29th Sunday in Course 2022
We should all remember the story of the Israelites wandering in the desert around Sinai for forty years. That was God’s way of purifying them before bringing them to the land of promise, Canaan. As they moved around, they ran into various other nomadic tribes, and one of these was Amalek. Now the Amalekites must have been a pretty nasty gang, because after Moses’ constant prayer under the assistance of Aaron and Hur and the defeat of that army, Exodus records that the Lord set the Israelites to war against Amalek indefinitely, and blot them from the face of the earth. They come up again in the story of King Saul, who was told to destroy Amalek in his time, many decades later. He didn’t do that, and lost the throne of Israel as a result. Then, hundreds of years afterward, we see one of the Amalekite’s descendants, Haman, trying to exterminate the Jews in the time of Esther.
But the point of the OT story is to direct our attention better toward today’s Gospel. It’s a parable, but it’s uniquely prefaced with an introduction telling us the meaning: that Christ’s disciples “ought always to pray and not lose heart.” Now the woman in the story had every reason to lose heart. She has a corrupt judge trying to settle a case brought by her against another citizen. She was a widow, and since she’s acting on her own we know that she has no son either to speak up for her. So she has no power or authority with this godless judge. But she comes to the judge over and over again to demand justice, and we get the strong sense that she has right on her side. The judge confirms that he has no fear of any god and no respect for any man, but he lets justice be done for the woman, not because of that, and against his own corrupt interests, because he fears that the woman will wear him down with her incessant pleading.
Jesus paints this picture as a method of contrast. If persistent petition is enough even for a monster of a judge to give justice, then the most loving, most kind, most just, the Lord, will more readily grant the petition asked of Him. But hold on, I know that you, like me, have prayed for things to happen, or items to come to us, that we didn’t get. It might have been a doll for Christmas or–more seriously--a healing for a sick child. And it didn’t happen, and you felt cheated by God.
Look at what Jesus is saying, though, about the object of this prayer: ”And will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily.” Let’s not quibble about what the word “elect” means. Here it very clearly means the people He has chosen, at the time Jesus spoke, the Jews, and at the time Luke wrote, the elect followers of Jesus. It could have meant that the Lord would give the elect justice against the Roman oppressors, or the Samaritans, or the various persecutors of the Church. But it was certainly vindication, a triumph over evil. And God did act, even when His elect were imperfect. As He vindicated the Israelites against Pharaoh, and later against Amalek, so He let the Church triumph, non-violently, against the Romans in the time of Constantine. But they had to pray incessantly for three hundred years before that happened.
Jesus is certainly not promising that His elect will be relieved of every problem. The Book of Acts proves that historical fact. The Church had many problems in the first century, beginning in Jerusalem all the way through the emperor Nero’s cruelty that took the lives of Peter and Paul. But prayer always is effective if we remember that the Lord’s critical mission is to bring all humans to redemption, to union with the Blessed Trinity as each of us falls asleep in Christ. He will always give adequate grace to His elect so that goal can be reached. The Christmas dolls and the healings and even the conquest of political foes takes on a lower priority for God, as it should for us. That is what we must believe. When the Lord returns, will He find us faithfully and persistently in prayer for salvation?
As we await final vindication, then, we should always remember St. Paul’s advice–nay command–to bishop Timothy. He looks forward to the resurrection and the last judgement, and encourages us to consistently teach, convince, rebuke error, exhort and encourage others, and be patient without fail. May God inspire us daily to heed this message and spread the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
