When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? In other words, when the Son of Man comes, will he find a faithful or faithless people? What constitutes a faithful people? Jesus’ question presupposes that faith can be “lost.” His question comes as a conclusion to his teaching on the necessity to persist in prayer. When Jesus talks about praying without becoming weary, we can get the impression that prayer is a tedious endeavor, something that drains us. But that would be a wrong reading of Jesus’ statement for Jesus himself advocates making prayer a simple, less physical act (cf. Matthew 6:7). As much as prayer is something that we do, it is not about how we do it but rather how we live it. Prayer is lived, not done. Prayer is not something that we will one day out-grow (why Jesus insists that we pray always). Prayer, then, becomes part of our life. If it were something that we do, it is easy to understand why it might end up becoming wearisome.
When Jesus talks about praying without ceasing, he doesn’t mean babbling or using many words as those who have no faith do (cf. Matthew 6:7). What he simply means is that one should never put him/herself outside a prayer relationship (prayer is the only way we relate to God). Jesus knew that we can easily put ourselves outside a prayer relationship especially when challenges come our way, when we get discouraged, or when we have “prayed” and no answers have come our way. By urging us to pray always, Jesus is encouraging us to make sure that we maintain our relationship with God, for it is God who holds us in being and provides for our needs.
Prayer is an expression of faith. How one lives his/her prayer life says a lot about his/her faith. Like prayer, faith is also lived. It is not something that one does or something whose usefulness gets outlived. Once an individual has come to believe, his/her life becomes shaped by his/her faith. Faith can get “lost” when it is understood as something extraneous to one’s way of life. Faith is not a vestment that we put on when we need it and then discard when we don’t need it. Faith is a statement that we make, an identity that once we acquire we retain for the entirety of our lives.