The Sundays that
fall within the Lenten season are filled with contradictions. This Sunday is no exception. The
scripture readings and the liturgy invites us to contemplate our failures. At
the same time, they remind us whose we are, and of God’s continuing vision for us. They
remind us that as human beings, we have committed great sins against God—we have killed the prophets and have been enemies
of Christ.
However, they also testify that we are the heirs of Abraham, citizens of the commonwealth of heaven, and members of
Christ’s glorious body. These seeming contradictions are enough to give anyone an identity crisis. Therefore, should we gather for worship of the Almighty or should we run for cover—should we
raise our voices in praise or should we fall on our faces in begging forgiveness for our sins?
In seeking an answer for that dilemma, we need to begin about 4000 years ago.
We need to begin with Abram. His name still was Abram—it would be
some time before God would change his name to Abraham, signifying that he will be the “father of all nations.”
But in today’s story, Abram is not the father of anything—much less “all nations.” Sarai his wife had been unable to conceive a child. She further
has gotten beyond the “child-bearing” age. Without an heir, Abraham
and Sarai would not have anyone to care for them when they became infirm, or even to give them a decent burial.
But they are not only barren in not being able to have a child—they even- more- so were barren spiritually and
emotionally. Abram was not a settled man. He
was the perpetual stranger in a strange land—the outsider who longed to be an insider—the landless one who yearned
to own land. He therefore was barren spiritually.
At the same time, God had been seeking someone special. We human beings
have been central to God’s created order—yet we human beings had miserably failed God. We had failed to be in the relationship with God, as God had created us to be. God therefore was seeking
a new kind of human being—one that would live in relationship with him.
God had noticed Abram. Abram seemed no different from the others. He was no more religious than the others were.
He had a restless spirit that caused him to leave one place for another. And,
before he got to his destination, he would settle down along the way, for a while. Then
he would pack up his tents for another move. He seemed so unsure of himself and he acted impulsively. Throughout his story, there was a mystery that surrounded Abram. He
has been the subject of many stories in the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic faith traditions. In
fact, less that 1% of the stories about Abram are found in our Bibles.
At the same time, Abram was different from their ancestors. Abram and Sarai
not having an heir pointed out a glaring different between them and Adam and Noah. Abram and Sarai were barren in life, and
only the Creator God could bring life from the midst of their barrenness. Abram
and Sarai therefore needed God.
God took the initiative and came to Abram. God called to Abram, “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”
Even though God’s first word to them, “Fear not” was a greeting—God’s speaking to Abram disoriented
Abram from his assumptions. God then reaffirmed God’s promise of hope in
declaring, “Your reward will be great.” The reward is not specified in the text, but the implication was that Abram would
receive land. God was going to give Abram land, as a king might give a vassal
a “land grant” because of one’s loyalty.
At the same time, God’s gift of land required that Abram have an heir who could inherit it. Such a gift of land was not just for one generation. Abram
needed an heir that could transmit that land through several generations. Abram
owned many slaves—one of whom he could have been adopted as a son. That
adopted slave-son would care for them in their old age, and when they died he would give them a decent burial. Furthermore, the slave-son would then inherit the land. Yet,
in their thinking, such a slave-son would be the continuation of their present barrenness. They therefore needed an heir to
continue their line.
Abram therefore protested against God’s promise of land. “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless...and a slave born in my house will be my heir.”
God then responded to Abram’s protest in reasserting the promise once again.
God’s word would break through the barrenness of Abram and Sarai’s
lives—“This man shall not be your
heir; your own son shall be your heir.”
God then told Abram to step outside of his tent, and for him to look up into the clear night sky. God then told him to count all the stars, if he would attempt to count them. God told Abram that just as Abram could not count all the stars, likewise Abram would not be able to count
all of his descendants.
In God’s word to Abram—God shattered Abram’s state of barrenness. Abram
knew that the Creator God that had created all the stars, that God likewise could create Sarai and him an heir. Abram not only trusted in what God told him—even more so, he trusted God. In doing so, Abram bound his fate to the Creator God that had promised him a future.
We have to be careful to realize that Abram’s new faith was not the religious notion that everything will work
out all right. Instead, Abram realized that God’s creative powers was bringing
creative possibilities for his life.
Then God bound himself to Abram using an ancient ceremony—a “blood-oath” of sorts—to visibly
reinforce God’s promise to Abram.
From its beginning, God’s people have experienced periods of barrenness in their worship and service of God. In his life, Jesus manifested God’s creative powers to give new life to
the barren political and ecclesiastical structures of 1st century Judaism. Yet, in today’s New Testament lesson, we learn that King Herod wanted to kill
Jesus, as he had John the Baptist before him. Jesus
however would not withdraw in fear of Herod’s evil intentions. At
the same time, Jesus lamented Jerusalem’s in all of its barrenness, crying out “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you...Behold your house is forsaken.”
Faust is a character from German legend that makes a deal with the devil, all in order to satisfy his thirst for knowledge. One of the stories about Faust is about a painting, in which the devil was portrayed
as playing chess with Faust. In that painting, it looked as if the devil had
checkmated Faust. Faust therefore was doomed to spending eternity in hell. However, one man who knew the game of chess well, he studied the painting for some
time. Then suddenly he shouted out, “The
King has another move!” There was another move on that chessboard,
a move that would prevent Faust from being checkmated. Surely, the King of kings
would make that move in behalf of Faust. This man recognized as did Martin Luther
when he wrote, “And though this world with devils filled, should threaten to
undo us. We will not fear, for God hath willed, his truth to triumph through
us.”
Two thousand years ago on a Good Friday afternoon, everyone was saying that the “Jesus Revolution” was over.
Yet by God’s power, Easter came two days later and the Christian Church
was born.
Sixteen hundred years later in the 17th century, the Church had fallen into barrenness. It
needed a radical reformation—God sent Martin Luther and John Calvin. God
infused their messages with the Holy Spirit’s power—and the Church received its needed reformation.
Today, there are those cynics in our society that predict that the great influence of the Christian Church is past—that
in another 50 years it will be a shadow of itself. However, it is important for
us to remember that wherever the Word of God is preached and faithfully heard, and wherever the sacraments are rightly administered—there
the Church exists. We therefore, should not count God out in the reformation
of his Church!
Lee Ann Womack has a song that goes, “...Promise me that you’ll
give faith a chance, and when you get the desire to sit it out or dance. I’ll
hope you’ll dance.
Having faith is not blind, naïve faith. It is not a passive, wishful thinking
faith. It is not a faith that fails to take responsibility for our own actions, and instead tosses everything in the air in
the hopes God will catch it.
Rather, faith is about being open to God’s creative possibilities for the future. Faith is about allowing God
to draw outside the lines that we have established. Moreover, when in your faith, when you get the desire to sit it out or
dance, I’ll hope you’ll dance!
Dr. William dePrater
