Sustained prayer is so important that Jesus reinforces the lesson in Luke 18. In Luke 11 He drew His audience into the story, asking how a friend helps late at night. Ah, but what about an unfriendly person? Will such a person help?
And He told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to His elect, who cry to Him day and night? Will He delay long over them?” I tell you, He will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:1-8).
Here the situation is worse. The judge is no friend. He is mean, heartless and godless. He is everything a judge ought not to be. Since he has no concern for justice, the widow’s case looks hopeless.
But this helpless widow has a secret weapon: stubbornness. At every opportunity she is there, time and again, asserting her lawful rights. “She kept coming” repetitively, persistently. The judge is not interested in God or others, but he is interested in himself. He cannot stand this constant nagging. He mutters to himself, “Because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming” (Luke 18:4-5).
Here again is Jesus’ humor. The whole situation turns upside down! It begins with the widow as the helpless victim. It ends with the judge feeling victimized. The Greek text literally says, “Lest by continually coming she hit me under the eye”—a term taken from boxing. She is so persistent in coming back round after round that, metaphorically, he is developing a black eye. So he throws in the towel and gives her the justice she seeks!