Bratty Kid Brothers

…and they took him and threw him into a pit. […] Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?  Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites…” And his brothers agreed. When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt. (Gen 37, excerpt. Full reading at end of post.)

“…they threw him in a pit…”

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Preamble: There are so many ways in which today’s scripture reading parallels yesterday’s events in Charlottesville VA, it’s a bit scary.  Both are stories of murderous hatred between brothers.

In the context of yesterday’s news this sermon may be difficult to talk about and to hear. But as the apostle Paul says, our battle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, against the evils of this world. It is a spiritual battle.  No human being, no group, no political party, ever perfectly represents God’s will.  Only God can do that. And so today, even in the midst – especially in the midst – of our fear and our anger, we turn to God’s word for comfort and for direction.

As our sermon opens, we’ll be listening in on one of Jacob’s sons expressing his hatred for his brother.

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“What a brat! Can you imagine living with a kid brother like Joseph?  Oh, he’s Daddy’s favorite, he is.

“His mama was Daddy’s favorite wife too, Rachel. Of course she’s dead now so we can’t speak ill of her. But we older boys in the family have always had to pick up the slack from little Joseph and his bratty little brother Benjamin.

“Those two never pull their weight around here.  All of us – the sons of Leah and Bilhah and Zilpah – we do all the work.  Put up the tents! Take down the tents! Feed the animals! Take the animals out to pasture! Defend the family from creeps like those Shechemites who raped our sister! But nobody helps us!

“Meanwhile Joseph sits around the tent in the pretty robe Dad made him, doing absolutely nothing.  Oh, yeah, he’ll come out and help the younger brothers with the animals sometimes. But then he runs home to Dad and tattles on us.  I mean, so what if Dan and Asher drink and rough-house a little? So what if people in the town don’t like it? They’re young, they’ve got wild oats to sow. What’s that to Joseph?

“But noooo… he has to run home and tell Daddy.  And of course Dad believes every word he says. He could tell Dad the moon was purple and Dad would believe him.

“I can’t stand that brat.

“Oh! And here’s the best part.  Lately he’s been having dreams.  He dreams he has a big tall sheaf of wheat and all of our sheaves gather around it and bow down to it.  I mean, who does he think he is?!?  He’s the second-youngest son of twelve sons.  Reuben is the oldest – if anybody’s in charge he is, and he would never lord it over us. But this little runt thinks he’s going to be king?

“Oh, and then he had another dream.  He said he saw the sun, moon, and stars bowing down to him. Even Dad objected to that one – he said, “son, you think me and your mothers and brothers are going to bow to you?” But you know what, even while he was saying it I could tell Dad half-believed him.

“One thing’s for certain though – Dad will never punish Joseph for going on about those dreams. Oh, no… not the golden boy. Who needs him? Stick to the tents you little runt… go home and be with Daddy.  Sometimes I wish he would just drop off the face of the earth.

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That’s what I imagine Jacob’s boys would tell us if we could transport ourselves back in time 4000 years.  Many of us here today have brothers and sisters and have had our share of sibling rivalries, but for most of us it was nothing compared to this.

But I think it’s easy to sympathize with Jacob’s boys.  Even in average families, the oldest kids always complain they do all the work, and the youngest are getting away with murder. In Jacob’s family the youngest  sons were favored, because their mother was the favorite wife – which wasn’t fair to the rest of the boys.

And in our story when some of the boys actually do try to take matters into their own hands, it’s the oldest – Reuben – who is responsible and talks them out of it. When the younger sons throw Joseph into a pit, Reuben figures he’ll leave Joseph there for a while to think things over and then come back later and pull him out and send him home safely.

But when Reuben isn’t looking, the other brothers see some traders on their way to Egypt and decide to make some money instead of committing murder.

Picture the scene: Joseph, all of 17 years old, stripped of his robe, crying out for mercy, while his brothers haggle over what his life is worth.  How angry were they to ignore their brother on his knees, weeping and begging for his life?

Unknown to all of them, in this horrific moment the wheels of history are turning. What the brothers are doing is reprehensible, and the pain their father will feel is unthinkable.

Yet on a larger scale, this one action will set into motion a series of events that will save millions of lives and define the nation of Israel from which the Messiah Jesus will come.

Years later Joseph will say to his brothers, “what you meant for evil, God meant for good.”  And that’s very true. But in today’s story that’s still many years away.

For today we need to spend some time with the tragedy of this deeply dysfunctional family – because we see in this story a microcosm of the deeply dysfunctional human family in which all of us live.

So two things I’d like to focus on today: (1) what scripture tells us about Jacob’s family; and (2) what Joseph’s story says to us as Christians in the 21^st century.

• What Genesis tells us.

Genesis tells us Jacob was living in an town called Hebron, south of Jerusalem near the Dead Sea. Jacob’s sons were feeding the flocks in Shechem, a city about 50 miles away, north of Jerusalem in what Jesus would have called Samaria.  The distance between Jacob and his sons is about the same as the distance between here and Morgantown WV.

Shepherds back in those days needed to move around to find good pastures, but it’s doubtful they needed to go that far to find green grass.  The whole issue with Joseph caused such hard feelings that the boys were putting physical distance between themselves and their father.

On top of that, Shechem is also where, a few years before, Jacob’s daughter (their sister) Dinah had been raped and the brothers took revenge by killing a bunch of Shechemites. So they had worn out their welcome in this part of the country.  When Joseph arrived in Shechem he found his brothers had already moved on, even further north, to a city named Dothan, which is about as far from Shechem as we are from Monroeville, so Joseph had about another day to walk to get to them.

The name ‘Dothan’ translated from the Hebrew means “Law” – and we could say that the sons of Jacob, having run away from their father Israel and his God, are now trying to live by the Law (so to speak) and not by the grace of the word of God. We’ll come back to that in a moment. Physically, the brothers are moving northwest, headed in the direction of the Plain of Megiddo, or as we call it today, Armageddon.

I don’t think that’s coincidence. To make a long story short, they’re headed in the wrong direction. They’re moving away from their father, away from their families, away from those who care about them, away from righteous living, away from God, and into major trouble. And they’re so angry with Joseph, scripture says they couldn’t even greet him with the traditional greeting: they couldn’t even say shalom to him.

On some level their father Jacob must have known they were in trouble, which is why he sent Joseph to them. But the brothers saw Joseph coming from a distance and made plans to take his life. When Joseph got to Dothan, they stripped off his robe, tossed him in a pit… and then sat down to have lunch!

Can you imagine doing that? And yet even today people kill and steal and lie and cheat and abuse their spouses or their children – or light torches and surround churches in the night – and then go sit down and eat a meal like it’s nothing.

In our passage, Joseph’s brothers then spotted the caravan of Ishmaelites.  We met Ishmael earlier this summer: he’s the half-brother of Isaac, son of Abraham.  So the men in the caravan were their grandfather’s brother’s grandchildren. We don’t know if they actually knew each other, but Jacob’s sons were able to identify them as “Ishmaelites” on sight.

So the brothers decide to sell Joseph to their second cousins. And now they can go home and honestly say they didn’t kill Joseph, and they don’t where he is – they have total deniability – and they will come away with little extra money in their pockets.

And Joseph – the one who was sent by their father to help them – is bound and carried away to Egypt.

At first glance this story doesn’t seem to have anything to recommend it at all.  There’s nothing here we want to model our lives on. There are no good examples to follow (except for maybe Joseph, and Joseph comes across as innocent but very naïve).

• So what does this all mean to us as Christians in the 21^st century?

One of the common themes in Christian theology is that Joseph is a ‘type’ of Jesus.  That is, there are similarities between Joseph’s story and Jesus’ story – so much so that Joseph’s life can – in some ways – be interpreted as a prophecy of the Messiah. Looking at Joseph helps us understand Jesus.

For example: Genesis 37:3 tells us “Jacob loved Joseph more than any other of his children.” In Matthew, God says about Jesus: “this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.”  Not that Jacob didn’t love his other children, and not that God doesn’t love all God’s children.  But Jesus is set apart, just as Joseph was set apart. Joseph was clothed by his father in a special robe; Jesus was clothed by his Father in the Holy Spirit and in power.

