“Listen to What the Unjust Judge Says?!”
Original sermon given on Sunday, October 19, 2025 written and delivered by Guest Preacher Rev. Jason Kohm at First Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church. Pastor Kohm is pastor at Holy Cross Lutheran Church O’Fallon, Missouri.
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“Listen to What the Unjust Judge Says?!”—Luke 18.1-8
Focus: God is not bothered by His people.
Function: That the hearer may be encouraged to pray and not lose heart.
In the name of the Living God, and of His risen Christ. Amen.
Several years ago, this man, your pastor, made me write the longest paper I’ve ever written. It was a research paper on a guy named Thomas Becket, and I know way more about him than anyone my age reasonably should. Thomas Becket lived in the early 12th century and became the archbishop of Canterbury… and he remains a controversial figure in the church as a whole.
Why? Long story short, he got into this huge, ugly argument with Henry II, the King of England, because Henry II wanted the church to swear fealty to him, but Becket did not want the king’s will to override the will of Christ… so Becket pushed back. For years. This made the king very angry, and eventually, in an effort to please him, a rogue squad of knights rode out to Canterbury, surrounded the city with guards, broke into Canterbury Cathedral, and murdered Thomas Becket on the spot. Literally hacked him to pieces. He died a martyr, a hero, a saint!
The controversy is… how saint-like were Becket’s intentions? He was aware of what was happening, did nothing to stop it, even insisted on unlocking the doors of the church before the knights arrived to kill him. Did he die as a genuine, faithful victim, or did he embrace martyrdom as a way to definitively win his argument with Henry II? After all, Henry II was forced to take responsibility for Becket’s death and then was forced to swear fealty to the papacy. Becket may have died… but in doing so, he got what he wanted. Hmm. Mysterious.
One person who explored this mystery was the famous poet T. S. Eliot, who published a play in 1935 called Murder in the Cathedral. It’s a dramatization of Becket’s death, and it depicts him wrestling with several temptations that try to pull him away from martyrdom: he could prioritize his safety, he could gain power and riches by submitting to the king, he could fight against the king with barons and the church on his side! All these he resists. But then a fourth temptation finds him and pushes him toward martyrdom, so that he would obtain glory that Henry II would never be able to take away from him! Becket does not so easily resist this like the others, and while mulling this over he utters the two most critical lines of the play: “The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason.”
T. S. Eliot suggests that Becket, ultimately, did the right thing! But perhaps his intentions weren’t so noble after all. Maybe Thomas Becket did the right thing for the wrong reason.
We’ll never know for certain if this is true, but we do know for certain that the unjust judge in Jesus’ parable for today absolutely did the right thing for the wrong reason. This judge is a total dirtbag. He has no fear of God and no love for people; he only cares about himself. And there’s this woman, a widow, who comes to him — dirtbag that he is — and asks for justice against her accuser. The judge refuses, turns her away, and so she comes to him again, and again, and again in hopes of her request being heard and granted.
You’re probably interested in what she was going through, curious about her situation. But Jesus fixes our attention not on the woman in need, but on the unjust judge. In fact, Jesus straight up tells us, “Listen to what the unjust judge says.” Huh? Why would we do that? Why would we listen to someone so arrogant, so selfish?
But let’s give it a try. Listen to what the unjust judge says: “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 by continually coming.” It takes a while, but eventually the judge does grant the woman’s request, gives her the justice she asked for! But he only does it because she’s a pain. A nuisance. He can’t stand her constant complaining and wants it to end, so he throws his hands up and says, “Fine. Whatever. Have it your way.” He does the right thing… for the wrong reason. He didn’t do it because he cared about her. He did it so she would quit bothering him.
And Jesus tells us to listen to him, this dirtbag judge? What good would that do?
A lot, actually. This is a lesser-to-greater argument. Jesus knows that this judge is not the kind of person you want taking care of you. And Jesus wants you to know that, if you would eventually get justice by approaching a judge like that, imagine how much better it would be if you approached God, a judge who is just, who is righteous, who does care about you. Jesus urges us to look at the bad judge in this parable, who does the right thing for the wrong reason, so that we would treasure all the more fully the good judge that God has shown Himself to be, who does the right thing for the right reason. God is never motivated by selfishness, and is only motivated by His love for people, for you. This judge cheerfully invites us into conversation with Him that we call prayer, and He promises to listen to and value whatever we have to say. The first verse of this Gospel reading tells us that “Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.” Jesus knows that what motivates us for prayer is not the command to pray more and more, but the promise that God has brought us into His kingdom in which He desires to hear us and answer us.
I know it doesn’t always seem like this is actually true. We’ve all lifted up prayers to God that seem to fall on deaf, uninterested ears. You pray for that disease to be healed, for that child to come back to church, for that relationship to be restored, for that pain of your loved one dying to go away. You wonder how long you can keep this up; you worry that you are pestering and bothering God with your problems that He doesn’t seem to care about. After enough time, it’s so much easier to just quit, right? To stop asking, to stop praying, to stop hoping?
If you have a prayer request that you are tired of making, if you have a burden that you are tired of carrying, if you have a battle that you are tired of fighting, do not give up. God is not ignoring you, and you are not bothering Him. And if you have trouble believing that today, just look at Jesus, carrying that cross up a hill and dying upon it. It was on that cross that He took on everything you’ve got — every problem, every pain, every loss, every regret, every ache of your heart. He didn’t do it to get rid of you, to forgive you and fix you and be done and walk away. He did it to have you, to walk with you, forever. He did the right thing for the right reason, because He just loves you and wants you. And Jesus continues to work all things together for good, for your good. What request is too much for the risen Lord to answer, what burden is too heavy for Him to bear, what battle is too hard for Him to fight? So, bring it all to Him, again and again and again, for He has promised to always hear you and always help you.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, listen to what the unjust judge says, and know that God is so much better than him. Keep asking, keep praying, keep hoping. You may not get exactly what you want in a timely manner, but you have a God who will do the right thing for you, for the right reason.
Come soon, Lord Jesus. Amen.