the parable takes on a different meaning for all levels of interpretation.
For the religious:
The Judge is the individual who has turned his face from God. To neither fear God nor respect one’s fellow men is to stand outside of the covenant. But God has a responsibility to the individual, even one who is lost – as we know from story of the prodigal son. The widow stands in as the persistence of God’s calling; the terms for “troubles me” and “weary”, in verse 5, indicate an extreme and continual anxiety, a spiritual battering. In turning his conscience to the pleading of the widow, the Judge is troubled by her call for justice, for vindication. His willingness to “hear” this call is the pull back to right action, or right conscience. Prayer, as the continual renewal of the personal relationship to the Divine, would have safeguarded him against his fall away from God.
For the seeker:
The idea of prayer is no longer the petitioning of the external Deity to maintain a right relationship. It is instead the constant focus on inner reflection in order to connect with the Ground of Being. Here, the Judge is the self, blocked from the presence of the in-dwelling Divine, isolated. The widow is the Ground calling, desiring reunion, as a constant cry always present in the self. Conscience is the self hearing the Ground and then acting in concert with it. Here, continual prayer is the inward focused vigilance necessary to remain aware of the voice of God within oneself.
And in unity:
We are the Mind of God. Conscience equals consciousness.
That Jesus chose the widow as a main player here is central to the interpretation of the text. In the religious sense the widow is someone without standing in society; with no husband she has no one to defend her, to ensure her rights, and she is dependent on the welfare (right action) of others. In the seeker sense, the widow is one half of a relationship; one that has lost love and that yearns for what it once had. The Judge is truly the self-audit that is conscience; whether judgment of self, or of others, this is moral action however it is informed.
For any individual, whether religious, seeker or unity, “what is conscience” can be warped by negativity. Whether it is fear for the religious which turns one away from right relationship with God, or the despair of the seeker which shuts out the voice within, there is always a block to be negotiated in order to align positively with conscience. And, we must understand the word “positive” here as self-affirming action. When one does not manage negativity, conscience can lead to self-negating action, whether of the individual self or other selves. A negatively affected conscience will manifest as either the denial of the Law for the religious, or the corruption of right action into exclusion and intolerance for the seeker.
This leads to the question of: What is the mechanism of negativity that warps the conscience away from right action?
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
.
On The Path of the Adept 