Here’s another. In Genesis, Joseph’s brothers hate him out of envy. In the gospels, the religious authorities – the scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees – hate Jesus out of envy.  Mark 15:10 says, “the chief priests delivered Jesus up out of envy.” And Jesus in his parable of the vineyard says, “the tenants saw the son coming and said ‘here is the heir – let’s kill him and the vineyard will be ours.’”

Here’s another. In both stories there is a prophecy that the Son will one day rule as king.  Joseph dreams of his brothers bowing down to him – which ended up actually happening. Joseph knew his dreams had to do with the future. He never intended them to lord over his brothers – he was trying to tell them the future that was coming!  And in Matthew, Jesus says, “you will see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” (Matt. 26:64)  And the apostle Paul says one day “every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” This is not Jesus ‘lording’ himself over us. He’s telling us what’s coming.

Joseph and Jesus both are sent to look out for the welfare of their brothers (and sisters). Both willingly go and search diligently until the people they’re seeking are found.  But as it says in the gospel of John, “he came to his own, and his own received him not.”  And this true of both Jesus and Joseph. The people who have gone to Dothan – that is, to the law – have rejected salvation as the gift of God, and both Joseph and Jesus plead with them to hear the voice of the Father and change direction – because the law cannot save; only God the Father can.

Joseph and Jesus both are condemned to die by those they came to help.  Both are stripped of their robes. Both are thrown into a pit (in Jesus’ time, prisons looked more like pits than jail cells).  Both are denied justice, or even a fair hearing. Both are sold for silver placed in the hand.

And as Joseph begins his new life in Egypt, the parallels between his life and the life of Jesus will continue. We’ll look at that next week.

For today, we leave ten brothers in a field, with hatred and violence and guilt in their hearts, far from where they should be, far from God, and far from home.  In a few days Jacob’s heart will break when they show him Joseph’s robe, covered in blood.

For today we leave Joseph on the road to Egypt… and Jesus on the road to Calvary. And just like back then, people are sitting down and eating and going about life like nothing has happened.

Next week we will see how the stories end. Until then, think about the people in these stories. Think about the choices they made. Think about their fear and hatred and anger, and where it leads.

Then think about God the Father, who like Jacob, suffers when his children suffer. Think about Jesus, who like Joseph, willingly searched for us and found us no matter what it cost him. Think about Joseph’s dreams of someday ruling, and the prophecies that Jesus will one day rule.  Are we, his brothers and sisters, ready for his coming kingdom? Are we ready to lay down our anger and our fears and make peace with God?

Think on these things… and we’ll pick up here next week. AMEN.

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Genesis 37:1-28  Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan.  ² This is the story of the family of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father.  ³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves.  ⁴ But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.

⁵ Once Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.  ⁶ He said to them, “Listen to this dream that I dreamed.  ⁷ There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright; then your sheaves gathered around it, and bowed down to my sheaf.”  ⁸ His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words.  ⁹ He had another dream, and told it to his brothers, saying, “Look, I have had another dream: the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”  ¹⁰ But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him, and said to him, “What kind of dream is this that you have had? Shall we indeed come, I and your mother and your brothers, and bow to the ground before you?”  ¹¹ So his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

¹² Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem.  ¹³ And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” He answered, “Here I am.”  ¹⁴ So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock; and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron. He came to Shechem,  ¹⁵ and a man found him wandering in the fields; the man asked him, “What are you seeking?”  ¹⁶ “I am seeking my brothers,” he said; “tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.”  ¹⁷ The man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.'” So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan.  ¹⁸ They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him.  ¹⁹ They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer.  ²⁰ Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.”  ²¹ But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.”  ²² Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him”– that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father.  ²³ So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore;  ²⁴ and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

²⁵ Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt.  ²⁶ Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?  ²⁷ Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers agreed.  ²⁸ When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

 

Preached at Fairhaven United Methodist Church and Spencer United Methodist Church, 8/13/17

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“I Will Not Let You Go”

[Scriptures for the day are quoted at the end of the post]
“I will not let you go.”  These words jump out at us from our passage in Genesis today. How many times in our lives have we said that to someone? Or thought it about someone?

When a parent takes their child to the big city for the first time, walking down the street, it’s “I’ve got you… don’t let go!”  Or when a child is learning how to swim: “Go ahead, try it… I won’t let you go.”

Lovers say it to each other, and love songs are full of the feeling. “Hold On” “I’ll Never Let You Go” “Stand By Me”  “I Won’t Last a Day Without You”

Sometimes love songs go a little too far, for example Sting:

“Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I’ll be watching you.”

(…which Sting calls his “Stalker Song”. Sting says he gets a bit worried when fans play this song at their weddings!)

This passionate sentiment of ‘not letting go’ is expressed in our readings from both Genesis and Romans today. In Genesis 32 a man says it to God, and in Romans 8 God says it to us.

Jacob Wrestles the Angel – Arthur Sussman
“Kick at the Darkness Until It Bleeds Daylight”

Let’s look at Genesis first.  In this passage we see the patriarch Jacob alone in the wilderness, wrestling with a stranger who turns out to be… sort of a human manifestation of God.  How Jacob came to be in this particular place on this particular night is a long story. So to make a long story short:

Jacob has been struggling and wrestling with God all his life. Even before Jacob was born, God told his mother Rebekah that her younger son (Jacob) would be blessed by God and would rule over her older son Esau.  As time went on, this started to become true, but for some reason Jacob and Rebekah felt a need to help God out a bit.  So first Jacob cheats his brother out of his birthright, and then he cheats him out of his father’s blessing.

At this point Esau is so angry he starts plotting to murder his brother Jacob.  So Rebekah sends Jacob about 500 miles away to stay with her brother Laban for safe-keeping.  On the way to Laban’s place, Jacob has his famous vision of the ladder, on which he sees angels going up and down into heaven, and hears God say:

“The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth… and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring.  Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (Genesis 28:13-15, edited)

Jacob is so amazed and moved by this meeting, he sets up a stone and calls the place Bethel which means “house of God.” Jacob has now heard, with his own ears, the same promise his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham heard God speak.  And yet when he gets to Laban’s place, Jacob still takes matters into his own hands.

And now, twenty years later, he finds himself with two wives (only one of which he asked for), eleven sons and a daughter, and huge flocks of sheep and goats – most of which he has more-or-less cheated his father-in-law out of. So Jacob’s family is now quite rich, but Jacob himself is tired and discouraged, and has worn out his welcome with just about everybody, and is caught between an angry father-in-law and an estranged brother.

So now Jacob is on the way home. Afraid of what he might meet, Jacob sends his wives and kids and animals on ahead while he spends a night alone.  But suddenly he finds himself wrestling with a mysterious man.

All.Night.Long.

As the night wears on, the wrestler puts Jacob’s hip out of joint, but still Jacob won’t let go.  Finally the sun begins to rise, and the wrestler says “let me go, for the day is breaking”. But Jacob answers, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

…as if Jacob would be able to prevent God’s departure!  You have to admire Jacob’s chutzpah. You also have to admire the rich grace of a God who is willing to spend a whole night wrestling with a mere mortal – just to teach him how to say “I will not let you go.”

So the wrestler, now revealed as God, blesses Jacob with the words:

“You shall no longer be called Jacob (which means ‘supplanter’ or ‘deceiver’) but [you shall be called] Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans and have prevailed.”

In the ancient world, names meant something, much more than they do in our culture. And the meaning of the name ‘Israel’ has been much debated.  I’ve often seen it translated as ‘he struggles with God’ or ‘he wrestles with God’.  But the Hebrew word, Isra-El, describes God, not Jacob. So a more accurate translation might be “God struggles” or “God wrestles”.

Of course it takes two to tango.  God has been wrestling with Jacob… and Jacob has been wrestling with God… all his life.  Now, finally, Jacob is at the point where he’s ready to put things in God’s hands.

For us, where we are today, if we find ourselves at the end of our ropes or at the end of our strength, if we’re hurting and ready to quit, if we feel like strangers in a strange land, will we look to God (as Jacob did) and say “I will not let you go unless you bless me”?  Will we hold on to God with all the passion of a romantic lover?

It’s a choice. Holding on to God is not so much rooted in feeling, as it is a decision.  It’s a persistence.

