Hands Raised, Hearts Given

The people in the wilderness were tested by thirst, and at once their mouths turned to quarrelling. Yet the same chapter shows another way: Moses stands with lifted hands while Joshua fights, and Israel’s help comes from the Lord. The church saw in those outstretched hands a figure of the Lord’s passion. As Justin says, “Moses stretched out his hands in the shape of a cross, and Israel conquered. But when Moses lowered his hands, Amalek prevailed. This indicates that Israel would not conquer until Christ stretched out His hands on the cross.” Victory, then, is not won by complaint, nor by strength alone, but by steadfast reliance on the crucified Christ.

Mark sets this before us in a sharper form. The tenants would not render fruit to the owner; they beat the servants and killed the son. This is the sin of a hard heart: to receive God’s gifts and refuse God His due. The scribes ask for the great commandment, and the Lord gathers the whole life of obedience into love of God and neighbor. As Cyprian says, “The Lord in His Gospel, when He would direct the way of our hope and faith in a brief summary, said, The Lord your God is one God: and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment; and the second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

So let the mouth cease from murmuring, the hands be lifted in prayer, and the life bear fruit. To honor Caesar what is Caesar’s is easy enough; but to render to God what is God’s means giving Him the heart, the tongue, the strength, the coin, and the deed.