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Luke 18:2 "He said 'In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man'".

 

This is the judge whom the widow will, through persistence, eventually prevail upon to vindicate her. What did this judge regard, if not God nor man? It seems just himself. It is good for us to know that there are people like this in the world. Up until a few years ago, I tended to think most people thought the way that I do, that is, they may have had different opinions as to how to do things, but I thought most people were trying, at least, to pursue the common good, if not for God's sake, for the sake of their fellow man. That is why COVID was so shocking to me - the things we were told (or forced) to do were cloaked in language of concern for our fellow man, while so obviously harming him, and anyone who noticed this was castigated. I realized that many people, while parroting the words of "love of neighbor",  are really just out for themselves.

 

Jesus gives us this judge as an example of such a person. The judge probably thought he was a pretty good guy, doing his job and getting on with his life, but in his heart he neither feared God nor really cared about anyone but himself. Nonetheless, he had a position of power that he valued, one that included certain duties. The widow held him to these duties simply by her persistence. He would not have acted for her if she had asked once and then let it go, but because she threatened his peace and potentially his reputation, he gave her justice.

 

Even when people have turned inward, caring not for God nor neighbor, their concern for themselves will keep them wanting to maintain their positions in society while avoiding nuisances and problems. If we continuously demand that they do their jobs to the standards they say they believe in (even if they don't), and if we don't stop demanding this until they act, we can get to them through their love of self, achieving justice in a backhanded way.