[As an aside – I think the ‘holding on’ and ‘not letting go’ that popular love songs sing about often has more in common with addiction than it does with faith. One of the things I discovered in my younger days is that it’s impossible to get ‘hooked on’ God.  A person can get addicted to religion or to church (or to church music) or to one kind of theology or another. But somehow God in His mercy has made it impossible to get hooked on Him.  For those of us with addictive streaks in our personalities, it would be easier to be a Christian if we could just get hooked on God because then we wouldn’t have to worry about letting go. We’d have to have God. There would be no choice in the matter.  But God has made human beings in such a way that our faithfulness and our tenacity has to be a choice, moment by moment, day by day.]

The fly in the ointment of course is that none of us is perfect, so none of us can hold on to God perfectly. And none of us is infinitely strong, so none of us can hold on forever. And that’s where our reading from Romans comes in. Romans assures us that when we come to the end of our strength, the end our abilities, God will not let go.  Jesus, who loved us even to death, is holding on to us and will not let go.

The apostle Paul says this is true in spite of any persecution or trouble we may face. It’s true no matter what. And then Paul lists a whole bunch of things that cannot separate us from God.  They include:

• Death. Life. (That covers most of it, doesn’t it?)
• Angels (fallen or otherwise)
• At this point the Greek gets a little open to variation – most translations say ‘principalities’ (which is true enough – principalities can’t make God let go of us). But the word looks more like ‘the first things’ followed by ‘the present’ and then ‘the things that are to come’. In other words, past, present and future. Nothing in our past can make God let go of us. Nothing in our present can get in God’s way. And the future is nothing to fear when we’re in God’s hands.
• Heights or depths (this can be interpreted either literally or figuratively. The highest high you’ve ever known can’t surpass God, and the deepest depression you’ve ever felt can’t overwhelm God.)
• Nor anything else in all creation (Paul says) can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God will never let us go.  Is this not good news?

And so as we move into this week and into our daily lives, think about how Jacob wrestled with God, and refused to let go.  Try approaching God in prayer with that kind of mindset and tenacity.

But also remember God is holding on to us, and God won’t let go, so we are secure no matter what happens, no matter what comes our way. We go out into the world in the confidence of God’s love that cannot be shaken.

God loves you – and will never let you go.  AMEN.

 

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Preached at Fair Oaks Retirement Home and Incarnation Church (Anglican) in the Strip District, 8/6/17

Artwork: “Jacob Wrestles the Angel” by Arthur Sussman

“Kick at the Darkness” article by Victoria Emily Jones. Pull-quote:

“In the painting God’s various sets of hands are breaking Jacob down and holding him up. Some of his faces speak gentleness, some fierceness. Whatever mixture of approaches God may use on us, his goal is this: to bring us through our brokenness to a place of blessing and glory.”

With thanks to Fr. Paul Johnston for bringing these works into our worship today.

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Scriptures

Genesis 32:22-31

“The same night [Jacob] got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.  He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had.  Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.  When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.  Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.”  So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”  Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.”  Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him.  So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.”

 

Romans 8:35-39

“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Jacob & Rachel

Genesis 29:15-28  Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?”  Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.  Leah’s eyes were lovely, and Rachel was graceful and beautiful.  Jacob loved Rachel; so he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”  Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me.”  So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.

Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.”  So Laban gathered together all the people of the place, and made a feast.  But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob; and he went in to her.  (Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her maid.)  When morning came, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?”  Laban said, “This is not done in our country– giving the younger before the firstborn.  Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.”  Jacob did so, and completed her week; then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as a wife. – Genesis 29:15-28

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The Little Chapel, Gurnsey, UK, is made up of broken pieces of porcelain cups, saucers, and dishes.

This morning we continue in our summer series on the Old Testament, looking at the foundations of our Christian faith as it’s found in the early history of the people of Israel.  But the events in today’s reading are dark, and they seem a looooong way from the Christian faith.

So to lead off, a quick summary of the message in today’s lesson:

Mortal nature is to mess things up, but God’s nature is to set things right. Ultimately, God will set all things right through Jesus the Messiah. Today’s story helps us get to know the family into which the Messiah will be born.  Like them, we can’t do God’s will apart from God’s help.  But also like them, if we trust God, God uses the raw and imperfect material of our lives to create blessings for the world.

Detail of one of the walls of the Little Chapel, where the pieces of porcelain can be clearly seen.

That’s the summary. Here’s how we get there.

The story of Jacob and Rachel and Leah, which we read today, takes place in a culture that’s very foreign to us, and therefore is open to misunderstanding.  As I thought about that this week, I was reminded of a conversation I had a number of years ago with an English friend.  She’d been living in the States for a few years and was still learning about our country. In the course of a conversation I said to her “the coffee shop is catty-corner from the bank”.  And she said “what?” And I repeated myself, and she said “spell that please”.  I said, “Catty-corner? I’m not sure. Some people say ‘kitty-corner’ – I don’t know which is right.” She said, “I thought you were giving me directions, why are we talking about cats?”

And it dawned on me that we were tripping over one of the differences between American and British English… so I thought about it… and I said to her “the coffee shop is diagonally opposite the bank”. She said, “Why didn’t you say so?!?” And we laughed and talked for about 15 minutes about words and the proper spelling of ‘catty-corner’ and the fact that no American would ever say ‘diagonally opposite’.

So if this level of confusion can happen between two women of the same age, with similar backgrounds, with similar education, speaking the same language (theoretically) – how difficult is it for us to grasp the mindset of people living 4000 years ago, halfway around the world, who spoke a language that is about as different from English as a person can get and still be on the same planet?

On the other hand, today’s story is shocking to any audience, anywhere – though maybe not for the same reasons.  For example, when Jacob barters for his bride this may strike us as a form of human trafficking; but the tradition of a ‘bride-price’ was not about selling women; it had to do with compensating a family for the hardship of removing one of the family members.

I remember talking to a classmate from Africa about this once. He told me he gave 14 cows for the right to marry his wife.  And I looked at him and asked, “you mean 14 actual cows? Or the money that would buy 14 cows?” He laughed and said, “14 actual cows.”  And he explained, these cows would help to replace some of the food and some of the labor that his wife’s removal from the family would take away. It makes sense in a country where people live off the land and work with their hands.

So turning to our story for today: Laban – Jacob’s uncle – comes to Jacob one day. Jacob has been visiting for about a month and has been helping out around the farm, and Laban says, “you are my kinsman: why are you working for me for free? Tell me what you’d like for your wages.”

Laban is opening a negotiation here. He’s getting ready to bargain.  But he’s doing more than that.  He’s exploring Jacob’s motives.  Laban knows Jacob’s family is rich. A generation earlier, when Abraham sent a servant to Laban’s father to look for a wife for Isaac, Laban was witness to the negotiations.  He remembers the rich treasures the servant gave his family.  He saw how Abraham’s servant was led by God to Laban’s family and to his sister Rebekah, who married Isaac and became the mother of Jacob.

But unlike Abraham’s servant, who came with piles of jewels, Jacob arrived empty-handed.  So Laban knows something’s not quite right at home. How much he knows we don’t know.  Whether Jacob told him about his feud with Esau, or that his brother was trying to kill him, the Bible doesn’t say.

But Laban has also had a month to watch Jacob work. And he has observed a young man who is hard-working and gifted with animals.  And while Jacob has been with Laban, God has increased Laban’s flocks and his wealth, and Laban is liking that.

So Laban is not just opening a negotiation. He is asking a leading question in a very polite way. He knows Jacob is in love with his daughter Rachel, and he’s giving Jacob the opportunity to ask for her hand.

And Jacob pounces on the opportunity.  He says: “I will work for you for seven years in exchange for your daughter Rachel.”

It’s interesting that Laban didn’t haggle over how many years. He accepted Jacob’s first offer, so it must have been a good one. And the writer of Genesis tells us the seven years “seemed to Jacob but a few days because of the love he had for her.”

In that culture, in that time, as soon as Laban and Jacob made the agreement, Rachel was considered legally married – even though they didn’t actually get married right away. A similar thing happens in the Christmas story, where we’re told Mary and Joseph were ‘betrothed’ but had not come together yet.  In that culture marriages were considered legal when they were agreed on, not when the ceremony happened. In the in-between time both the man and the woman would be getting a home ready: furnishing it, gathering or making goods they would need as a family… and when everything was ready, then there would be a marriage feast, followed by the couple moving in together.

