As I’m sure you all know, the lectionary, the body of readings appointed to be used during the Church’s worship, is put together in such a way that there should be a discernible theme running through all the readings on any given day of the year. In the Old Testament reading today, for example, we heard that, when Moses was able to hold his hand up, Israel was able to prevail in battle against Amalek. The Psalm assures us that God will help those who look up to him. In the Epistle, St Paul urges us to continue in faith, in studying Scripture and in good works. And in the Gospel, Jesus assures us that, so long as we pray constantly and don’t lose heart, God will hear and answer our prayers. So we could say that the theme of today’s lectionary readings is perseverance in faith; perseverance in doing all that our faith tells us we should do, trusting that God will come to our help.
I think that message is quite easily discernible in this morning’s readings, and I hope everyone was able to find it. But I think that there are also some other messages in these readings that are perhaps not quite so easy to see. And I think some of these other messages are also not so easy to digest as that comfortable, reassuring message that, so long as we persevere in faith, God will come to our aid. Tougher messages that lie behind that comfort and reassurance about just what it means to persevere in faith and about how hard that can be.
So what are these hidden, or at least not quite so obvious messages, in this morning’s readings? Well, lets start with the reading from Exodus. As we read, Israel was engaged in battle against Amalek and, as long as Moses was able to hold up his hand, the battle went well for Israel but, if Moses lowered his hand, Amalek gained the advantage in battle. But, as the battle raged on, Moses grew so tired that it seems he couldn’t hold his hands up any longer and so Aaron and Hur had to stand alongside him and hold his hands up for him. Moses was the one God had chosen to lead his people out of Egypt and bring them to the promised land. He was so important a figure in the story of God’s people that he appeared in glory with Jesus on the Mountain of the Transfiguration. And yet he still needed help, even from those less able, less faithful, less well qualified we might say. And what this tells us is that no matter our own strength, no matter how important a position we might have in the Church, no matter how much we know about the Lord and his ways and no matter how good we are putting those things into practice in our lives, we all still need the help of others at times.
We might not be engaged in the same kind of battle that took place between Israel and Amalek, but we are engaged in a spiritual battle between the way of the Lord and the way of the world. And if we’re going to emerge victorious from this battle, we need to trust in the Lord, to keep our hands raised to the Lord, so to speak. And it’s a very long battle because it’s one we have to fight every day and there will be times when we grow weak, moments during the battle when our strength begins to fail and the battle starts to go badly for us. And that’s when we need the help of others to give us the strength to get through the tough times until our strength returns and we can hold our own hands up again. So none of us should ever think that we can live out our Christian faith without the help of other Christians because we can’t; none of us can do this on our own.
Moving on to the Epistle, St Paul urges us not just to be familiar with Scripture but take what we read in Scripture to heart and to order our lives according to what we read. I don’t think anyone would argue with that. How could we when every time we read from Scripture in church we end by proclaiming it as the Word or Gospel of the Lord? So we might very well nod our heads and say “Yes indeed” when St Paul says,
‘All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.’
But to what extent do we really use Scripture in that way? To what extent do follow St Paul’s charge to,
‘…preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.’
One of the great failings, both of us as individual Christians, and of the wider Church is not using Scripture in this way. Because how often do we excuse our own failures to live up to what we read in Scripture as ‘just little sins that don’t really matter’? How often are we only too ready to ignore Scripture ourselves, and turn blind eye when our family and friends ignore it, but are only too ready and willing to condemn others when they do likewise? And when we condemn others for their failure to live out what we read in Scripture, how often do we have the courage to actually say something to them? Aren’t we far, far more likely to simply criticise and gossip about them behind their backs? We might have a lot of patience with ourselves and our loved ones, but where is that patience when it comes to dealing with the faults and failings of others?
And how often in recent years has the wider Church appeared to be far more interested in fitting in with the way of the world and in not causing offense than in preaching the word, reproving, rebuking and exhorting the world to turn to Christ? And where is the teaching in any of this?
Turning finally to the Gospel, I think this is a reading where something is most definitely lost in translation. In the story, as we read it, the unrighteous judge finally decides to give justice to the widow because she’s being a nuisance, she’s wearing him out with her constant mithering. But in the Greek, the judge finally gives in not because he’s fed up but because he thinks the widow will become so fed up of him ignoring her that she’s going to end up smacking him in the face! And I think that actually gives an added dimension to what Jesus is trying to say to us here.
We’re told right at the beginning that this parable is about the need to pray always and not lose heart. At the end Jesus implies that, if even an unrighteous judge will give justice if he’s asked often enough and forcefully enough, how much more will God give justice to those who ask him. But while Jesus says God will give justice speedily, we notice that he says that it is justice that will be given, and it will be given to “his elect”, to those of his chosen people
“… who cry to him day and night.”
So what Jesus seems to be saying here is that we need to pray constantly and never give up because God will answer our prayers, but we might need to pray day and night, we might need to cry out to God in prayer. We might even have to get angry with God before our prayers are answered, and even then, we might not get what we want. Because what we will receive from God is justice, what is right and fitting in God’s eyes, which may or may not be the same as what is right and fitting in our eyes.
We must all know the feeling that our prayers are not being answered, at least as quickly as we’d like them to be, or in the way we want them to be. Even Jesus knew that feeling during his agony in Gethsemane. But if God is going to answer our prayers at once, if he’s going to click his fingers, so to speak, and just give us what we ask for, there’s no need to pray always is there, we just need to pray when we want something, and we’ll get it. If prayer is always answered immediately and in the way we want it to be answered there’s no need to speak about not losing heart, or crying out God day and night is there?
There would certainly be no need to feel like we want to smack God one if praying to God was like rubbing a magic lamp and simply waiting for a genie to appear and grant our wishes would there? But that’s not what happens when we pray and so remaining constant in prayer and not losing hope takes faith, a lot of faith. And so Jesus’ question at the end of this morning’s Gospel becomes quite understandable:
“Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
And that’s the question I’d like to leave you to consider, do we, do you, have that kind of faith? The faith to keep going when the going gets tough and we need the help of others. A humble faith that knows its need of help and isn’t too proud to ask for or accept help. The faith to look at ourselves through the lens of God’s Word as harshly as we sometimes look at others through that lens. The faith to reprove, rebuke and exhort ourselves and our loved ones to live according to God’s Word, as we so often do to others. The faith to speak out when the way of the world is contrary to the way of the Lord, rather than simply go with the flow for the sake of a quieter, easier life. And the faith to be gentle and patient. Gentle and patient with ourselves, not to excuse our own wrongdoing, but as we look for guidance to carry on in God’s way. And gentle and patient with others too, looking only to guide them into and along that way rather than stand over them in judgement? And the faith to be constant in prayer, and never lose heart, even when it seems that God isn’t being fair or isn’t even listening? Do we have that kind of faith? The faith that Scripture urges us to have, and Christ will look for when he returns.
Amen
Propers for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 19th October 2025
Entrance Antiphon
To you I call; for you will surely heed me, O God;
turn your ear to me; hear my words.
Guard me as the apple of your eye;
in the shadow of your wings protect me.
The Collect
Almighty ever-living God,
grant that we may always conform our will to yours
and serve your majesty in sincerity of heart.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
The Readings
Exodus 17:8-13
Psalm 121:1-8
2 Timothy 3:14-4:2
Luke 18:1-8
Prayer after Communion
Grant, O Lord, we pray,
that, benefiting from participation in heavenly things,
we may be helped by what you give in this present age
and prepared for the gifts that are eternal.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 