Our gospel reading today is about Perseverance in prayer.

Is this a nice way of saying, we should 'Nag God?'

Jesus tells the parable about the persistent widow, who finally got justice out of a bad judge, not because she deserved it (although she did!) because she never gave up and kept nagging him relentlessly. He finally gave her what she needed and did the right thing to shut her up.

Jesus tells us this parable has a specific purpose: to teach us to pray always and not lose heart. That phrase "lose heart" is worth sitting with. It suggests Jesus knows something about us, that we grow weary, that prayers can feel unanswered, that faith sometimes feels like shouting into the void.

The widow in the story is persistent to the point of being a nuisance. She wears down an unjust judge who cares nothing for God or people, simply through sheer determination. If even a corrupt judge will grant justice to stop being pestered, Jesus asks, how much more will our loving God respond to our persistent prayers?

Yet this isn't really about nagging God into submission. It's about the formation that happens in us when we refuse to give up. Persistent prayer isn't changing God's mind, it's changing our hearts, deepening our trust, keeping us tethered to hope when circumstances suggest despair. We live in an instant-gratification world where unanswered prayers can feel like rejection. But having to wait, isn't the same as being ignored! Persistent prayer is about the fact that often God's timeline is different from ours, and that faithfulness in the darkness is its own kind of seeing.

The parable ends with a haunting question: "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" It's not asking about correct beliefs or church attendance, but about this tenacious, refusing-to-quit faith that keeps praying even when the heavens seem silent.

Perhaps this week we might return to a prayer we've abandoned, a hope we've shelved, a situation where we've lost heart. Not because we're twisting God's arm, but because focusing on God and the Kingdom is what will keep us from sinking in the storms of life and persistent prayer is how we stay connected to the source of all hope, even, especially, when we cannot yet see the answer. Will he find that kind of faith in us?