So what we’re seeing here in this story is the traditional course of events: Jacob and Rachel have seven years to get their household ready.  And finally when the seven years are up, Jacob comes to Laban and says, “My seven years are up: Rachel and I would like to start a family.” So Laban puts on a feast and gathers all the family and neighbors together and they have a huge party.  And at the end of the evening, when Jacob goes to bed, probably a bit tipsy, Laban comes to Jacob’s tent, bringing a bride who’s wearing a veil, and leaves the two of them together.

And in the morning Jacob wakes up and discovers Leah!

This is where the story gets shocking. Even in the old days this kind of thing was not done.  This is a deception of epic proportions. How could a man do this to his nephew? How could a father do this to his daughters? And did Rachel and Leah go along with this? Or were they given no choice? Why?

Scripture never answers these questions. When Jacob confronts Laban the next morning saying “What have you done? Where is my wife?” Laban answers, “It is not done in our country that the younger daughter should be married before the firstborn.”  And that’s a bogus reason, because Laban has had seven years in which to find a husband for Leah. He didn’t do it.

The only thing we do know – from our perspective in the distant future – is that somehow God’s will and God’s plan is moving forward anyway. Not that God approves of lying or cheating or deceiving or two sisters marrying one man, far from it. But in spite of all this: in spite of Laban’s deception, in spite of the pain Leah feels at being rejected by her husband, in spite of the pain Rachel will feel seeing her sister having baby after baby while she is without children, in spite of the pain Jacob will feel because there’s no peace in his home… it will take years, but eventually the blessing God promised Jacob will come.

Before Jacob went to Laban’s house, God promised Jacob to bless him and to bless the world through his family. And slowly God’s plan moves forward. In time Jacob becomes wealthy and moves home to Bethel with all his children and his wives and his livestock. On their way home, God gives Jacob a new name: Israel – which means ‘he wrestles with God’. And Jacob’s twelve sons will become the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel – the founders of a nation.

Two things I would like to point out from this story today:

1. Even though we believers believe in love, sometimes love is not enough
2. God can create beauty and blessing in spite of our human brokenness

To the first point: The story of Jacob and his family is essentially a Jewish story, so I turned to some Jewish theologians to hear what they had to say.  One of the things that comes through clearly in Jewish writing is love.  Writers point out that nowhere in scripture does it say that Jacob hated Leah – in fact he probably liked her and may have loved her. He just wasn’t in love with her. He didn’t want her the way he wanted Rachel.

One Jewish theologian says: sometimes love alone is not enough. Sometimes justice is needed. In this story, both Rachel and Leah are loved – but not equally, and so there is no justice. Not for Leah, not for Rachel, not even for Jacob.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks says the following about this passage: “If you want to live well, love. If you seek to be close to G‑d, love. […] But love is not enough. […] Justice without love is harsh. Love without justice is unfair, or so it will seem to the less-loved. […] At the heart of the moral life is a conflict with no simple resolution. There is no general rule to tell us when love is the right reaction and when justice is [the right reaction]. Let us love, but let us never forget those who feel unloved.”

In a perfect world, love and justice would never conflict with each other. And in God’s kingdom, love and justice are two sides of the same coin.  But in our broken world, if and when love and justice come into conflict, we have prayer and we have God’s Holy Spirit to guide our decisions and our actions.

To the second point, that God’s plan continues, and that God will bless even through our brokenness: God’s design throughout Genesis is to create a nation, a people, for Himself.  God is creating a group of people who, as God’s people, will bless all the nations of the earth.

In spite of everything Jacob has done to his brother Esau, in spite of everything Laban has done to Jacob, God’s plan is moving forward.  The sons who will be born to Jacob and his wives will be the fathers of the nation from which the Messiah will be born.

So as it says in Romans 8:28 – “all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose” and in Romans 8:31 – “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

In life there are lots of things that happen that we don’t understand.  I don’t know why my one friend is unemployed; I don’t know why another friend just can’t seem to get free of the drugs.  So many things in life we don’t understand. But we can trust that in God’s hands all these broken pieces will somehow come together to create beauty and to be a blessing. Because if God is for us, who can be against us?

So today we see in the story of Jacob and Rachel and Leah three broken people who, like many of us, were thrown into a life they didn’t exactly choose.  God takes those broken pieces and builds a people, and builds a future, and blesses the world through them.  Through their faith, and by God’s grace, someday in God’s kingdom all of Jacob’s family will be wearing crowns and standing around God’s throne… and if we remain faithful, someday each one of us will be wearing crowns too.

To God be the glory, AMEN.

 

 

Preached at Carnegie United Methodist Church and Hill Top United Methodist Church, 7/30/17

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God’s House

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the LORD stood beside him and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place– and I did not know it!”  And he was afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”  So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.  He called that place Bethel. – Genesis 28:10-19a

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How many people watch home repair shows on TV?  Addicting, aren’t they? Me, I’m always watching Flip or Flop or Fixer Upper. I love seeing people take run-down houses and make them livable again: saving the classic features of an old home and adding contemporary comforts. It inspires me.

God is also in the house-building and house-repair business, though it’s a different kind of house. Yes, we have the house of God, the church building. But when the Bible talks about someone’s house it usually means someone’s descendants, as in ‘the House of Windsor’. God’s ‘house’ is God’s family – the family of believers, here and around the world, throughout history.

So the title for our sermon today is “God’s House”. And there are three big-picture ideas I want to focus on today:

1. Building God’s house takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight.
2. Blessing is the reason God is building the house. To be a blessing to us and to others.
3. The blueprints of God are not changed by our mistakes or our shortcomings. The fact that we mess up sometimes does not alter God’s plans.

At this point some of you may be thinking, “Aren’t we doing a sermon series on the Old Testament? Isn’t today’s story about Jacob and his ladder?” Yes and yes!

The title for today’s sermon – God’s House – is taken from the last word in today’s reading about Jacob. In the story, after dreaming about the ladder with the angels, and after hearing God’s promises, Jacob wakes up, and sets up a memorial stone, and names the place Bethel.  The word Bethel in Hebrew means house of God. (Side note for those of you who enjoy languages: the prefix “Beth” in Hebrew means “house”. So, for example, Bethlehem means ‘house of bread’ – which is where Jesus, the bread of life, was born. Coincidence? I think not. Keep an eye out for that word ‘beth’ in the scriptures – it almost always leads to something interesting.)

One other odd thing about today’s reading is: it ends in mid-sentence and mid-paragraph. Drives me nuts when the lectionary does that!  So I want to back up and review the story, and add the ending back in. As we listen to this story, try to hold in mind the big picture: God is in the process of building God’s house.

In our time and place in history, the family of God’s faithful people stretches around the globe and numbers in the billions. But in the time of today’s Old Testament reading, the number of people on earth who believed in the one true and living God was probably less than 500 (that we know of). God laid the foundation of God’s house with the patriarch Abraham, and with Abraham’s son Isaac, and with their households. And now comes the third generation: Jacob and Esau.

When their mother Rachel was pregnant, Jacob and Esau wrestled in her womb – so much that it troubled her. So she asked God what it meant, and God said the two boys would become two nations, and the elder would serve the younger – that is, Esau would serve Jacob.

God’s plan is to continue building his house through Jacob, the younger son: Abraham à Isaac à Jacob. And God made this clear to the whole family. But some of the family members were not crazy about God’s plan. Isaac and his favorite son Esau tried to ignore God’s prophecy and make Esau Isaac’s heir anyway.  And Rachel and her favorite son Jacob were anxious to secure the inheritance for Jacob, and went about getting it in some very underhanded ways.  First Jacob cheated Esau out of his birthright; and then (at Rachel’s prompting) Jacob cheated Esau out of Isaac’s blessing by dressing up as Esau – including putting hairy goatskins on himself because Esau was a hairy guy – and taking advantage of his elderly father’s blindness, pretending to be Esau and getting Esau’s blessing for himself.

When all was said and done, Esau was so angry at Jacob he started hatching plans to murder his brother, as soon as Isaac passed away. And Rachel heard about this, and (on the pretense of finding Jacob a proper wife) she sends Jacob off to her brother Laban in Mesopotamia.

And that’s where our reading for today begins. We see Jacob leaving home, suddenly alone in the world, cut off from his mother who loves him, cut off from everything he’s ever known, and with his one and only brother plotting to kill him.

