32nd Week in Ord. Time, Saturday – 13th November 2021 — Gospel: Lk 18,1-8
In Search of Faith
The parable ends with a question that reaches beyond the cross, the tomb and the resurrection into the future: “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” We may find the answers for this in the Gospel itself where a number of people are commended for their faith:
- The centurion who believes Jesus will heal his slave, even from a distance;
- The sinful woman who anoints Jesus’ feet and loves much;
- Friends of the paralytic who are willing to dig through a roof;
- The bleeding, unclean woman who touches Jesus’ clothes in the crow and is healed;
- The Samaritan leper, whose gratitude turns him back to Jesus where he falls at his feet in thanksgiving;
- And the blind beggar who sees Jesus for who he is and calls to him.
So, a beginning of the answer to the question appears to be that the Son of Man will find faith, but it may be in unexpected places, as it has been in the Gospel. However, not among the religious professionals or the ones certain of their own righteousness, but among the outsiders, the unlovely, the unclean, the ones certain of their sinfulness. Perhaps this parable suggests that a sign of faith will be a willingness to persist in prayer, as we see in this widow who persists against all odds in her fight for justice against the powerful judge.
