Luke 18:8: Will the Son of Man Find Faith on Earth?

This is a hard saying in the sense that no one can be quite sure what it means, especially in relation to its context. When a question is asked in Greek, it is often possible to determine, from the presence of one particle or another, whether the answer expected is yes or no. But no such help is given with this one. Many commentators assume that the answer implied here is no, but in form at least it is a completely open question.

Luke is the only Evangelist who records the question, and he places it at the end of the parable of the persistent widow--the widow who refused to take no for an answer. Jesus told this parable, says Luke, to teach his disciples that "they should always pray and not give up" (Lk 18:1). But what has this purpose to do with the Son of Man finding faith on earth when he comes?

The widow in the parable showed faith of an unusually persevering quality--not personal faith in the unjust judge whom she pestered until he granted her petition to keep her quiet, but faith in the efficacy of persistent "prayer." The point of the story seems to be this: if even a conscienceless judge, who "neither feared God nor cared about men," saw to it that a widow got her rights, not for the sake of seeing justice done but to get rest from her importunity, how much more will God, who is no unjust judge but a loving Father, listen to his children's plea for vindication! It is vindication that they seek, just as the widow insisted on getting her rights, of which someone was trying to deprive her.

Then comes the question: "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" It is possible indeed that it is Luke who attaches the question to the parable, and that in Jesus' teaching it had some other context which is no longer recoverable. T. W. Manson leant to the view that "the Son of Man" does not bear its special meaning here--that the sense is "Men and women ought to have implicit faith that God will vindicate his elect people, that righteousness will triumph over evil. But when one comes and looks for such faith--when, for example, I come and look for it--is it anywhere to be found?" The answer implied by this interpretation is no--people in general, it is suggested, do not really expect God to vindicate his chosen ones, nor do they at heart desire the triumph of righteousness over evil.

But perhaps we should look at a wider context than this one parable. The coming of the Son of Man is a major theme in the preceding section of Luke's record, in the discourse of Jesus about "the day when the Son of Man is revealed" (Lk 17:22-37). The lesson impressed by this discourse on the hearers is that they must keep on the alert and be ready for that day when it comes. When it comes, God will vindicate his righteous cause and therewith the cause of his people who trust him. But they must trust him and not lose heart; they must here and now continue faithfully in the work assigned to them. (This is the lesson also of the parable of the pounds in Lk 19:11-27.) The Son of Man, whose revelation will be like the lightning, illuminating "the sky from one end to the other" (Lk 17:24), will be able to survey the earth to see if there is any faith on it, any "faithful and wise steward" whom his master when he comes will find loyally fulfilling his service (Lk 12:42-44 RSV).

So the question "Will he find faith on earth?" remains open in fact as in form: its answer depends on the faithfulness of those who wait to render account of their stewardship when he calls for it.