Up till now, Jacob has always been a bit of a homebody. He never wanted to travel far from his father’s tents; but now he finds himself, by himself, in the middle of nowhere he knows. (Those of us who have ever traveled far from home understand the feeling.) The plans that Jacob and Rachel had made to build up Isaac’s house based on Jacob’s inheritance – and the lengths they went to, to make it happen – have actually delayed the prophecy, delayed Jacob’s inheritance, seems like it might be forever.

Rachel and Jacob heard God’s promise but they forgot to do things God’s way. They forgot it takes time to build God’s house, and they forgot about God’s blueprints.  And so now we see Jacob traveling alone, on foot, on a journey of about 500 miles, to a foreign country. Jacob has become – in every sense of the word – a refugee.

I find it helpful that God is honest with us about human relationships in the Bible, particularly family relationships.  Not every family is as given to intrigue and violence as Isaac’s household was (thank goodness) but the truth is family relationships can be difficult. And at one time or another just about every family experiences arguments and infighting.

Scripture doesn’t whitewash that, and neither should we. God’s glory and God’s purpose shine through the divisions, in spite of the divisions, in Isaac’s family – and God can do the same in our families.

Somewhere along Jacob’s journey, probably not too far into it, Jacob is sleeping out under the stars when he has a dream. And in the dream Jacob sees a ladder fixed to the earth, extending into the heavens… and he sees angels going up and down the ladder. Then in his dream God is standing next to Jacob and God says, “I AM the Lord.”  This is God’s self-introduction. God has never spoken directly to Jacob before. God has spoken to Abraham and Isaac, but not Jacob, till now – so it makes sense to start with an introduction. And then God says:

“I am the God of Abraham your father and of Isaac. The land on which you are lying I give to you and your offspring; and your offspring will be as numerous as the dust of the earth, spreading out to the east and the west and the north and the south.  Every family of the earth will be blessed in your offspring.”

So God’s purpose in building this house is to be a blessing.  God plans to bless Jacob, and to bless Jacob’s children, and to bless Jacob’s children’s-children’s-children, and to bless every nation on earth through Jacob. Does Jacob have to be perfect before this happens? No – Jacob just has to be willing.

And God goes on to say:

“I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; I will not leave you until I have done all I promised.”

And Jacob wakes up – amazed – and he says, “how awesome is this place! This is the house of God, the gate of heaven!” and so he names the place ‘house of God’ – or Bethel. And he took the stone he’d been sleeping on, and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on it as an act of worship. And Jacob made a promise to God:

“If God will be with me, and will keep me in the way I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God; and this stone I have set up… shall be God’s house; and of all that you give me I will give a tenth to you.”

If this sounds like Jacob is bargaining with God – he is! Jacob was a bargainer. He was like that all his life, always angling for the next big deal. And now he’s haggling with God. (He is BTW also following in the footsteps of his grandfather Abraham who also used to haggle with God. I get the feeling God enjoys being haggled with, so long as we keep in mind Who we’re talking to.)

And yet in this dialogue Jacob shows where his heart really is. He says: “if I can come again to my father’s house in peace…”. That’s what Jacob really wants: to be able to go home in peace.

It will be 20 years of hard labor before Jacob will be able to go home in peace. 20 years before Jacob really begins to know God as his loving father. This building of God’s house takes time. As an African friend of mine likes to say: “little by little, slowly by slowly”. That’s how God’s house is built. In fact that’s how a lot of God’s work is done: Little by little, slowly by slowly.

In our world today we’re tempted to fall into the trap of thinking “life is short, you’ve got to move fast.” And it’s true, life is short. But moving fast won’t lengthen it – in fact it might just do the opposite.

Jesus once said, “Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?” (Matt 6:27)  And of course the answer is ‘no’.

Building God’s house takes time. One reason it takes so much time is because God sometimes needs to work around our human foibles. In the software industry – where I worked before going to seminary – when a computer program does something it wasn’t designed to do, we don’t call that a mistake; we call it an ‘undocumented feature’. We as human beings also have ‘undocumented features’. And God needs to work around those sometimes… or through them sometimes.

In Jacob’s life, God knows Jacob is going to do a lot of living in his uncle Laban’s household, and not all of it pleasant. But in time Jacob will become God’s man. Like the apostle Peter says in I Peter 1: “for a little while you… suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith — being more precious than gold… tested by fire – may be found to result in praise and glory and honor… for you.” (I Peter 1:6-7)

So Jacob is right: He is building God’s house. Physically, Jacob has laid the foundation of what will someday be a place of worship at Bethel; and at the same time God is building God’s house using Jacob as part of the foundation. Jacob’s son Joseph will one day rule Egypt and save his people. And many centuries later, the same human family will one day give birth to Jesus, who will bless all the nations of the earth.

Building God’s house takes time. So if we ever feel discouraged, or feel like things aren’t improving fast enough, we can pray for patience and wait for God’s timing. God is in charge, and the house will be built.

God intends God’s house to be a blessing: for you and for me, and for all who will come after us.

And the blueprints of God – the plans God has for those of us who believe, will come to fruition. And if our efforts, like Jacob’s, sometimes get in the way, God can deal with that.  It won’t mess up God’s plans.

God is building a house.  God began with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob – imperfect people who believed God’s promises.  God continues building the house with you and me – still imperfect people, who believe in God’s promises. The work continues, until the day it is completed.

Pray with me.

O Lord our God, You promised Jacob you would be with him and keep him and bring him back home to his land. We pray that you will do the same for us: keep us, guide us, be with us, and bring us home at the last.  Thank you Lord for your precious promises, and for your house whose building has already begun and will one day be finished. We look forward to that day, Lord. AMEN. 

 

Preached at Fairhaven United Methodist Church and Spencer United Methodist Church, 7/23/17

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Isaac and Rebekah

Scripture reading: Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67

This morning we continue our summer series in Genesis: today’s reading tells the story of the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah.  We met Isaac last week, the son of Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel. As our story opens today, Isaac is now 40 years old; his mother Sarah has recently passed away; and his father Abraham is old and doesn’t get around much any more.

And Isaac has not yet married – which is unusual for a man his age in that culture. And it’s becoming an issue in the family – because Abraham is a very wealthy man, with a very large household (practically the size of a small town), and God has promised his son Isaac will be the father of nations.  So Abraham needs an heir, and Isaac needs children. But first, Isaac needs a wife!

Some of us can remember a similar situation back in the 1970s, when Prince Charles of Great Britain was turning 30 and hadn’t married yet. It was a HUGE issue over in the UK! One of the Prince’s royal duties is to see to it that the dynasty continues. It’s interesting to note both Prince Charles and Abraham chose to do basically the same thing: they chose their most trusted servants and sent them out quietly to look for a bride worthy of their prince. (Charles of course dated his bride-to-be a few times – it wasn’t entirely an arranged marriage, as Isaac’s was. But in both cases servants took the lead in getting the relationships started.)

These servants would not have been typical house-servants. Think Mr. Carson on Downton Abbey: He would have been hired as a young man to be the personal servant of the man who would eventually inherit the estate. This kind of servant does far more than just manage other servants: he is a close friend and confidante… one of the few people his master can count on to be absolutely loyal and absolutely trustworthy.

In our story today, Abraham’s servant has worked for Abraham for at least 60 years. Interestingly his name – Eliezer – means “God is [my] help”.  And because he is such a remarkable servant, I’d like to tell Isaac’s story from Eliezer’s point of view, the way he might have told it. I imagine him saying something like this:

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“A few days ago my master Abraham called me into his tent and gave me a very special assignment. He wants me to find a wife for his son Isaac.  My master is too old now for such a task, and I am honored that he asked me.  God has blessed my master richly: he lacks nothing, and his son Isaac is strong and handsome. But at the age of forty, Isaac needs an heir.  My master says God has promised that Isaac’s children will become nations of people… but before that happens he needs a wife!

“Of course the wife of a man like Isaac must be an exceptional woman. My master told me: ‘do not get a wife for Isaac from among the Canaanites. They don’t know God, and they would lead Isaac away from God. Go to my father’s house, to my family in Mesopotamia, and find a wife for Isaac there.’

