'helping' God

[the first 19 PPT slides are from https://www.stevethomason.net/2019/09/12/a-cartoonists-guide-to-abraham-sarah-and-laughter/?fbclid=IwAR0johUt6hrDFAcU2gH8aDnPzaVOZ5QfMeeYLquwyC42Wry0hvgMtdDLuHg]

To get the full picture of what is going on in this reading, we need to go back a few chapters.

PPT:

1.   The Promise to Abram and Sarai

2.   In Chapter 12 we are told that Abram was seventy-five years old.

3.   The LORD told him to leave your country, your family, and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you.

4.   I will bless you and make your descendants into a great nation.

5.   Abram was told he would be blessed to be a blessing

6.   Then there is a trip to Egypt – more on that later. After some battles, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision, “Abram, don’t be afraid! I will protect you and reward you greatly.” [15:1]

7.   Abram responds that God has given him everything except children, and the promise is reaffirmed

8.   “Look at the sky and see if you can count the stars. That’s how many descendants you will have.”

9.   The Lord also promises Abram that his descendants will live in the land of Canaan, and they make a covenant, complete with sacrifices.

10.        By chapter 16, Sarai and Abram are wondering about this promise of God, and Sarai gives Abram her maid servant, Hagar, who bears a son for him.

11.         Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to their son, and he named him Ishmael.

12.        Here is the first part of today’s reading, another confirmation that the child God has promised will be with Sarai, not Hagar. And their names are changed to Abraham and Sarah.

13.        And Abraham laughed [17:17]

14.        A sign of the covenant is that each male will be circumcised

15.        Ishmael is not the promised son

16.        Three travellers, Sarah will have a son

17.        Sarah laughs

18.        “is anything too wonderful for the Lord?”

19.        Isaac born – Isaac means laughter

20.        Map –

a.   this is so you can see that Abraham and Sarah, along with Abraham’s father Terah and nephew Lot, left Ur headed for Canaan. But they settled in Haran.

b.   God tells Abram and Sari to move, and they do, this time making Canaan

c.    When a famine hit the land, they travelled to Egypt, there Abram pretended that Sarai was his sister – the Egyptian king did not like being deceived, so Abram and the people and animals travelling with him were told to leave.

d.   Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord.

21.        Trees of Mamre

So much for the introduction:

 I know many people will be preaching about hospitality based on this reading, but the thing that resonated with me this week was how we try and ‘help’ God.

 God told Abram he would have many descendants, as many as the stars in the sky. Abram and Sarai waited, not knowing how this would happen, they are past the age of having children. They wait, one year, two years, three, … ten years.

Was what God told them true??

Well if Abram slept with Hagar, the child would be his. Maybe that would fulfil God’s plan.

But that wasn’t God’s plan.

Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born, 25 years of hearing God’s promise, of fighting wars, travelling, staying alive, wondering about the promise. 25 years of hoping for the impossible and wondering if it would ever come true.

And in that time, Ishmael was born.

When Isaac was weaned most likely 2-3 years of age, Hagar and Ishmael are sent away.

While I feel for Sarah, being childless for so long

I feel sorry for Hagar and Ishmael. They did nothing wrong yet are treated badly and then sent away because of Sarah’s jealousy.  God does look after them, but it reminds me of the human frailties of each one of us. and it reminds me of those whose lives are impacted by our anger and shame. Those whose lives are considered less important, less worthy, expendable.

People like refugees, drug addicts, people who are homeless or living with mental illness. People who live in other countries, especially so called third world countries.

Who are the people we think are worth less than we are?

In the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, we read of the faith of Abraham and all he did in the strength of that faith.

We talk of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Yet this story does not sugar coat the fact that Abraham was willing to take matters into his own hands.

Waiting for God to act, waiting for God to fulfil the promise of an heir, a descendent who would have many, many, descendants

I am not surprised that Abraham and Sarah both laughed. If God told me that Ian and I would have children, I would laugh to. I mean what kind of crazy idea is it that people of our age can imagine having children.

Has God ever asked you, or promised you something so outrageous you couldn’t believe it?

Have you waited, wondering if God’s promises will come true?

Wondered if your prayers are heard?

Wondered of God even knows you exist?

Do you wonder if you matter in God’s amazing and grand story?

We need to work with God, and certainly not obstruct God’s work, but we also can’t go off and try to force what God may do in the future.

Some of you will have noticed that I am not the most patient person. I don’t like having to wait; yet with illness, operation and broken ankle this year, I have had to rest and wait; and I still don’t find that easy.

Abraham and Sarah waited 25 years, a quarter of their life, for an impossible promise to be fulfilled.

What might God yet fulfil in your life?

In our life?

Life and sacrifice

Here is our timeline. [picture on screen]

We are up to the story of Abraham. Often in the Old Testament, we will hear God referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This morning we meet the first two generations, next week we meet Jacob.

Abraham lived about 2000 years before Christ, so about 4000 years ago.

