Does nagging work with him?

"Listen", says Jesus, "to what the unjust judge says". Even without a sense of justice or any sense of compassion for the suffering of the widow, he was moved by her persistence. And here Jesus moves on to explain how this parables works. The point is not that God is like the unjust judge and we are like the widow; but rather how great the contrast is. If even a corrupt judge will eventually answer a nagging widow, how much more will God answer the cries of his special people? "Will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?" Of course!

God is no unjust judge. Unlike the judge he is concerned for his own justice and cares deeply for his people. To get anything out of the unjust judge, you have to nag so that it is more inconvenient NOT to answer. If this is so, then surely we can hope for a speedy delivery of justice from the just and caring judge.

Be careful here: I don't think what Jesus is saying is "nagging worked for the widow with the judge, so if we nag God he is more likely to answer our prayers." Rather, he is saying you don't need to badger this caring and just God, because he wants to answer you. And just as the judge is different from God, so our position is different from the widow's: she was a stranger to the judge, where we are God's precious children; she was only one, whereas we are many; while the judge cared for no-one, we have a God who is for us (see Romans 8:31-32 - if God is for us, who can be against us?); where she had to plead her own case, in Jesus we have an advocate who pleads for us; and whereas the asking of the widow annoyed the judge, in our asking things of him God delights.