Meditation on Luke 18:1-8
Reverend Dr. Karen Crawford
First Presbyterian Church of Smithtown
Oct. 19, 2025 (Baptism of Oliver Reinhardt)
Did anyone read Anne of Green Gables as a child? The story is by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery and is set in a farming village on Prince Edward Island in the late 19th century.
I read the book as a child and now I’m being charmed with the TV series streaming on Netflix. It’s called, Anne with an E.
Anne Shirley is 11. She has spent all but a few months of her life in an orphanage or sent to work as an unpaid servant, caring for large families, many of whom have treated her cruelly.
She has never known the love, safety, and sense of belonging of a family until she is sent
by “mistake,” to live with Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, two older siblings, neither of whom has been married or had any children.
Matthew and Marilla have requested a boy to help with the farm-related chores. When Anne shows up, the quiet, reserved Cuthberts don’t know quite what to make of the little red-haired girl who never stops talking and has a vivid imagination. To make things more difficult, Anne has been traumatized by her experiences. She has flashbacks, remembering the cruel punishments, and is terrified that she might, once again, do something to displease the people who have taken her in and be sent back to the orphanage.
The first night of her stay with the Cuthberts, Marilla takes her to room and helps her get ready for bed. She tells her to say her prayers and then is horrified when Anne announces matter-of-factly that she never says her prayers. Marilla asks, “Don’t you know who God is, Anne?”
The girl has memorized the catechism from church because she likes the sound of the old-fashioned words. She responds promptly, “God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.” But she has never been taught to pray or that she can have a relationship with God. Marilla is a private person and isn’t sure how to teach Anne to pray. She finally tells her to just thank God for her blessings and ask politely for the things that she wants. Anne obediently thanks God for the beautiful views of the countryside on the wagon ride from the train, then prays that she’ll be allowed to stay at Green Gables, and that God will make her good-looking someday. She ends her prayer like a letter with “I remain, Yours respectfully, ANNE SHIRLEY.” The next night, she prays alone without prompting, after an emotional day. She is growing in her relationship with God—learning who God is. She tells the Lord that it’s OK if she’s not good looking, but please let her stay with Matthew and Marilla. And she has learned to say, “Amen.”
Today, as we baptize little Oliver and make a promise to help the family nurture him in the faith, we are reminded of the importance of learning to pray and not just assuming that children know how or will learn without our modeling it for them. We are encouraged to pray the prayers we learn in church (such as the Lord’s Prayer) or have memorized as children, such as “God is great; God is good,” and “Now I lay me down to sleep.” But we are also encouraged to pray the prayers that spring forth from our daily life, using words that come from our own hearts and minds, and tap into true longings, such as Anne’s desire to be safe and secure, living in a home with a loving family.
Today, in our Luke reading, Jesus tells a parable to teach his disciples to pray always and not to lose heart. His example of praying with persistence is a widow, who would, along with the orphan, be among the most vulnerable people in their society. Widows play prominent roles in Bible passages in the OT and New. Ruth and Naomi come readily to mind from Ruth; they are widows without children and models of faithfulness. In the second chapter of Luke, a widow named Anna blesses Jesus in his infancy. She is described as “one who never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day.” In Luke 7, Jesus has compassion for a widow and raises her only son from the dead. Jesus will again hold up a widow as a faithful example in Luke 21 when he praises one who drops just two copper coins in the treasury—giving all that she had.
In Acts, we hear about the concern for widows in the daily distribution of food (Acts 6:1-6) and in Peter’s raising of Tabitha, also called Dorcas, in 9:39-41. She is “devoted to good works and acts of charity,” and is gifted at making clothes for other people. In 1 Timothy 5:3 and 5, we read, “Honor widows who are really widows…The real widow, left alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.” James in 1:27 says that caring for orphans and widows is “religion pure and undefiled by God.”
The widow in Luke 18 is a victim of some act of injustice. We don’t know the particulars, but she is bold and relentless in her demand for justice. She doesn’t appear to be afraid of the unjust judge, who neither fears God nor respects people. She keeps pressing him, until finally, just wanting to get rid of her, he gives in.
Here is a funny thing in this passage. The Greek of the unjust judge’s inner monologue isn’t really that he is afraid the widow will “wear him out,” as it says in our NRSV Bibles. The Greek literally says that he is afraid of “being punched under the eye.” The language of a “black eye” is a boxing metaphor that adds humor to Jesus’ story, just before he explains the meaning of the parable for his followers. This is it: God will render justice to God’s chosen ones, those who pray for it—crying out to him day and night. So don’t give up. Don’t lose heart.
Today’s passage ends with a lingering question. “And yet, when the Son of Man comes,” Christ asks, “will he find faith on earth?” Will we ever give up on prayer, crying out to God? May it never be so.
Anne’s story is one of hope and healing for the red-haired orphan and for Matthew and Marilla, who prayed for a farm hand, but instead, receive a devoted daughter. God knows what we need, dear friends, before we ask. The Lord beckons us to come to His Son, who says in Matthew 11, “Come to me, you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens. And I will give you rest.” And in Matthew 7:7-8, “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.”
To Ollie’s family, and to every family, I encourage you to pray with your children and grandchildren so that they can hear models of simple prayer. Let them know that you are praying for them. With all the life skills that they will need, prayer is one that should not be overlooked. Let them know that God is always listening with love and will respond.
As the Apostle Paul tells us in Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” And in 1 Thessalonians 5:16, “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
Sisters and brothers, may your prayers strengthen and guide you and your family always.
Don’t give up. Don’t lose heart!
So that when the Son of Man comes, he may find us faithful.
Let us pray.
Gracious and loving God, teach us to pray like your Son, the persistent widow, and the Apostle Paul. Lead us to teach our children and grandchildren to pray with our own good models of simple prayer. Draw Ollie and the other children of the church closer to you so that they learn when they are young to cast their burdens upon you—to ask, seek, and knock. May they all come to know your love! Stir us to pray for justice and peace and for all our longings. Help us to never give up. To never lose heart. And when you come again to take us to yourself, may you find us faithful. Amen.
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