“Of course I would do anything for Abraham… but what he asks is very difficult. Traditionally it is the father who arranges such a marriage, but Abraham is too old to travel, so I must take his part. The journey is around 500 miles, and once I get there I must find the family of Abraham’s father, and then find among them a worthy woman.  Assuming I am successful in this, I then need to negotiate a bride price, and give appropriate gifts to the bride and her family. And then the bride herself must agree to leave her home and her family and travel to a foreign land to marry a man she has never met.

“This mission may prove impossible. So I ask my master: what if the woman will not return with me? Shall I bring Isaac to her?  And my master answered ‘No. My son is NOT to go back. God took me from my father’s house and brought me here and promised this land to me and my descendants. Under no circumstances are you to take Isaac there. If the woman will not come with you, you are free of your oath.’  And my master made me swear, placing my hand under his thigh and swearing on God’s covenant, that I would be faithful to my task.

“And so we loaded up the camels with rich gifts for the bride, and gathered some men-servants to travel with me, and we set off. After a few weeks we arrived in the region where my master’s family was last known to live.  It was late in the day, and we stopped by a spring of water because my men and their camels are thirsty.

“And as we stopped, I prayed. I have often heard my master pray, and I know God talks to him, but God has never spoken to me. I don’t know if he will hear me, but I pray he will answer, not because of who I am, but because I am Abraham’s servant.

“So I pray: ‘O God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham.  I am standing here by the spring of water, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water.  Let the girl to whom I shall say, ‘Please offer your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’ – let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac.’ (Genesis 24:12-14)

“Before I even finished my prayer, a beautiful young woman came up from the spring carrying a jug of water. And I ran to her and I said, ‘please let me have a sip of your water,’ and she answered, ‘drink, my lord, and I will water your camels also.’

“And I watched, astounded, as she ran with grace and strength to tend to my camels. The Lord answered my prayer so quickly – and with such a generous and kind young woman!  So I took out of my master’s treasures a gold nose-ring and two gold bracelets and presented them to her. And I asked her: ‘whose daughter are you? And is there room in your father’s house for my men and camels to stay the night?’

“She answered: ‘I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor and Milcah.’ (Nahor by the way is my master Abraham’s brother!) ‘And yes,’ she says, ‘we have plenty of straw and fodder and a place to stay for the night.’ At which I bow my head and gave praise to God saying, ‘Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master […] the LORD has led me on the way to the house of my master’s kin.’ (Genesis 24:27)

“The girl ran home to tell her family all of this, and they all ran out to meet me. Her brother Laban took care of our camels, and he prepared a rich feast for us. But I would not eat until I had told them my mission.  I said to her family, ‘I am Abraham’s servant. The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become wealthy; he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, camels and donkeys. And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and he has given him all that he has. My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, […] but you shall go to my father’s house, to my kindred, and get a wife for my son.’ ’ (Gen 24:34-38)

“And I told them about my prayer, and about Rebekah being the answer to that prayer. And I said to them, ‘if you will deal faithfully with my master and me please say so, and if not please say so, so that I know what to do next.’

“Rebekah’s father and brother both said, ‘this comes from God! We can’t say otherwise. Let our sister be the wife of your master’s son.’

And at that word, Rebekah was legally married – so long as she approved. So I opened my master’s treasures and gave rich gifts to Rebekah and to her father and to her brother.  And then we sat down and had a feast!

“In the morning they called Rebekah in and asked her: ‘will you go with this man?’ and she said ‘yes’.  And she packed her things, and she and her maidservants came  home with us.  Rebekah rode on the camels alongside me most of the way, and I had the chance to get to know her. She is lively and good-natured and speaks with a twinkle in her eye.  I couldn’t wait to introduce her to Isaac.

“Before we even got home, Isaac and Rebekah saw each other from across a field, and Rebekah immediately got off the camel and wrapped her veils around her like a proper lady. And when they met, it was love at first sight. Isaac now had someone in his life to comfort him after the passing of his mother… someone who would be by his side for a lifetime.

“I give praise and glory to God for their happiness, and for God’s faithfulness to my master and to my master’s servant. That is my story.”

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Taking back the mic now from Abraham’s servant Eliezer, just three things I’d like to say about his story:

1. In this story – as in all of Genesis – Isaac can be understood as a type of Christ.
   In other words, the pattern of the events in Isaac’s life point to Jesus and create a kind of prophecy.Isaac, like Jesus, is the one and only heir of an extremely wealthy Father. Isaac waits for his bride in his Father’s house, preparing a place for her – just as Jesus does for us. And both Isaac and Jesus love their brides with all their hearts.
   The bride can be seen to represent us, God’s people.  Like Rebekah, Jesus’ bride is remarkable for her beauty, her generosity, and her willingness to tend to the needs of others. She is willing to leave behind her home and everything she knows in order to be with her husband.
   Jesus once said ‘anyone who loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me’ – not because it’s wrong to love father and mother! – but because the bride’s heart is set on her husband. So in this love story we see a prophecy of the love story between Jesus and us.
2. Love relationships never happen in a vacuum.
   Notice how many people were involved in bringing about this marriage!  There’s the groom, the groom’s father, the groom’s best servant, the groom’s household servants, the bride, the bride’s brother, the bride’s mother and father, the bride’s maidservants, and of course God. Love relationships involve the entire family and the entire community.
   These days it’s popular to say “relationships are just between two consenting adults”.  But the story of Isaac and Rebekah shows why this is complete nonsense. Love relationships never happen in a vacuum.  And because this is true, in the words of theologian Charles Simeon: “Let a concern for God’s honor regulate our conduct.” In other words, as we have seen in this story, whatever we do in our love relationships, let it bring honor to God.
3. Abraham’s servant sets an example for all of us as we serve God.
   Look at how he goes about doing what Abraham has asked him to do:

• Eliezer does not put himself forward. His goal is to bring attention to the Father and to the Son.
• He does not travel alone; he goes with others. There is no such thing as a ‘lone ranger Christian’ – we are called to work and to serve together.
• He has taken a vow and he works to fulfill it. We also have taken vows – either in baptism or in confirmation – and we work to fulfill those vows.
• He is 100% loyal to his master, following his directions, listening to his concerns, and asking questions where needed.
• He knows he can act with confidence because the mission and the resources are his Master’s. And each one of us – as God’s servants – can move with confidence because the gifts and the mission are God’s.
• Like Abraham’s servant, we pray as we serve, seeking God’s direction as God’s plans unfold.

So Abraham’s servant gives us a model to follow as we serve.  But having said that, the closest parallel for us as the body of believers really is Rebekah.  We follow in her footsteps. We are the ones who hear the words of God’s servants, the prophets – words of love and commitment from our Lord. We are the ones who are asked: “will you go with this man, this Jesus?”

If we say ‘yes’, just as the servant clothed Rebekah and gave her rich gifts,  Jesus will clothe us with a robe of righteousness and jewels of spiritual gifts – and the Holy Spirit, which is God’s pledge, like an engagement ring. The question then is: are we willing to leave what we know, and go with him?

In Psalm 45, a song written for the wedding of a king, the psalmist says:

“Hear, O daughter, consider and incline your ear; forget your people and your father’s house… the king desires your beauty…” – Psalm 45:10-11

Today we stand where Rebekah stood. The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords desires our beauty, and asks if we will go with him. Will we say ‘yes’?

 

Preached at Fairhaven United Methodist Church, Spencer United Methodist Church, and Incarnation Church (Anglican), Pittsburgh – 7/9/17

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“Where Is the Lamb?”

“After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.  Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

“When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.  Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.  But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”  And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.  So Abraham called that place “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”” – Genesis 22:1-14

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“To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them…” – Hamlet, Act III Scene I

These may be some of the most famous words ever written in the English language. They come from a play in which Hamlet’s father, the King of Denmark, is assassinated by his brother, who then marries the King’s widow, Hamlet’s mother. In trying to take revenge on his father’s death, Hamlet accidentally kills his best friend Laertes’ father. Laertes then takes revenge on Hamlet by challenging Hamlet to a duel in which (eventually) Hamlet, Laertes, Hamlet’s mother, and his uncle the new King, all die horribly; and Laertes’s sister Ophelia, who was in love with Hamlet, has gone crazy.

Of course there’s more to the story than that, but that’s the basic plot line. Bottom line, Hamlet is a disturbing tale. There is very little light in it, very little hope. So why have people been watching this play for hundreds of years? One of the reasons is it gives a window into human nature and what motivates people to do what they do.

