"Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth." Dramatic Bible stories, like the one found in our reading from Exodus, make trusting God seem easy and the results immediate. As the passage from 2 Timothy intimates: Christ is King. ¡Viva Christo Rey!
Our Gospel, the center figure of which is again a sketchy person, dispels the easiness of trusting God. The lesson our Lord teaches is that of persistence. Not only persistence in prayer but persistence in life. In dealing with my insurance company over homeowner's claim (the second I've made in nearly 30 years of being a homeowner, I am learning this.
Persistence both requires and builds resilience. As I am sure you know- life ain't easy. The Lord walks with us through life's dark valleys. He doesn't provide a magic carpet for us to fly over it to the other side.
Servant of God Msgr. Luigi Giussani, in and address to high school seniors way back in 1982, set forth what he calls "this formula," for following Christ: "Expect a journey, not a miracle that dodges your responsibilities, that eliminates your toil, that makes your freedom mechanical" (see "The Journey to Truth: An Experience").
As any long time follower of Christ can tell you, it is not a good criticism of Christianity to insist that it is an attempt to take the easy way out. People looking for a magical solution and who turn to Christ for that are either soon disappointed and leave or have a true conversion borne from an experience of just how Christ walks with us. To lose faith as a Christian due to Christ's refusal to keep you from the vicissitudes of life makes no sense. Why? The Cross and the Lord's summons to His followers to take up their crosses.
In the Collect for this Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time we pray, "that we may always conform our will to [God's]." Easier said than done. "Doing" is a painful process.
But given the above, maybe the question Jesus asks at the end of our Gospel passage- "But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"- isn't rhetorical.
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