Do Not Grow Weary

29th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Exodus 17:8-13

In those days, Amalek came and waged war against Israel.

Moses, therefore, said to Joshua,

"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."

So Joshua did as Moses told him:

he engaged Amalek in battle

after Moses had climbed to the top of the hill with Aaron and Hur.

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.

Moses' hands, however, grew tired;

so they put a rock in place for him to sit on.

Meanwhile Aaron and Hur supported his hands,

one on one side and one on the other,

so that his hands remained steady till sunset.

And Joshua mowed down Amalek and his people

with the edge of the sword.

Our first reading takes place during the Exodus from Egypt, or as Moses records it, “In those days.” The days he speaks of are specifically the time between crossing the Red Sea and arriving at Mt. Sinai, a period of about three months. “In those days,” the Lord had already parted the Red Sea, provided quail and miraculous bread from heaven, and water from a rock. After the events of our first reading, Moses would set up an authority structure consisting of minor judges to handle the people’s simpler issues, and all this just before the arrival at Mt. Sinai and the great theophany of the Lord. 

In these days, the Amalekites picked a fight with the Israelites while they were en route to Mt. Sinai. Moses went to the top of a hill with the staff of God, the very staff that the Lord had enabled him to turn into a serpent before Pharoah, the same rod Moses held up to part the Red Sea, and the very same rod that he used to strike the rock at Meribah and Massah to make drinking water flow from it. With this relic of the Lord’s mighty deeds in hand, Moses held his hands up to bless Israel’s soldiers. When we also hold up the mighty deeds of the Lord over our lives, our children, our efforts, we might just find that the Lord fights our battles for us as well. When Moses' arms grew tired, he needed the support of Aaron and Hur to keep his arms up in blessing. We too frequently need others to lift us up, even to hold us up, when we become battle-weary. 

The Church deliberately pairs this reading with the Gospel in which Jesus tells a parable about praying and not growing weary. We must not grow weary in our relationship with the Lord. If we feel the weight or weariness coming upon us, we need to have good Christian friends who can hold us up and remind us of the Lord’s mighty deeds in our life. Who are these friends for you?