Today’s scripture reading from Genesis is kind of like Hamlet. It’s a disturbing tale, and we may find ourselves wondering why anyone would want to hear it, or why it was included in the Bible.

The God we know is a God of love and truth and compassion – so how can we get our minds around the events described in this reading? How can we understand a God who says to a father, “go sacrifice your son”? How can we answer the critics of religion who point to this story and say, “you actually believe in a God like that?”

But understood rightly, like Hamlet, this passage gives us a window into not only human nature but also Divine nature. It’s a rare glimpse into what it means for Abraham to be a friend of God, and a man who walks with God.

When human beings are dealing with the Almighty there are things it’s good for us to know. Things that can be seen in this passage, like:

• God is king. God rules.
• A God who is powerful enough to speak the universe into being is far more powerful than we are.
• What God says goes. It’s a contradiction in terms to say, “No, Lord” – because to call someone ‘Lord’ means we’re in a position to be commanded. When you’re a private in the army, you don’t say ‘no, sergeant’. A Lord, by definition, is someone we can only say ‘yes’ to.
• The God we are dealing with, as C.S. Lewis says in The Chronicles of Narnia, “is not a tame lion.”
• God is not like us. We may be made in God’s image, but we are not God. God is different from us.

But given all these things about God, we still wonder why God would tell Abraham to sacrifice his son – or how Abraham, as a loving father, could possibly follow these instructions.

The key to understanding this passage is verse 5, where Abraham says to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” Abraham says he and Isaac: will go, will worship, and will come back. In all three phrases the words are plural. Abraham does not say I will come back to you; he says we will come back to you.

Abraham doesn’t know yet how this will happen; but he knows that Isaac will live. So the question then becomes: what does Abraham know that we don’t see in this passage?

1. While it’s true Abraham lived in a time when human sacrifice was commonplace that doesn’t explain his actions, because…
2. The God of the Bible does not require human sacrifice. God never asks for human sacrifice. In fact it’s the false gods in the surrounding nations, false gods like Ba’al and Moloch, who ‘require’ human sacrifices. God does not. Ever. And Abraham, who has walked with God for decades, knows this command is not in God’s character. So he knows something must be up. God must have something else in mind.
3. Abraham also knows the land God is calling them to go to – which is named “Moriah” – that the name means “the Lord is my teacher”. So God has something to teach Abraham and Isaac. And Abraham loves God enough to want to know what’s on God’s mind.
4. Abraham also knows God has promised that Abraham’s heirs will be counted through Isaac – and Isaac hasn’t had kids yet, so Isaac must survive. Somehow, Isaac will be coming back down the mountain alive.

But there are still some things Abraham doesn’t know… things that only we can see from our distance in the future, like:

1. Abraham doesn’t know God is testing him: that God wants to show the people who will come after Abraham what real faith and trust in God looks like. The writer of Hebrews says: “By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, of whom he had been told, “It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you.” He considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead.” (Hebrews 11:17-19)
2. Abraham doesn’t yet know is that his actions – and Isaac’s actions – will create a living picture of what the Messiah, the Saviour of the world, will do someday. Their actions are a living prophecy, and the first-ever prophecy of the Messiah in the Bible that’s given by someone other than God.

Look at the parallels between Isaac and Jesus:

• Isaac was Abraham’s “only son”. Jesus was God’s only Son.
• Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son – Jesus will become the sacrifice for the human race.\
• Abraham was told to go to ‘a mountain that God would show him’. The mountain was the same mountain King Solomon built the first temple on in Jerusalem. It was not far from Calvary, and might actually have been the same hill.
• Abraham put the wood on Isaac’s back to carry up the mountain. God put the wood on Jesus’ back to carry up the mountain.
• Genesis tells us “The two of them (Abraham and Isaac) walked on together” – that is, they were of one mind and one action. God and Jesus also ‘walked together’ and were of one mind and one action.
• When Isaac asks where the lamb is, Abraham answers: “God himself will provide the lamb”. Jesus is called ‘the Lamb of God’ by John the Baptist in John chapter 1.

In the end, Isaac was not sacrificed because he is not, and cannot be, the sacrifice for human sin. But using Isaac as an example, God shared with Abraham and Isaac an incredibly intimate insight into the mind and heart and plans of God for the future of God’s people.

God then praises Abraham saying: “now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” God knows we as human beings need to love God above everything else. In order to love others to the best of our abilities, God must be #1 in our lives, as hard as that sounds sometimes… and as hard as that is sometimes.

When God had provided the sacrifice, and everything was said and done, Abraham – realizing he had touched God’s heart – wanted to create a memorial of that event. So, in the tradition of his people, Abraham gave the place a name. He called it Jehovah-Jireh, which means ‘the Lord will provide’. As it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

For us here today, on the mountain of Calvary it has been provided: where the Lamb of God, God’s only Son, was sacrificed for us. Today we remember what God promised us, and what God has done for us.

God promised that there would come a Messiah who would save his people from their sin. And in fulfillment of that promise, Jesus came, sharing God’s truth and God’s love and the good news of God’s kingdom. And when the leaders of his people nailed him to a cross, on the mountain of the Lord, God raised him from the dead, so that all who believe in him “should not perish but have everlasting life”.

And Jesus, having shown us God’s heart, created for us a memorial of that event: communion. In a few moments we will come by faith, and receive what God has provided on that mountain. All who believe in Jesus and seek to live a life honoring Him are welcome to this table and this memorial. AMEN.

 

 

Preached at Carnegie United Methodist Church and Hill Top United Methodist Church, 7/2/17

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The God Who Hears

“The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.  ⁹ But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac.  ¹⁰ So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.”  ¹¹ The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son.  ¹² But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you.  ¹³ As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.”  ¹⁴ So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

¹⁵ “When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes.  ¹⁶ Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, “Do not let me look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept.  ¹⁷ And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.  ¹⁸ Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.”  ¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.  ²⁰ God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow.  ²¹ He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.” – Genesis 21:8-21   

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Today’s sermon is the second installment in our summer series on the Old Testament. And our scripture reading for today, from Genesis, tells the story of a party.

The party takes place about 4000 years ago and is given by a man named Abraham to celebrate his baby boy starting to eating solid food – which was something to celebrate back in those days because many babies didn’t survive past infancy.

But there is so much drama going on in his household, the story sounds more like a soap opera than a party.  There are cat-fights and betrayals and outrageous if not downright illegal behavior. So I’d like to subtitle this sermon The Not So Young and the Restless.

And as with any soap opera, before we can make sense of what’s happening we need to know the characters and their back-stories.

So the main character is Abraham, the patriarch of the family.  Abraham walks with God.  He has conversations with God and he has received promises from God.  In fact God changed his name from Abram (which means ‘exalted father’) to Abraham (which means ‘father of a multitude’). In Genesis Chapter 12 God says to Abraham:

“I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  ³ I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

This is the promise that has guided and defined Abraham’s life.

The second character in our soap opera is Sarah, Abraham’s wife.  Sarah was known for her beauty in her younger days, and now that she’s older she is still a handsome woman, and a formidable woman as well. She is in charge of Abraham’s household, but to her great sorrow she’s never been able to have children.

The third character in our soap opera is Hagar, Sarah’s slave-girl. She’s from Egypt and doesn’t have the same religious or cultural background as Abraham and Sarah.  But Sarah, after waiting for years and years for God’s promise of a child to arrive, gets discouraged and gives Hagar to Abraham to have children for her – which was not an unusual thing to do back in those days.

But when Hagar becomes pregnant she starts to get cocky and lords it over her mistress, and a baby-begetting rivalry begins.  Finally Sarah has enough of Hagar’s attitude and abuses her to the point where Hagar runs away. In Genesis 16 we read, “The angel of the Lord found [Hagar] by a spring of water in the wilderness… and he said, “Hagar, slave-girl of Sarah, where have you come from and where are you going?” (Of course the angel already knows the answers to these questions.  But in the Hebrew culture questions like these are not looking for information. They are a respectful way of scolding someone… and also an opportunity for the other person to explain their actions.)

Hagar answers, “I am running away from my mistress Sarah.” – which is more of a pout than a defense.  And the angel says to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her.”  In other words, ‘grow up’.

