THE TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – C

Exodus 17:8-13
2 Timothy 3:14-4:2
Luke 18:1-8

Dear Jesus,

This Sunday’s readings form a curious juxtaposition. I know the link is prayer. And the lesson to be learned is persistence in prayer. But the readings are problematic, the Gospel reading more so, but so, for me is the Exodus reading.

The image of Moses, the shepherd of the Israelites, their link to God, is an example of steadfast prayer in the face of adversity. Standing on the hill above the people with the staff of God in his hand, he lifts his arms in supplication, begging for God’s intervention. He holds up his arms until he is exhausted and can’t keep them up any longer. Fortune changes for the worse when he lowers his arms as his energy flags. His praying wears him out. A large rock is brought to Moses for a seat and Aaron and Hur on either side support his arms so that his praying can continue. And so Israel prospers. But the problem is that Moses is praying over a battlefield. And as long as he prays, the Israelites can slaughter Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And I think of the horrors of war.

Is it the God of the Hebrew Scriptures who picks sides and supports warmongering? Images conjured by the description of Joshua mowing down Amalek and his people cause me to shudder. Prayer being the source of the empowerment to slaughter is worse. The end result for one side is carnage and grief, albeit with victory and rejoicing for Israel. But at what price? Perhaps, stories like this could be told once and cause inspiration because we had not yet begun to ponder the reality that God wills the salvation of all people and if so must have loved Amalek and his people too. There is mystery here. I don’t know the answer. Maybe I should just stay with the central image of Moses in prayer and leave the rest to God.

In the Gospel, you tell your disciples, you tell me that we must pray always without becoming weary. This is in reality another instruction on the essentials of discipleship. If I am to be your disciple I must be a person of prayer. If I do not pray, I am not a disciple no matter how I might try to delude myself to the contrary. A cultural Christian just doesn’t cut it. Pray without ceasing even if I become weary. And, remembering the example of Moses, I wonder if, should I become weary in prayer, I just might find support to keep my arms aloft when I pray in the community of my brothers and sisters. Knowing that God loves us, I can have confident assurance that God will hear me in this assembly that is your Body, the Church.

But why do you use the example of the unjust judge who finally is worn down by and relents to the urgent pleas of the widow, granting her justice lest she finally come and strike me? You meant this to be humorous, didn’t you? Isn’t it funny to picture the unjust judge cowering in fear of the widow’s slap? But you want me to see that persistence pays off. A widow can get her justice by nagging and threatening with the flat of her hand even if the judge is unjust. Are you using this as another example of if this in the greenwood, what in the dry? The God to whom I pray loves me and all the baptized as God loves you. It’s true, isn’t it, that God doesn’t recognize the distinction. After all, you live in us as you live in the Father that they (the disciples) may be one in us. The unjust judge does not fear God or man. The God to whom we pray loved the world so much that he gave us his only Son.

I wonder if praying always, even if I should grow weary, means always praying prayers of petition. Must I continually be asking for something? I know what it means to pray for the sick and the dying. I know what it means to pray for the poor and the hungry. I know what it means to pray for an end to war and all the other inhumane things people do to each other. And I don’t love all these people nearly as much as God does. So does my faith come to play when, with confident assurance, I put these concerns before God and trust that God will bring justice in God’s time? God’s kingdom will reign. You will come again in glory. You have given us your word.

All this brings me to wonder if when you command us to pray always you aren’t telling us to live aware that we are in God’s presence, to live the prayer of adoration with the confidence that one day, if we are faithful as we journey on the way, we will see God face to face in our resurrection? All my intercessions are addressed to God through you. Every Eucharist is the Church giving thanks to God through you. The petitions voiced during the Liturgy are the Church pleading with God through you. If I believe this, what do I have to fear? One day God will make all things right. Justice will be done speedily.

Can I hang on? Can I persist in this conscious living in the presence of God that is prayer so that when the Son of Man comes, he will find faith on earth? Alone? Probably not. But I can if you strengthen me and keep my hands aloft.

Sincerely,

Didymus