The 20th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 24C), Oct. 17, 2004
Gen. 32:3-8,22-30; Psalm 121; 2 Tim. 3:14-4:5; Luke 18:1-8a
Most of us in the American Episcopal tradition are uncomfortable with the notion, so common around us, that having faith is a passive activity. We can respect and honor those many Christians for whom faith is simply a given, but it isn’t that easy for us. We might be envious of those who profess to know with certainty both the nature and the will of God, yet we’re honest enough to admit that only the worst kind of arrogance can presume to know either in its fullness. At least we’re in good company, though, as today’s readings amply demonstrate.
In the reading from Genesis, Jacob literally wrestles with God, probing the Lord’s being and power with such fervor that he’s “put out of joint.” We, too, find ourselves continually wrestling with who God is and with what he can do. We find that it’s only through that process that we, like the patriarch, can “prevail” through more perfect knowledge of the Lord, and so can humbly ask his blessing upon us.
The author of 2 Timothy makes it clear that “[a]ll scripture is inspired by God,” and probably no Christian of any stripe would take serious issue with this. Yet the writer also knows of a tendency among faithful people everywhere to “accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires” — those who misuse the word to pander to the prejudices of their hearers. Those who use non-contextual “proof texts” to demonstrate the legitimacy of either the political left or the political right might fall into this category. It’s only through our continuous wrestling with what the Spirit is now saying through the scriptures that our own souls can achieve some measure of peace.
The woman in our Lord’s parable in today’s gospel wrestles with the meaning and efficacy of prayer, as many of us do today. Confronted with the apparent failure of her efforts at interceding, she’s tempted to cut her losses and to quit altogether. Encouraged in perseverance, however, she’s eventually taught the true effect of prayer: It changes her, and not God. When we pray with persistence, we inevitably discover the very same thing.
Our personal and corporate faith, as Episcopalians, isn’t one that is simply a “given.” We’re simply too smart for that. Yet we can take comfort in knowing that faith which is gained at a cost — through “wrestling” — is faith which can carry us unto death.
Look It Up
In what way does an apostle change his mind, through wrestling with the word with other Christians, about his previous understanding of the Lord's teaching nature? (Acts 10:34).
Think About It
What issues facing the Church today call us to wrestle with the nature of God and with the meaning of the scriptures? What insights does this wrestling bring to us in our contemporary Anglican disagreements?
Next Sunday
The 21st Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 25C), Oct. 24, 2004
Jer. 14:(1-6)7-10,19-22; Psalm 84 or 84:1-6; 2 Tim. 4:6-8,16-18; Luke 18:9-14
