Will Jesus find in us a faith for justice? The widow had an adversary who was trying to take advantage of her, maybe a man trying to cheat her out of her money or land. In a context of injustice against women, she faced a difficult judge. As a widow, since the words widow and poor were almost synonymous, she would have had no money to bribe this wicked judge. Her only recourse therefore was to insist on the justice due to her. In verse 5, the judge admitted that she bothered him. Overall, we must note that she did not sit back complaining about how bad things are in her country, about injustices such as the oppression of widows.

Rather, she got up and confronted the powers that be—capable of bringing about the desired justice. Although we are not told how her adversary was oppressing her, we are told that his oppression was unjust. Above all, we see her active faith in the justice that must come.

When Jesus comes to bring his justice, will he find us similarly living out a faith that does justice? Jesus does not say “if the Son of Man Comes” but says “When the Son of Man Comes.” In other words, Jesus definitely desires to come and bring the justice that he has promised.

The concern is not whether he will fulfill his promises, but rather whether we will be found faithful to the principles of justice when he comes. Not the Lord’s faithfulness but rather our own!

How much fire is there in us to make things better? It is easy to sink into discouragement and depression in the face of so many difficulties around us.

The persistent widow had every reason in the world to give up. Even the best among us is prone to such discouragement! From a psychologist’s perspective, you do not wake up one morning and suddenly find yourself in depression? The beginning and the process that lead to chronic discouragement or depression are very subtle. You often hear some of our own say things like “What difference does it make if I…?” “Things have gone too bad!” Such attitude would not have taken that widow anywhere. We need to move beyond our dissatisfaction with our history, our distaste for our present and, the worst of all, our distrust of the future. We must rather focus on gratitude for the blessings of yesterday, embracing the opportunities of today and rejoicing in the possibilities of tomorrow. If God is truly the object of our faith, then we must be confident that He will lead us on.