Loving God, we continue to seek you, looking to your Spirit for the gifts of faith and understanding.  Increase these gifts in us as we gather together today, continuing to teach us, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    The reading that we heard today from Genesis is a little bit too strange just to leave it alone and not say anything.  At the same time, once we understand what is going on, we might discover that Abraham really isn’t all that different from us.  First off, though, I’m wondering if you can tell me what Abraham is known for.  What’s his “claim to fame” or perhaps the first thing that comes to mind when you hear his name? [responses might include his faith - many possible answers because there are lots of stories about Abraham]

    I was hoping that at least somebody would mention Abraham’s faith, for that seems to be the one thing that gets mentioned more than any other - at least in the New Testament.  However, Abraham actually isn’t this great pillar of faith that none of us have anything in common with.  In fact, we see in today’s reading how Abraham often has trouble believing God’s promises at first.

    Now, just to give a little bit of background, the first time that we meet Abraham in Genesis, God calls him to leave his home and his country (which is Ur of the Chaldeans) and to travel to a new land that God will show him.  Perhaps surprisingly, Abraham takes his wife Sarah and his nephew Lot and does just as God has asked.  This is even more surprising than we might think, for we discover later on that Abraham and his family didn’t even worship God at the time.  Instead, we read in Joshua that they “served other gods” (Josh. 24:2).  And so, somehow Abraham has an experience of the living God that leads him to worship and to obey.

    At the same time, God makes a covenant with Abraham – a covenant of promise.  In this covenant God promises three things to Abraham, and those of you who have been in confirmation might actually remember what those three things are.  Do any of you remember what God promises to Abraham? [1. Offspring 2. Land 3. Blessing to all nations]

    So these are the promises that God makes to Abraham.  However, we discover that as time goes on, Abraham finds God’s promises harder to believe – especially when things don’t seem to be going his way.  For one thing, Abraham and Sarah are getting older and older, and they still don’t have any children.  And so, in today’s reading, Abraham proposes to God that perhaps he should adopt one of his slaves - Eliezer of Damascus - and make him his heir.

    However, God’s response is to make the promise even better.  Not only will Abraham and Sarah have their very own child, but their descendants will be just as many as the stars in the sky.  In fact, that’s why their names get changed later on.  In Genesis 15, their names are still Abram and Sarai.  However, later they are named Abraham and Sarah, names that mean “father of a multitude” and “princess.”  Their names reflect the promise of many descendants, as well as the promise that some of those descendants will be kings.

    Then we come to the promise of the land – something that continues to cause much debate and conflict.  Once again, Abraham has trouble believing it.  He says to God, “How am I to know that I shall possess it?” (Gen. 15:8).  After all, Abraham never does see this promise fulfilled in his lifetime.  However, once again, God goes the extra mile to convince Abraham that the promise is for real.

    Of course, in this day and age, we have a really hard time conceiving of why you would cut up some animals in order to make a covenant.  However, in the ancient world, this was how you would put an exclamation point on a promise.  In effect, God is saying to Abraham, “May I be torn apart just like these animals if I ever break this promise to you.”

    Leave it to God to put God’s whole self in – and this isn’t just the Hokey Pokey!  In fact, God was also “all in” when it comes to Jesus, who sealed the new covenant with his own blood.  God does not take promises and covenants lightly, even when we have trouble believing them.

    And so, even though Abraham certainly did things that demonstrated his faith, he also had his doubts.  In this, I think most people can relate to him.  Were any of us in Abraham’s position, we would have had our doubts, too.  After all, Abraham never saw the fulfilment of at least two of the promises during his lifetime.  However, for us we have the benefit of hindsight and know that Abraham did have many descendants, and they did inherit the land, and that the blessing to all nations came through his descendant, Jesus.

    In fact, that’s part of the reason why we have the whole Bible - so that we can see how God’s promises were fulfilled over time.  The hope is that this also helps us in our faith when we are finding it hard to believe.  At the same time, people like Abraham show us what it means to have faith.  Abraham had these experiences along the way where his faith was really strong and he saw God’s power at work and just knew that God’s promises would be fulfilled.  However, Abraham also had those times when he had trouble believing and when his sense of timing wasn’t quite the same as God’s.

    We sometimes forget that any number of people in the Bible, including Abraham, Gideon and Zechariah, ask God for confirmation that God really has spoken.  In effect, they say, “God, how will I know that this is true?  How do I know that this is really what you want?”  And God answers them.  Some of them have visions or dreams like the one Abraham has.  Some of them receive signs from God that confirm what God has promised.  And some of them, like Zechariah, are unable to speak until the promise from God comes to pass (Luke 1).

    A number of years ago, a parishioner shared with me an experience where he was having a really hard time believing in God.  One day, he cried out in desperation, “God, if you’re really there, could you please show me?”  And the light in the corner of his living room went out all by itself.  He said, “God, that was pretty good, but I’d be really amazed if you would turn the light on again.”  And the light came on all by itself.  At that point in time, this little demonstration was exactly what he needed in order to confirm his faith.

    The thing is that God continues to make some pretty amazing promises to us through Jesus Christ.  There is the promise of healing and forgiveness for all who come in faith and repentance.  There is the promise of resurrection and eternal life for all who put their faith in Jesus.  There is the promise of the peace of Christ for all who believe and the promise that Jesus continues to be here with us.

    For many people, they want to understand everything and have all the answers before believing.  However, generally it works the other way around: faith comes first, and understanding follows.  May God continue to strengthen us in our faith, granting us ever-increasing understanding through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Lent 2(C)                                Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
February 24, 2013
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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