Blog | Subscribe | Free Trial | Contact Us | Cart | Donate | Planned Giving
Log In | Search
facebook
rss
twitter
  • CURRENT
    • Summer 2023
    • NEWSworthy: What’s Happening and What It Means to You
    • Blog
    • INSISTING ON LIFE
    • Pastoral Reflections
    • About Us
    • HLF In The News
  • DINNER
    • GREAT DEFENDER OF LIFE DINNER 2023
    • HOST COMMITTEE Great Defender of Life Dinner 2023
    • Great Defender of Life 2023 Dinner Ticket
    • Great Defender of Life 2023 Young Adult / Student Ticket
    • DINNER JOURNAL ADVERTISING 2023
  • ARCHIVE
    • Archive Spotlight
    • ISSUES IN HTML FORMAT
  • LEGACY
    • Planned Giving: Wills, Trusts, and Gifts of Stock
  • SHOP
    • Cart

Articles

Over 45 years of Life-Defending Articles At Your Fingertips
0 Comment

Faith on Earth

W. Ross Blackburn
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Luke 18:1-8

When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? (Luke 18:8)

What does this mean? In this Gospel lesson we find a widow who has nothing with which to persuade her judge—and an unjust judge at that—to come to her aid. Nothing but perseverance. Why did she persevere? Two things—she had a deep need, as well as a belief that the judge, despite his lack of compassion, could meet that need. So she wore him out by coming and coming and coming, until she got what she wanted. Jesus calls that faith.

In the Old Testament we find something similar. In Genesis 32, Jacob wrestles with this mysterious man, who he comes to understand as God. And, strangely enough, Jacob prevails. How did he prevail? Simply by hanging on. Told to let go, Jacob refuses: “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” And the man blessed him. Like the woman before the judge, Jacob’s stubborn persistence—his refusal to let go—won him what he sought.

We live in a profoundly unjust culture, where the vulnerable—whether the unborn or handicapped or elderly or poor or alone—can easily find themselves at risk of death. Legal death. Injustice is bad enough. Injustice sanctioned by law is far worse. So what do we do? We persevere. To be sure, we engage this unjust world, but, more, we engage God who at times seems to be far removed from the cries of vulnerable widows who have nowhere else to turn. Yet God is not an unjust judge. Rather, he is the “Father of the fatherless and protector of widows” (Psalm 68:5). How much more can we expect God to answer as we persist in petitioning him for the widow and the fatherless?

When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth? Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things unseen. We walk by faith, not by sight. Jesus told the parable of the unjust judge so that his disciples would pray. It may take a long time. It already has. Yet, we pray.

 

Feature Main Page
A Pastor’s Reflections

97 people have visited this page. 1 have visited this page today.

Social Share

  • google-share

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Comments will not be posted until approved by a moderator in an effort to prevent spam and off-topic responses.

*
*

captcha *

Get the Human Life Review

subscribe to HLR

Recent Posts

Pro-Life Principles and Politicians

18 Sep 2023

South Dakota's Pro-Abortion Amendment: An Analysis

15 Sep 2023

Vice President Kamala Harris Launching Pro-Abortion Tour on College Campuses

08 Sep 2023

CURRENT ISSUE

Alexandra DeSanctis Anne Conlon Anne Hendershott B G Carter Brian Caulfield Christopher White Clarke D. Forsythe Colleen O’Hara Connie Marshner David Mills David Poecking David Quinn Diane Moriarty Dr. Donald DeMarco Edward Mechmann Edward Short Ellen Wilson Fielding Fr. Gerald E. Murray George McKenna Hadley Arkes Helen Alvaré Jane Sarah Jason Morgan Joe Bissonnette John Grondelski Kristan Hawkins Laura Echevarria Madeline Fry Schultz Maria McFadden Maffucci Mary Meehan Mary Rose Somarriba Nat Hentoff Nicholas Frankovich Patrick J. Flood Peter Pavia Rev. George G. Brooks Rev. Paul T. Stallsworth Stephen Vincent Tara Jernigan Ursula Hennessey Victor Lee Austin Vincenzina Santoro W. Ross Blackburn Wesley J. Smith William Murchison

Pages

  • Issues
  • Human Life Foundation Blog
  • About Us
  • Free Trial Issue
  • Contact Us
  • Shop
  • Planned Giving
  • GREAT DEFENDER OF LIFE DINNER

Follow Us On Twitter

Follow @HumanLifeReview

Find Us On Facebook

Human Life Review/Foundation

Search our Website

Contact Information

The Human Life Foundation, Inc.
The Human Life Review
271 Madison Avenue, Room 1005
New York, New York 10016
(212) 685-5210

Copyright (c) The Human Life Foundation.