Persistent Faith

Fellowship – Snacks or a Meal (10 minutes with snacks; longer, obviously, if there is a meal). Enjoy a time of hospitality to build community and prepare hearts for deeper reflection. If you’re sharing a meal, allow more time for conversation and connection.

Gathering Time (5–10 minutes). In pairs or groups of three, have participants answer, “When have you—or when has someone you know—had to keep pushing for justice when the system didn’t seem to care?

Group Dialogue (Approximately 30 minutes): Read Luke 18:1–8 aloud.

Verses 1-3 “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’”

• Reflection Question: What do we learn about the judge and the widow from the parable?
• Digging Deeper: What kind of power does the judge hold, and what kind of power does the widow have? Who are today’s “judges” who refuse to act unless they are pressured?

Verses 4–5: “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice... so that she may not wear me out.”

• Reflection: The judge is not moved by compassion but by self-interest. The Greek phrase, “wear me out” (ὑπωπιάζῃ), literally means “give me a black eye”—suggesting the widow is publicly shaming him through her persistence.
• Digging Deeper: How does public pressure—especially from the marginalized—become a form of accountability? Can faithful persistence look like protest or disruption?

Verses 6–7: “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?”

• Reflection: Jesus draws a contrast: if even an unjust judge eventually responds, how much more will God respond to those who cry out. The cry is not private—it’s loud, public, and persistent.
• Digging Deeper: Why does Jesus want us to listen closely to what the unjust judge says? What does it teach us about systems that change only under pressure? What role do public cries, marches, testimonies, or movements play in holding systems accountable?

Verse 8: “I tell you, he will quickly grant justice... And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

• Reflection: Jesus ends with a challenging question. He links faith to justice-seeking—not passive belief, but active showing up, crying out, and holding the system to account.
• Digging Deeper: Why do you think Jesus asks about faith at the end of a parable about injustice? How is the widow’s persistence a model for spiritual courage?
• How is shaming the system not just political, but theological?

What does it mean to persist in faith when the system is broken?

• Digging Deeper: Have you or someone you know had to keep pushing for fairness—at work, in church, in court, or in society? What does it take to keep showing up?

How is God different from the judge?

• Digging Deeper: What does this parable teach us about God and about what faithful people are called to do? How are we being invited to be different from the judge?

What does it mean to shame the system in Jesus’ name?

• Digging Deeper: When have you seen someone’s truth-telling embarrass a powerful institution into action? What does it look like to resist unjust systems without losing heart?

Call to Action: When Shaming Becomes a Strategy of Prophetic Witness (Optional)

The facilitator or a participant reads aloud: The widow didn’t accept injustice quietly. She made the judge uncomfortable. She kept coming back—until he acted. That was faith that shames silence, exposes injustice, and wears down indifference. This week, we ask ourselves: “Where am I being called to ‘persist in faith’?”

• Who around me is being ignored, and how can I help their voices be heard?
• What system needs to be shamed into justice—not with cruelty, but with truth?

Prayer (10 minutes). Invite the group to name people, places, or systems where justice is needed. Lift up those who cry out day and night. Offer prayers for strength, courage, and community.

Sending Forth (2 minutes). Closing Prayer: A Prayer for Persistent Faith

God of justice, you see what the powerful try to ignore. You honor the voices that won't be silenced. You call us not just to pray, but to persist. Give us the strength to keep showing up and the wisdom to name what’s broken. Give us the courage to call systems to account. May our faith be bold, our voices strong, and our hope be grounded in justice. Amen.

Dr. Sharon Jacob is a scholar who believes scripture must confront the systems that harm. As associate dean and professor at Claremont School of Theology, she empowers communities to interrogate inherited theologies and reclaim the gospel as a call to justice, not compliance. Her teaching and preaching equip people to “flip the script” and live faith out loud.