Jesus taught us the secrets of the Kingdom of God with lots of parables. Parables are not a direct but rather an indirect method of explaining something, which Jesus used to use to help us understand, and grasping His intentions and true message is one more key to experiencing the mystery of the Word.In this sense, discovering the secret of God’s Word is a great joy unlike anything else in the world.

One of the many parables Jesus told is about a Pharisee and a tax collector. I wonder if this parable is talking about the hypocritical things in our lives. Seeing the tax collector praying next to him, the Pharisee prays, “I am thankful that I am not like this tax collector” (Luke 18:11). The Pharisee seemed to offer the proper prayer in accordance with the Law, but in reality, the prayer was less righteous than the tax collector’s (Luke 18:14).

However, there is also one thing that the tax collector’s prayer lacks. He can’t live an honest life when he returns to the professional environment of a tax collector. He prays, but he does not change his life and actions. He sins the same sins and then repents and repents. We want to live according to the Word and repent honestly, but in reality, we remind ourselves of our failure to live the way we prayed.

But before this parable, there is a parable of a widow. Do you remember when a widow visited an unjust judge and appealed to him to resolve her injustice? The widow is so persistent and bothers the judge so much that he eventually helps her.When we examine the status of widows in Jesus’ day, we find that women who had lost their husbands were powerless. They could do nothing on their own. Buying land, buying a house, or even when they had injustice done against them, they needed a man, an advocate, to help them. This widow had a difficult situation, an enemy, but no husband to resolve it. So she was looking for the strongest man around her, someone who could help her. She was looking for a redeemer to save her from despair.

Naomi and Ruth in the book of Ruth are similar. When Naomi, who lost everything including children in the land of the Gentiles, returned to her homeland, she and her daughter-in-law were widows, so they could not get land, jobs, or a home. But when Ruth met Boaz in his household, he resolved both their frustrations and their difficulties. A redeemer appeared. And Boaz is similar to Jesus in this way.

The Pharisee’s prayer or the tax collector’s prayers were about their righteousness, about their injustice, about their sins, but this widow’s prayer sought a “person” to relieve her grievances. Who is this person to us? He is Jesus Christ.

I found a new connection between God’s kingdom and these three parables. I have come to realize that our prayers should be more than specific requests. They must be prayers only for Jesus Christ. Isn’t this the right prayer for the kingdom of God? The prayer that God wants for us, the prayer that Jesus spoke in various parables, must be a prayer for Jesus Christ who will solve all our problems. I remember the training I learned during my discipleship training in college. 

“Will you seek a gift or a gift-giver?”I hope our prayer is not for a gift but a prayer for a Giver.