We continue with our
introduction to the Narrative Lectionary.
The reading:
Genesis 18:1-15,21:1-7
The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat
at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three
men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet
them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, ‘My lord, if I find favour with
you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your
feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you
may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to
your servant.’ So they said, ‘Do as you have said.’ And Abraham hastened into
the tent to Sarah, and said, ‘Make ready quickly three measures of choice
flour, knead it, and make cakes.’ Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf,
tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then
he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before
them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
They said to him,
‘Where is your wife Sarah?’ And he said, ‘There, in the tent.’ Then one said,
‘I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a
son.’ And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and
Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the
manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I have grown old,
and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?’ The Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why
did Sarah laugh, and say, “Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?” Is
anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in
due season, and Sarah shall have a son.’ But Sarah denied, saying, ‘I did not
laugh’; for she was afraid. He said, ‘Oh yes, you did laugh.’
The Lord dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did
for Sarah as he had promised. Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old
age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to
his son whom Sarah bore him. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was
eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when
his son Isaac was born to him. Now Sarah said, ‘God has brought laughter for
me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.’ And she said, ‘Who would ever have
said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in
his old age.’
Last week, we heard one of the creation stories from Genesis
2, about God breathing life into us and being present with a prefect and then a
broken and suffering world. This week, we just heard the story of Abraham and
Sarah having a child in their old age. A
lot of things happened between creation and this joyful event. The biggest involve Noah, the flood, the
renewal and God’s promise to not do that again. After the flood God makes a covenant
(promise or agreement) with Noah
Then God said to Noah and to his sons with
him: “I now establish my covenant with
you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was
with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came
out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant
with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood;
never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the
covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a
covenant for all generations to come: I
have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant
between me and the earth.
The story of Noah and the flood ends with a covenant. The
story of Abraham begins with a covenant.
Centuries after the flood, the Lord once again communicates with the
world. This time, it starts with God asking Abram to do something very
frightening and difficult, “Go from your
country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. And
God promising “I will make you into a
great nation, and I will bless you;I
will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless
you, and whoever curses you I will
curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
After this, Abram moves his family where the Lord said,
During the trip, there are challenges, obstacles and successes, God travels
with them, continues to communicate, make agreements with and promises to
Abram. To show the new relationship between God and people, at one point
Abram’s name is changed to Abraham. in Genesis 17 we hear
As for Me, behold, My
covenant is with you, And you will be the father of a multitude of nations. "No
longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I
will make you the father of a multitude of nations
This morning, we hear another promise central to the story
of Abraham and his family, In this case, the Lord seems to appear as three man
and issues the bizzare, impossible promise ‘I
will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son. Sarah overhears this promise and does the
first thing that comes to mind, she laughs, a silent, internal, yeah right,
sort of laugh. One year and one son
later, Sarah and Abraham realizes that God keeps God’s promises. Sarah gives
birth to Issac (who is part of one of the bible’s most challenging stories:
years later, God will order Abraham to sacrifice Issac and stop him at the last
minute, accepting an animal sacrifice instead).
It can be hard for us to really understand what it means for
God to keep promises. The first challenge is that we often break our own
promises. We live in time and place where divorces, no shows, deceitful
statements and broken promises abound. Sometimes it is for good reasons,
sometimes, there are things that happen beyond our control, and other times, we
decide fulfilling our promise will be too costly, forget or simply do not do
it. We often promise to help people do
something only to find out we cannot do so.
Professionally and personally, I have always prided myself
on keeping commitments, on being where I am supposed to be when I am supposed
to be there and doing what I say. About 2 years ago, I ended up going to the
hospital for an illness. It came at a
very bad time, I was scheduled to preach at my friend’s installation on long
island that afternoon and fly off to India the next day for a mission trip.
After the first hour or two in the ER, I realized those things were not going to
happen. I felt bad, this was a big disappointment to my friend, his church and
the people who planned and were going on the trip to India. No one blamed me for this, people understand
that emergencies, accidents and illnesses happen. That is our usual idea of promises, we do what
we can, we try our best and sometimes we just cannot do it. That’s not how God works though. God always
keep promises. Nothing will come up that can stop God from doing what God
says. We are asked to trust if God says
it, these things will happen.
That is often the second challenge we face. God makes some unbelievable promises. Today’s
story of God telling an old, barren woman that she will have a child is just
one of hundreds of examples where God promises incredible, impossible things.
God tells weak nations they will defeat empires, slaves they will be set free,
prisoners will walk out of their cells, great walls will fall, sins will be
forgiven, peace will come to earth, prayers will be answered, Jesus has
prepared a place for us when we die, God will restore all things. God tells a
world filled with violence there will be peace, tells a world of inequality
that all are loved, and tells people in darkness they will see a great light.
God speaks of unity in a world of separation, speaks of light to a world spiraling in the darkness of
greed, abuse and sin. We are not called to just believe these things happened in the past, We are called to
believe the God who gave a child to Abram and Sarah will do these things as
well.
Our faith centers around these promises, they are the words
that bring us hope in times of struggle, comfort at the end of life, release
when we are burdened, wisdom when we are confused, peace when we are anxious,
guidance when we are lost and joy when we are mourning.
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