In some Bibles, there will be a little bit of background at the beginning of each book. In the Bible I use most of the time,^[i] it has a short outline:

1)   Primeval History: 4 great events [chapters 1-11]

a)   Creation of the Universe, Adam and Eve

b)   First sin and results

c)   Great flood

d)   Scattering of the nations

2)   Patriarchal History: 4 great characters [chapters 12-50]

a)   Abraham

b)   Isaac

c)   Jacob

d)   Joseph

Last Sunday we looked at the Creation story in Genesis one, and saw all that was made, it was good. Then there is the incident in the garden of Eden, and we read about sin and its consequences. God gets so annoyed by the sinfulness of people, that there is a great flood and there is the story of Noah and the ark. That was not enough for people to learn their lesson, that God is God and people are not [God]. 

Then we meet Abraham. Remember what we read about Abraham occurred about 4,000 years ago.

We first meet Abraham in chapter 12, except at this point in the story his name is not Abraham, but Abram. Abram is called to leave his country he is living in and move to a place that God will show him. He sets out, Abram, with his wife Sarai, nephew Lot and animals and slaves, not knowing where they will end up.

God has promised Abram, that he will have as many descendants as there are stars in the sky. As Abram and Sarai get older, they wonder how this will be. So, Sarai takes matters into her own hands and tells Abram to have a child with her slave Hagar – and Ishmael is born.  

After this, God gives Abram and Sarai new names, Abraham and Sarah.

And Isaac, the promised son is born.

Then we get to the awful part of the story. I am guessing you all knew how the story would end, but imagine hearing it for the first time:
Abraham and Isaac,
traveling for three days,
then leaving behind the servants
as they go up the mountain
Isaac carrying the firewood for the sacrifice
Abraham carrying the hot coals to start the fire

This story is horrific.

It is horrible, and I have been wondering all week,
where is the good news,
where is the good news in a God who tells Abraham to sacrifice Isaac

here is the good news in a father who obeys without argument

where is the good news for a son bound by his father and placed on the wood pile.

This is a difficult passage, and I hope this morning that there will be some glimpses of light and hope in this reading.

A few comments:

• Genesis probably received its present form sometime during or shortly after the Babylonian exile (587-538 B.C.E.)^[ii]
• Many cultures in the area practiced child sacrifice. People believed the god of fertility demanded a sacrifice. If you want to continue having children then the gods wanted your firstborn.^[iii]
• Abraham had 2 sons, even though this story talks of your only son.
• Abraham has sent Hagar and Ishmael packing with very few resources, when Ishmael is thought to have been about 16 years old.^[iv]
• Previous to this Abraham has argued with God, but not here
• Abraham tells his servants: [wait] while my son and I go over there to worship. We will come back.
• In the first part of the section about the binding of Isaac, the Hebrew word for God is Elohim, which is a generic word for god. later the word is Yahweh, which is so holy a name it is not spoken, but is spoken as Adoni or Lord.
• There various ideas about the age of Isaac at this time, anything up to 37 years of age. Given Abraham was 100 when Isaac was born, why did Isaac go along with his father’s actions.

Here is one person’s take on it. God says:

Look, look.

Abraham it’s time. I’m going to ask for a child sacrifice like all of the other gods. You want to keep multiplying your family like the stars yes?

Now look, look.

I’m not like these other gods. Children are sacred. Never would I ask you to kill your firstborn to bestow blessing on you. I don’t need your sacrifice or devotion or faithfulness to be loving and compassionate. That’s just who I am.

This truly is a story about the one true God.^[v]

One theory about this story, is that the people of Israel were asked why they did not practice child sacrifice, and so the people would tell this story about Abraham and Isaac.

Abraham was responding to a false God, Elohim, in taking Isaac for sacrifice, but it is Yahweh, the Lord, the true God who provides a ram for the sacrifice. 

Remember in the creation story, all of creation is God’s and people, every person, is made in the image of God.

All this sets the people of Israel apart from their neighbours. The people of Israel had one God,

a God who created the world and everything in it and named it good

a God who did not demand child or human sacrifice

a God who provided all that they needed

This passage leaves me with many questions, and I am still uncomfortable with it.

But there is lots in life that I am uncomfortable with:

• Domestic violence
• People living in poverty
• Homelessness
• Our desire for cheap food and goods at the expense of producers
• The gap between rich and poor – and difference this makes in terms of education and health outcomes
• The way we degrade the environment
• And I could go on

What might we reflect on:

Would you be willing to give up your most precious possession to God?

What does it mean to you that God provides?

In what ways do we sacrifice people? How do we decide who is expendable and who gets saved?

This is a story about the way God values life, how can you value your life, and the life of all people. God wants your life, not to kill you.

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[i] New Revised Standard Version Reference Bible, Zondervan, 1993; p1

[ii] Terence E. Fretheim, Elva B. Lovell Professor of Old Testament; http://www.enterthebible.org/oldtestament.aspx?m=3776

[iii]   https://medium.com/storied/god-tells-a-man-to-go-kill-a-kid-on-a-mountain-really-fe3f5c235371

[iv] Lion Handbook to the Bible, 1983 edition, p 140

[v] https://medium.com/storied/god-tells-a-man-to-go-kill-a-kid-on-a-mountain-really-fe3f5c235371