The readings:
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to
Abram, and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be
blameless. And I will make my covenant
between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous." Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to
him, "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor
of a multitude of nations. No longer
shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you
the ancestor of a multitude of nations.
I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you,
and kings shall come from you. I will
establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you
throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and
to your offspring after you. God said to
Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah
shall be her name. I will bless her, and
moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give
rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her."
Romans 4:13-25
For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come
to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness
of faith. If it is the adherents of the
law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is
no law, neither is there violation. For
this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace
and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law
but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all
of us, as it is written, "I have made you the father of many
nations") --in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life
to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he
would become "the father of many nations," according to what was
said, "So numerous shall your descendants be." He did not weaken in faith when he considered
his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred
years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the
promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being
fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Therefore his faith "was reckoned to him
as righteousness." Now the words,
"it was reckoned to him," were written not for his sake alone, but
for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus
our Lord from the dead, who was handed
over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.
Mark 8
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo
great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the
scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took
him aside and began to rebuke him. But
turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get
behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on
human things." He called the crowd
with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers,
let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will
lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the
gospel, will save it. For what will it
profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for
their life? Those who are ashamed of me
and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of
Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy
angels."
The message
On Thursday and Friday we had the funeral services and
burial for Alice. Her and her family
were an active and dedicated part of our congregation for many years, As we gathered to give thanks for her time
with us, celebrate her life, share the
comfort we have in the sure certain hope of the resurrection and to say goodbye, I kept thinking about the
idea of endurance. One of the texts I
talked about at the service was from 1 Timothy 4, where St Paul towards the end
of life, while he waits for his execution due to his Christian faith, writes: I
have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the
faith. Alice and so many others who
have lived good, long lives, have endured so much, they have fought the good
fight, finished the race and kept the faith. They have faced illness, disease
and pain, the loss of their independence, the death of friends, loved ones,
neighbors and even the people they promised to spend the rest of their lives,
they have dealt with feelings of being a burden on others and overcome fears. Almost everyone has lived through poverty,
tragedy, uncertainty, challenges, and a portion of global suffering. We must give thanks for the example of
remarkable people who do this with faith, concern for others and thankfulness
for what they have.
As I started to prepare for this morning, this idea of
endurance was fresh in my mind. There are many biblical texts that deal with
endurance, perhaps the most well known comes again from St. Paul from the 13th
chapter of his letter to the people of Corinth, where he writes
“ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it
is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable
or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
Love bears all things, believes all things, endures all things”
As I worked through our readings today, I kept seeing this
idea of endurance, There it was in the story of Abraham. At age 99, at what he could only think was
the end of his life, as he faced all of the doubts and regrets, he is called by
God to do amazing things and he goes on to become one of the central figures in
three of the world’s major religions. We are left to imagine the sigh and
thoughts of a 99 year man, who has already endured all of the pains, challenges
and suffering of his world and time, who is just told by God, you haven’t seen
or done anything yet.
Even though the promise that a man of his age would become
the father of many nations must have sounded absolutely ridiculous, Abraham
does not respond to God’s words with a sigh, he responds with faith and trust.
He was ready to do and to endure whatever was asked of him. This faith and endurance is what St Paul
picks up on, celebrates and uses as proof that we are saved by faith apart from
the law. Paul notes that Hoping against
hope, Abraham believed that he would become "the father of many nations,. He did not weaken in faith when he considered
his own body, which was already as good as dead, or when he considered the
barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust
made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith
as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what God
had promised.
This brings us to the intensity of Lent in the New
Testament, to the journey to the cross
that Jesus takes and his disciples follow as best they can. We see, hear and
learn as we witness all of the things Jesus endured in this time. Last week, we heard of Jesus enduring forty
days in the wilderness, facing serious temptation, extreme hunger, danger and
isolation. There Jesus draw his strength to endure from prayer, scripture and
trust in God.
This week, we see Jesus enduring temptation
from Peter, the one who first declared that Jesus was the savior, the rock on
whom the church would be built. Here
though, Peter does not make a faithful and inspired proclamation and Peter does
not do anything to build the church.
This time, Peter offers Jesus an easy way out. Driven by love for Jesus and hope for the
future, he cannot deal with Jesus teaching that the Son of Man must undergo
great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the
scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. Peter literally yells at Jesus. We do not get
a record of what Peter said but from the context, it seems like something along
the lines of “stop talking that way, you, the son of man, will not go through
those sort of things, that’s not God’s plan, that’s not how liberation, healing
and salvation will come to us, God must have something else in mind”.
At this time, Jesus knows that Peter is being an obstacle,
that he is trying to give Jesus an easy way out instead of walking with him
through the suffering and helping him endure what is to come. That is why Jesus calls Peter Satan and
tells him to get out of the way. Of
course Jesus is not calling Peter Satan like the devil we think of today with
the fire and pitchfork, or the evil power that was tempting Jesus in the
desert. In Hebrew, the word Satan,
literally means an obstacle or adversary.
In this case that’s exactly what Peter was acting like. Jesus turns away one of his closest followers
but also uses it as teaching moment, reminding the disciples and everyone
around that God does not offer us a free escape from suffering. Instead, God is present with us in our suffering and
ready to welcome us when all is over.
Trust in this promise is where Jesus draws his strength to endure.
Finally, for us today, I want to simply remind everyone that
we have the same power to endure and the same sources of strength. We have heard the same promises that Jesus
taught and trusted. We have received the same Baptism that Jesus did, we have
the same invitation to pray and talk with a listening God, we have ready access
to the word of God and we have a community of people ready to endure together,
We are given the gift of living with the comfort of knowing, of being fully convinced that God is able to do what
God has promised.
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