PENTECOST XXII

Marc Chagall -- Jacob Wrestling the Angel

• Jeremiah 31:27-34 and Psalm 119:97-104 •
• Genesis 32:22-31 and Psalm 121 •
• 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5 •
• Luke 18:1-8
  
  
  
  The common theme in the readings from Genesis, 2 Timothy and Luke that the lectionary appoints for this week is unusually obvious – persistence. Jacob wrestles with a stranger (traditionally referred to as ‘an angel’) all night long, and even at daybreak will not let him go until he gets a blessing. Paul tells his readers to ‘be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable’ for proclaiming the Gospel. Luke recounts a parable in which Jesus invites his hearers to emulate the persistence of a widow who will not stop petitioning a judge until she gets a judgment in her favour.
  
  
  The connection is easy to spot. But what lesson should we draw from it?  Do we really have to pester God as the widow does, or wrest a blessing from God as Jacob does? Does God act justly and benevolently only if, and when, we demand that he does? This is what Jesus seems to say. Yet the suggestion sits very badly with the idea of God that most Christians have, and proclaim – a God whose love is ever present and enduring, and who always takes the initiative, reaching out even to those who are hostile or indifferent.
  
  

  

  Paul Serusier  A Widow (1919)

  The same readings can point us in another direction, however. It is a fact that even devout and serious people give up on God, and give up on prayers that they have said for years. Moreover, they do so not out of pique or petulance, but because it does look as though, despite their prayers, neither blessing nor justice is forthcoming. This is part of the reality of discipleship. What is there for Christians to say -- except this?  We ought to persist in the ways of faith.
  
  
  Persistence, though, amounts to beating one’s head against the wall, unless we can continue in the belief that God’s love and justice does not fail. What sustains that belief, in the face of silence, is an acknowledgement that no other blessing or justice will serve. Christ’s persistence in the face of hatred and social conformity brought him to death on the Cross. This showed his love of God to be unshakeable, a love then vindicated by the Resurrection.