But the angel also says, “I will so greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted… […] You have conceived and will bear a son; you shall call him Ishmael (which means “God hears”), for the Lord has given heed to your affliction.”  So while Hagar has a rough road ahead, she will be comforted by a son – whose name will always remind her (and everyone else around her) that God is watching over her and listening to her voice.

The angel also says Ishmael will be “a wild donkey of a man” who will “live at odds with all his kin.”  And in these words we meet the fourth character in our soap opera, Ishmael, Hagar’s son. The Bible doesn’t tell us a whole lot about Ishmael’s childhood but it does say he was circumcised along with all the other men in Abraham’s family. So Ishmael is in every way a member of Abraham’s covenant family under God.

A few years before today’s drama takes place, when Abraham is about 90 years old, God visits him and repeats his promise about Abraham’s offspring.  But Abraham, in discouragement, says, “You have given me no offspring, and a slave born in my house is to be my heir.”  But God answers, “This man shall not be your heir…” And he took him outside and said, “…count the stars… so shall your descendants be.”

And Abraham believed God, and “the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.”  This is the first time in scripture where righteousness is defined as believing God; where faith is defined as the key to a right relationship with God.  We can watch for that theme to repeat itself as we progress through the Bible.

Then last Sunday, on Fathers’ Day, we read about Abraham finally becoming a father.  By the time God’s promise finally came true, and the baby boy was born, Abraham was 100 years old, and Sarah was in her 90s.  And since by that time both Abraham and Sarah had laughed when God told them a child would be born to them, the baby is named “Isaac” which means “he laughs”.

And this brings us to the beginning of our soap opera for today.

The scene opens on Isaac’s weaning party, celebrating the fact that Isaac has made it through infancy and his life ahead looks good.

But for Ishmael, if he ever had dreams about being Abraham’s heir, this day pretty much puts an end to that.  And scripture says, “Sarah saw [him] playing with her son Isaac.”

This is not as innocent as it sounds.  A better translation might be ‘mocking’ or ‘picking on’ Isaac. And Ishmael, being around 14 years old at this point, should have known better.

For Sarah it’s the last straw. She says to Abraham: “[Get rid of] this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.” Notice Sarah doesn’t even say their names… it’s just “this slave woman” and “her son”.

Abraham is not happy about this.  He doesn’t want to get involved in a cat-fight, but he also knows this time things are not going to blow over. So God has a word with Abraham and says:

“Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring will be named for you.”  God also adds, “I will make Ishmael fruitful as well, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes will he beget, and I will make him a great nation.” (Gen 17)

So both boys will be blessed, and so Abraham’s mind is put at rest.  The next morning Abraham gives Hagar bread and a skin of water and sends her off with Ishmael.

Not knowing where to go and what to do, Hagar and Ishmael wander around in the wilderness of Beer-sheba for a while, until the bread and the water are gone. (The name Beer-sheba means ‘seven wells’ but for some reason they’re not coming across these wells in their travels.)  And as thirst grows, Ishmael becomes weak. Hagar, devastated, throws him under a bush and then goes off at a distance to wait for the inevitable. She says, “do not let me look on the death of the child” – and she breaks down and weeps.

And Genesis says, “God heard the voice of the boy (interesting it doesn’t say ‘heard the voice of his mother’ – at this point the boy’s voice would have been the weaker of the two, but God still hears it.)  And God calls to Hagar and says, “[I have] heard the voice of the boy where he is… lift him up, hold him fast, for I will make a great nation of him.” And then God opened her eyes to see a well, and she went and got water for them both.

Hagar responds to God with faith – the same kind of faith that Abraham showed when God spoke about Isaac.  Whoever she’s been in the past and whatever she’s done, Hagar now trusts God and walks with God.

And that’s where our story today ends. But there’s a lot more to the story. Over the next few weeks we will be hearing more about Isaac’s story, and his children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren as they become the people of Israel.

But we won’t hear about Ishmael again in our series.  So here’s the rest of his story.  Hagar found Ishmael a wife, and the family settled in the wilderness of Paran, which is sort of a desert area. Later in life Isaac and Ishmael together will bury their father Abraham in the family cave – so the two boys don’t lose touch with each other completely.  And Ishmael will go on to have twelve sons, just as God told Abraham. And these twelve sons will lead twelve tribes, paralleling Jacob’s sons and their twelve tribes. Jacob and his sons will end up in Egypt eventually, and then to the Promised Land; Ishmael and his sons will settle in what is known today as west-central Saudi Arabia.

And that’s where Ishmael’s story in the Bible ends. But there’s one more postscript in history: Ishmael will spend his last years living in a city called Mecca, and he will become the ancestor of a man named Mohammed. And the family rift between the children of Isaac and the children of Ishmael will grow wider and wider over the centuries, always at each other – just as the angel predicted.

And this continues even to our own time. And when we think about how this rivalry between brothers plays out in today’s world, the story doesn’t look like a soap opera any more.  It’s painful and it’s violent. And we begin to understand the depth of the conflict that was going on inside Abraham’s family.

So what do we do with this ancient story today?

First, we need to try to set politics aside. Our world is SO politically charged – but this story is God’s word, and it’s God’s message we want to listen for.

Second, we see in these events a God who forgives sin. God gave Abraham and Sarah a promise, of a son. And they believed that promise, for the most part.  But did their faith slip a little? – or did they think they needed to help God out? – when they gave Hagar to Abraham? God never said anything about Abraham needing a second wife!  One commentator notes: “The bright ideas that God’s people get with good intentions to hurry the Lord’s plans along, often create more frustration and heartbreak…” than anything else. (http://www.hvcog.org/e-mails/2016e/october_20_2016.htm )

But God forgave the parents, and blessed both boys as children of Abraham. God may not remove the consequences but God redeems the circumstances.  If any of us should find ourselves in a place where we have made a doozy of a mistake: God will forgive if we turn to him. God’s plans for good in our lives are not changed or prevented by our mistakes. So be encouraged.

Third, God is as committed to blessing Ishmael as he is to blessing Isaac.  Both boys were predicted by God. Both boys were received into the covenant and were circumcised.  Only one of them can become the forefather of Jesus – and that will be Isaac – but this does not mean Ishmael is loved any less by God.

This passage shows that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam find a physical connection in Abraham. And in all three faiths God is understood as one God (as opposed to many gods, like in Hinduism) and God is a personal God (as opposed to a ‘force’ or ‘life energy’ of some kind).

But salvation is and always has been by faith in God’s promise – which ultimately is Jesus – no matter who we are or where we find ourselves.  The apostle Paul tells us there will come a time when the Jewish people will understand that Jesus is the Messiah and will believe (for more details see Romans chapters 9-11).

And for Muslims, the good news of salvation by faith alone is probably the most attractive aspect of Christianity today.  I mention this as friends and colleagues return from mission work among the refugees in Europe, where Muslims are coming to Christ by the thousands. I think for us it might be helpful to draw a parallel between the Muslims of today and the Samaritans of Jesus’ day.  Remember Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman at the well in the Gospel of John – the woman began by saying to him:

“Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”  ²¹ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.  ²² You [Samaritans] worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.  ²³ But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.  ²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” – John 4:20-24

So in Jesus we see all three streams coming together, because Jesus is the completion of all three streams, received by faith and worshipped ‘in spirit and in truth’. This gives hope for those of us who reach out across religious lines to share our faith in Jesus.

Fourth and last, in this story we see a God who hears.  God hears both Sarah’s laughter and her anger. God hears Abraham’s discouragement.  God hears the pain of a pregnant slave-girl who has been abused. God hears the cries of a young man near death. And God not only hears, but God responds.

God does not remove the difficult situations; but neither is God’s blessing lost just because people have messed up.  God’s good plans to bless Abraham’s family and to bless the whole world through Abraham’s family, are still going forward, and God’s people will not just survive but thrive.

So if we find ourselves going through difficulties, we can be assured that our mistakes and our shortcomings won’t put a stop to God’s blessings. Our imperfections don’t stop God’s good plans for us and for our children.  We are not rejected just because we mess up.  God has made a road through the wilderness and through the pain and into glory.

God’s kingdom is never lost to us, and God’s love is never lost to us, so long as we stay with God. So take heart – and follow in the footsteps of Abraham and Sarah and Hagar, trusting God and following God as they did: imperfectly, but faithfully.

AMEN.

 

Preached at Carnegie United Methodist Church and Hill Top United Methodist Church, 6/25/17

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