Faith on Earth

Once when Jesus was teaching his disciples he prophesied something about our day that is dead on accurate. Actually it was a prophecy stated in the form of a question. He asked, “When the Son of Man returns will he find faith on earth?”

I’ve heard the question repeated in many sermons but the context in which Christ asks it is often overlooked. It occurs during a conversation with the disciples in which they apparently expressed some discouragement over rampant injustice.

They lived during the days of the Caesar’s whose power was absolute. After all, it had only been a few years since Herod had ordered the killing of all children under the age of two. It would not be long before Caesar would order all Jews to leave Jerusalem which meant a man would lose all his possessions simply for being a Christian. Christians were considered a sect of Judaism.

Even while Jesus was speaking tax collectors were notorious for their abuse of citizens, often taking things essential for survival. And the average citizen had no recourse to justice. So a man who chose to believe in God, and especially Jesus, must be willing to face the most extreme injustices. One might well expect the disciples, who had witnessed incredible miracles, to ask, “How can such terrible injustices happen to believers?”

So Jesus gave told them a story about a widow, who may have been an actual person living at that time and the circumstances may have been real. She was suffering an awful injustice and she went to the judge who was too busy with more important matters to take care of her complaint. He was proud, disdainful and cynical, a man “who neither feared God nor had respect for people” and he was unmoved by her circumstance which seemed petty and unimportant.

Undeterred by his cavalier attitude she returned to the judge. Again and again she petitioned him until out of sheer exhaustion he granted her request.

Jesus used this as a principle for Christians. “Will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them.” (Luke 18:1-8)

In spite of this promise that continuing in prayer brings quick answers Jesus asks the question “And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

There is a need to BELIEVE God will intervene for those who ask. Yet we live in a time when people are reluctant to pray. It may be the most dangerous foe man faces.

Jesus seems to be telling the disciples that the political climate at the time of the return of the Son of Man will be one of such injustice that men will lose faith that God is just. The irony is that justice often occurs only after repeated prayer.

Our culture and indeed the entire world has lost the sense of the importance of prayer. We’ve fallen into a mindset that our grandparents would condemn.

We look to the government for help forgetting that Social Security did not begin until 1937. What happened when a person became aged and was not able to work? For that matter what happened when the crops failed, there was a draught or a swarm of locusts covered the fields, or there was blight or any other of a thousand calamities?

In rural areas doctors did not exist, or if they did they were so far away that it could be days before they could respond to a call. What did people do when they were injured, sick or ready to deliver a child?

In that culture people were conditioned to pray. Churches held “Prayer Meetings” where people came together for the sole purpose of praying together as a community. In many ways they resembled the 1^st Century Christian Church.

If there is one thing needed in our culture it is a return to prayer. Jesus didn’t say he would NOT find faith. There will always be people who believe God hears the earnest prayer of godly people. Such people will find justice.

Until next time,