Reflection: WWJF-What Will Jesus Find? (October 20, 2013)

The 22nd Sunday after Pentecost
Genesis 32:22-30; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5; Luke 18:1-8

After Jesus told a parable to encourage His disciples “always to  pray and not lose heart,” He asked, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” While we can answer that question with a confident “yes” (after all, Jesus said elsewhere that not even the gates of hell can overcome His Church), we can’t answer with the certainty that He will find faith in our society. We live in a culture that encourages people to turn their hearts to false gods, celebrates false teachings, and rejoices when the Church falters. Our time has been called “post-church” and “post-gospel” and now even “pre-churched,” but it is by any name a rebellious, faithless time. But it is far from a unique time. Jesus’ first disciples faced a similar situation, one which Jesus addressed with the parable that was meant to encourage them … and us.

Unfortunately, people have twisted this parable so that it not only fails to bring us any encouragement but it puts a burden on us. Commonly used to prop up an unbiblical view of prayer, teachers in and outside of the Church have stripped away the main point of the parable and, in the process, made God out to be something that He isn’t. Worse yet, people actually prefer this corrupted understanding of the parable over it’s actual meaning! Why? Because it promotes prayer as a power (or tool) that we possess and can use to get God do what we want Him to do. And getting God to do what we want Him to do appeals to our human nature. The twisting around of this parable is just one example of how the warning found in today’s Epistle has come to fruition in our experience: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, having itching ears they will accumulated for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.” Is this what Jesus will find when He comes?

It all sounds so hopeless. But there is another question that Jesus asked that reminds us that God is faithful even when we are faithless: “Will not God give justice to His elect, who cry to Him day and night?” Here’s the key to finding comfort and encouragement in this parable. God is grossly unlike the judge who boasted “I neither fear God nor respect man.” Instead, God is kind, gracious, and loving to those whom He has called to eternal life, i.e., His elect. Confident of this, we “cry to Him day and night,” including the age-old, heartfelt prayer “Come, Lord Jesus,” because we know that by His grace He will find faith in us when He returns.

Click here to listen to the sermon "WWJF: What Will Jesus Find?" (or right-click to download the MP3 file).