29th Week of Ordinary Time C – Sunday

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, peace be with you as we celebrate this 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time throughout the year. See, in the liturgical calendar today we have readings which speak to us about persevering in our faith through constant prayer that we need to practice and progress in, and ultimately our reliance on God's power. For without him, as Jesus has told us before, we can do nothing.

And so our first reading from the Book of Exodus, from chapter 17, deals with Moses and his battle against Amalek. Now Amalek and the Amalekites were a nomadic tribe, and they traditionally descended from Amalek, a grandson of Esau. So this makes the Amalekites distant relatives of the Israelites. Since Israel and Esau were brothers, the Amalekites lived in the Negev desert and Sinai region, and they controlled key trade and travel routes. They were known for being fierce desert raiders. In the biblical tradition, Amalek becomes more than just a tribe. They are portrayed as the archetypal enemy of God's people.

And now today's reading picks up on the first external attack Israel faces after leaving Egypt, and it comes at the hands of the Amalekites. The battle occurs shortly, therefore, after the Exodus, while Israel is journeying through the wilderness toward Sinai. The Israelites are not even yet an army. They are former slaves, vulnerable, tired, and still learning to trust in God's leadership through Moses. And so Moses therefore said to Joshua in the reading today, “Pick out certain men, and tomorrow go out and engage Amalek in battle. I will be standing on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” And then further on in the reading, we hear that "... as long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight. But when he let his hands rest, Amalek had the better of the fight."

Now, of course, God is trying to tell us something very important. In fact, this reading was a favorite of the early Church Fathers because in it they saw so much rich symbolism and spirituality that we can apply to our own lives. The first thing to note is the staff. Why is it that God placed so much power in that staff, right? Moses says, if I raise the staff, the people of God will win. If I lower it, the enemy gets the better hand. That staff has always been a prefigurement, a prophecy, if you will, of another piece of wood, another branch from a tree, so to speak. Another image of a tree. And that tree is the cross of Jesus Christ. And when he was raised up on the cross, he defeated the enemy, Satan, and his greatest enemy of all, the final enemy, death. And he defeated both of those for us out of great love for us.

Now, in the second reading, we hear about Saint Paul's inspirational words to Timothy. And Paul exhorts Timothy to remain steadfast in what he has learned and to proclaim the word in season and out of season. Because the Word of God strengthens us and helps us to persevere—persevere in prayer, and persevere in doing good works and being generous to others.

And of course, in the Gospel of Luke, we hear Jesus teaching about the necessity to pray always without becoming weary. How much energy, therefore, do we need for prayer? The widow's persistence moves even an unjust judge. How much more will God respond to those who cry out to him day and night? We need to persevere in our prayer, and not lose heart, and not lower our hands and lower our guard, because in doing this, the enemy will gain the upper hand.

Now back to the first reading. Saint Augustine of Hippo says, “When Moses raised his hands, Israel prevailed. When he lowered them, Amalek prevailed.” This lifting of hands prefigured what I just said: the cross on which Christ's hands were stretched out, and by which he conquered the enemy. So even for Saint Augustine, Moses, standing on the hill with arms raised, foreshadows Christ on Calvary, interceding for humanity.