1Jesus told his followers a picture story to teach them to keep on praying to God, and never give up.
2He said, “There was a judge, in a city, and he was a hard man. He didn’t respect God, and he couldn’t care less about people, either.
3A woman lived in that city that had nobody to look after her. Her husband was dead. But a bad man was cheating her. So she came to the judge and said, ‘Your honour, that man is cheating me. Please give me a fair go. Give me a court order to stop him.’
4The judge didn’t answer her. He took no notice of her, and he wouldn’t listen to her. But she kept on asking him, and for a while he kept on taking no notice of her. But after a while he said to himself, ‘This woman is driving me mad. Even though I don’t respect God, and I couldn’t care less about people, I will make sure she gets a fair go. I will give her what she wants. If I don’t do that she will keep on asking me, and I’m getting sick of it.’”
6Then Jesus said, “That judge was a bad man, but notice what he said to himself. That woman kept on asking him, and in the end, he did the right thing.
7Well, God is a lot better than that judge, and God picked you to be his family. So what do you think he will do if you keep calling out to him all the time? Will he wait a while before he does anything?
8No. I’m telling you this for sure. God will listen to you, and he will get up quick and he will make sure you get a fair go.” Then Jesus said, “But when I, God’s special man, come back again from heaven to this earth, will I find people trusting me, or not?”
9Some people there thought that they were really good, and they rubbished everyone else. They reckoned, “We are so good that God will always say we are all right.” So Jesus told them this picture story. He said,
10“I will tell you about 2 men that went to God’s ceremony house to pray to him. One of them was a law man called a Pharisee, and the other was a man that took tax money from people to give it to the government. You know, nobody likes the men that do that.
11The Pharisee stood by himself, where everyone could see him, and he said, ‘Thank you, God, that I am different from everyone else. You see, God, I don’t cheat anyone, and I don’t do anything bad. I don’t sleep with anyone that is not my wife. I’m not a bad man like that man over there. He takes money from people to give it to the government.
12But I am good. On 2 days every week I don’t eat any food, and whenever I get some money I give you some of it, like $1 out of every $10. So you have to say I am all right.’
13But the government money man was sorry for the bad things he did. He was ashamed, so he did not stand close to the other people. He looked down at the ground and he hit himself on his chest. He said, ‘I’m sorry, God. I know I did bad things. Please be sorry for me and don’t punish me.’
14I’m telling now, God listened to that bad man that was sorry, and God said he is all right. He went home feeling good. But God didn’t say that for the Pharisee, the man that reckoned he was real good. He didn’t go home feeling good. You see, if you reckon you are important, God will make you not important. But if you reckon you are not important, God will make you important.”
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