Sermon for September 15

The Readings

Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-7

18:1 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. 2 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. 3 He said, "My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. 4 Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. 5 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." 6 And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes." 7 Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. 8 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. 9 They said to him, "Where is your wife Sarah?" And he said, "There, in the tent." 10 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. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?" 13 The Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, and say, "Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' 14 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." 15 But Sarah denied, saying, "I did not laugh"; for she was afraid. He said, "Oh yes, you did laugh."

21:1 The Lord dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised. 2 Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 Now Sarah said, "God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me." 7 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."

The message

As we look at today’s reading, we have to start with 2 questions. First -What happened between creation last week and the events of this week, the good news to Abraham and Sarah that they will have a son and the birth of that son, Issac, Second -who are Abraham and Sarah, what happened to them up to this point


First, after creation, there is the fall, Eve and Adam disobey God’s command and eat fruit from a tree that God had told them not to. They do this so that they can have knowledge of good and evil, falling for the enticement of god-like power and knowledge. For this, they are punished, thrown out of the kind garden and left in a harsh world.   After jealousy over a sacrifice, one of their children kills the other, Cain kills Abel.  The world continues to deteriorate and grow further from God., ⁵ The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.  After this, there is the great flood to destroy a failed creation. Noah and his family build a very large boat.  Along with pairs of every animals, Noah and his family ride out the flood in the ark and spared.  When the waters recede, God sends them to “be fruitful and multiply”, to repopulate the new world.  After this, we have the tower of Babel. People come together to try and build a center of the world that is not God, a place of ultimate power that is not God, a place of decision that is not God. Part of this plan is a universal language and a city with a tower that reaches heaven.  In response, God scatters them and confuses their languages. 


After a series of genealogies that tell the generations of Noah and his children, we meet Abram, a descendant of Noah’s first born son Shem. In the midst of ordinary life, we suddenly learn The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.² “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.”  So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot (Abram’s nephew) went with him.  Abram goes, building a family, encountering war, struggle and success.  The thing that was missing was a child, a son, a true heir with his wife Sarah. How could God’s promise I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you be true if he does not even have a single heir, who would this promise happen through.

With Sarah’s suggestion and permission, Abram did have a child, Ishmael, with Haggar, one of their servants. Although Ishmael was not considered a true heir, this creates a great deal of jealousy and a rupture in their house.  After this God once again repeats the promise to Abraham  “you shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations” and more specific, “as for Ishmael, I will bless him but my covenant will be with Issac whom Sarah will bear in the season after next.   (To Abram and Sarah who are now old, disappointed and frustrated, this sounds impossible)

That brings us to today’s visit where the Lord appears in some way as these three visitors to Abraham and Sarah’s tent.  Starting here, there are moments in the story we are unsure about. We do not know if Abraham recognizes the importance of his visitors. Regardless, Abraham responds with immediate and great hospitality, insisting they stay, offering a little food and water and then giving even more. The guests repeat the promise that Sarah will bear a child. Sarah overhears this and laughs to herself (we learn at another point in the story Abraham laughs as well), We are not sure if this is a laughter expressing relief, a laughter sharing uncertainty or a laughter of seriously, now, after all these years, when I am too old you talk about this promise.   Sometimes, all we do is laugh at our attempts to figure things out or do them our way.

While Abraham and Sarah wait for this promise of a son, we have the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, places and communities so corrupted by sin, they must be destroyed (for instance, when angels of the Lord, disguised as men, go to visit Sodom and see what is happening, all the men of the city go out and try to rape them, not exactly the best thing they could have done during an inspection to determine the fate of their city).   

Scripture returns to the story of Abraham and Sarah, with God’s promise kept, the birth of Issac.  Now Sarah said, "God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me” Issac’s name literally means “he laughs” and unlike the uncertain laughter of before, this is laughter of joy and relief.  It is an invitation for us to remember with God all things are possible. This story sits in the Bible as one of the first examples of the message, With God all things are possible.  The history of Israel is filled with examples of people who remember nothing is impossible for God who gave a child to Sarah and Abraham.   They will constantly experience this in their lives and their history. God will act powerfully and decisively in the world, There will be times when all their efforts fail or fall apart, wisdom is wrong, armies are powerless and all that is left is to depend on God.     

With God all things are possible is a quote we see printed on coffee cups, sewed on pillow cases, hung up on church banners (We had one right there for a long time), prayed before big moments, spoken in love to people in crisis to bring comfort, spoken in encouragement to people who have lost hope. Of course, with God all things are possible is not a magic phrase we can use to get what we want. If you say “With God all things are possible” 10 times and buy a lotto ticket, you are not guaranteed a win. This is not simply a self help trick, to encourage you to act boldly or stupidly assuming God will push the outcome in your favor.  It is a statement of God’s ultimate authority in and over the world. Like the rest of our long Advent, it is a promise that God is with us.   

With God all things are possible is the message Jesus shares in our verse from Mark 10. In that case, Jesus shares these words after a series of very difficult comments on how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God.  After laying out why it is virtually impossible, Jesus’ frustrated and scared disciples watch the crowds disappear and they had enough, they ask Then who can be saved?” ²⁷ Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”  Here, God’s power is applied to salvation,  it cannot be earned  by keeping the law, it cannot be purchased or accomplished by some (or a ton of) good works, it will be given as a gift because with God all things are possible.  Today, we say all things are possible for God who was made flesh and dwelled amongst us, who healed the sick, welcomed the stranger, taught the crowds, calmed the storms. who died and rose again.