WHAT WILL JESUS FIND?

When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth? Trust? Belief? As I waspraying recently, this question set me into a moment of reflection and prayer.

Jesus chose for himself the title of Son of Man. Many of his Jewish listeners would have been familiar with that title from the Scriptures. It usually indicated a role in redemption. In reference to Jesus, it reflected His humanity and divinity, true God and true man, as the Messiah, the promised one of God. Jesus expressed his role as the one who unites God and the world. He came to bring salvation and to teach us how to live as people saved and loved by God.

The ‘Son of Man-sayings’ can be divided into three groups:

1.The Son of Man as earthly: Those that refer to Jesus' earthly activity:

But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgives sins, he said to the paralytic— I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.

2. The Son of Man as suffering and resurrected:

The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

3. The Son of Man as exalted and returning:

You will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven (Matt 26:64).

In his teachings, Jesus also made His relationship with the Father very to his disciples:

For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.

If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.

I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.

During this time following Pentecost in which Jesus told us not to be afraid for he would be with us all days, even to the end of time; when he told us not to be afraid because he would send the Spirit who would teach us all things and remind us of what He said, it is good for us to remember that as faithful followers of Jesus we know what to do, where to go and what to speak. We have been gifted thorough baptism with the Spirt – the Spirit of truth who abides in us so that we may also learn to love the Father and do exactly what the Father has commanded.

This all brings us back to the question: When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth? Trust? Belief? I hope and pray each day that He will.

Sister Donna Mikula