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The purpose of Jesus' parable is clearly stated in the first sentence of this passage: the need to pray always. No matter how grim our circumstances, we should never give up praying.
Whether we have prayed once, twice, or countless times, and even if we find ourselves disheartened, we need an attitude of persistence, girded by obedience, to pray again and again.The woman in this parable had three major liabilities that hindered her from obtaining justice. First, she was poor and could not afford to pay a bribe to the corrupt judge. Second, she was a woman. Women in first-century Palestine were second-class citizens, little better off than slaves, and had no power, authority, or influence. Third, she was a widow. In legal or public matters, a married woman’s husband would have to speak for her; a widow could not act as her own advocate.
Blinded by his corruption, the judge was cold and calculating and refused to recognize the woman’s plight. In view of her predicament, it would be…
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When the good remain silent in the midst of injustice and evil, and the society and the world drift into an age that can only be described as “post-Christian” or worse, we must have great hope in prayer, and persistent prayer, in the face of sheer walls of blind and sometimes vicious opposition. God is still here, in the midst of us, holding us up in all of our troubles, and He will answer our prayers, but sometimes not when or how we think He should. This is why I think Jesus’ closing words were what they were. Because there is but little faith, and it is our vocation as Christians, in the midst of our lives—whatever we do—to help nourish our own faith, and the faith of our neighbors, so that we can be open to the Holy Spirit, and be a voice for God, who speaks sometimes so quietly that our over-stimulated society cannot make out what He’s saying anymore.