Loving God, “you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Amen. (from Evening Prayer)

    The first 11 chapters of Genesis are very cosmic in nature, involving the heavens and the earth, and the origins of all nations and languages.  Then we get to chapter 12, and it is as if the camera has zoomed in on one man and his family.  As part of God’s plan of salvation, God shows up in the life of Abram and initiates a relationship with Abram and his family and his future descendants.  God calls Abram, and asks him to leave his homeland and his relatives behind and journey to a new land – the land of Canaan.

    At the same time, God makes some pretty amazing promises to Abram.  First of all, Abram is promised that he will be the ancestor, not only of a great nation, but of a multitude of nations – this in spite of the fact that his wife, Sarai, is barren.  Second, Abram is promised that his descendants will inherit the land of Canaan – this in spite of the fact that Abram has always been a wanderer and a tent dweller.  And third (and perhaps most importantly from our perspective), Abram is promised that through him, all the families of the earth would be blessed.

    Now, a couple of notes just in case you might be confused.  Abram and Sarai both receive new names later in Genesis and become Abraham and Sarah.  The reason for the change seems to be the multitude of nations that will come from them.  Abram’s original name means “exalted father.”  However, the name Abraham means “father of a multitude.”  The reasons for Sarah’s name change are less obvious.  All we are told is that the name Sarah means “princess.”  And so Abraham and Sarah enter into a relationship with God that takes them to places where they never thought they’d go.

    Certainly, some over the years have wondered why God would choose just one person and one people.  As we get to know Abraham through the stories about him in Genesis, we soon realize that the blessing through Abraham would not be because of what he did, but because he was open to the ongoing relationship with God.  God called Abraham to go to a new land, and he went.  God made impossible sounding promises about descendants that would be as many as the stars, and Abraham believed God.  Abraham was even willing to give up his only son, if that was what God wanted.  And so, when Abraham is referred to in the New Testament, it is his faith and his trust in God that are stressed, and not what he actually did.

    The thing is that God’s promises and God’s blessings that were given to Abraham and Sarah and their descendants were not just for their own sake.  They were blessed in order to be a blessing for others.  God entered into a relationship with them in order to form a chosen people through whom all the world would be blessed.  However, human beings, such as they are, have a tendency to want to keep everything for their own benefit.

    I had a bit of an “aha” moment this week when I realized where some of the key places associated with Abraham are located.  First off, Genesis tells us that Abraham originally came from Ur of the Chaldeans, which was ancient Mesopotamia.  Do you have any idea what country that is today?... (Iraq) Then we have Haran, where Abraham lived for a period of time before going to the land of Canaan.  Any idea what country Haran would be in today?... (Syria) Then we have Shechem, which is mentioned in today’s reading, which today is called Nablus.  Any idea where Nablus is?... (the West Bank) And then later Abraham becomes associated with Hebron, which is where he and Sarah and the other patriarchs and matriarchs were eventually buried.  Hebron is also in the West Bank, and there have been clashes involving Muslims and Jews and Christians in both Hebron and Nablus.

    So we have Iraq and Syria and the West Bank, all associated with Abraham, who is the ancestor of both Jews and Muslims, as well as the ancestor in faith of all those who come to God through Jesus Christ.  All three of the faiths that honour Abraham - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - have at their heart the call to be a blessing for others.  And yet, none of the conflicts going on in any of those areas have anything to do with blessing the world.  Instead, they are about ownership and domination.  They are about one group staking a claim to all of the blessings to the exclusion of others who get in the way.

    Now, lest we think that other people are the only ones who try to keep all the blessings for themselves, consider that the salvation and the grace that is given to us through Jesus Christ is also given in order that through us, all the families of the earth might be blessed.  God does not give us salvation through Jesus Christ in order that we can hang out with Jesus until we get to heaven and just forget about everybody else.  Instead, God calls and commissions us to love and to bless the world.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you (Mt. 28:19-20).

    This is a commission that is given to all those who believe in Jesus Christ – a commission that has one of the best promises possible attached to it.  For to all those who go and make disciples, Jesus promises, “remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt. 28:20).  Jesus is with us, not just for our own sake, but in order to love and to bless the world.

    In Deuteronomy, the question is asked as to why God chose the people of Israel and set his heart on them.  The only reason that is given is quite simply that God loved them (Deut. 7:7-8).  God loved Israel, and God loved Abraham and Sarah, and God loves us.  And in each case that love brings with it a call into a relationship with God and a call to serve.

    Just as Abraham was blessed to be a blessing, so we have been blessed through faith in Jesus Christ.  The gifts of God are given to us, not so we can keep them to ourselves, but in order that we might be a blessing for others.  And as we seek to share the love of God with others and carry the blessing of salvation into the world, we go out, just as Abraham did, carrying some pretty amazing promises with us.  For Jesus says to us as well, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Pentecost 14 (NL 1)                            Genesis 12:1-9
September 14, 2014                            Matthew 28:19-20
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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