Loving God, you remind us today that nothing is impossible for you.  Teach us to trust your promises and to look to you for direction, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

            This year, there are a series of covenants that we hear about on the Sundays in Lent.  Last week was the covenant with Noah and all of creation, and this week we hear about the covenant with Abraham and Sarah.  Each of these covenants is intended to help us to be renewed in the covenant of our baptism.

         One of the things that stands out in the covenant with Abraham and Sarah is how unbelievable some of God’s promises actually were (as the skit today pointed out).  I mean, wouldn’t you laugh if you were 90 or 100 years old and God promised that you were about to have a baby?  Not only that, but God promised that they would have lots and lots of descendants – even though they didn’t have even one child yet.  While Abraham is remembered for his faith, both he and Sarah had some moments when they despaired of God’s promises ever being fulfilled, and tried to take things into their own hands.

         Were you to read through the entire story of Abraham and Sarah (which covers all of Genesis chapters 12-25), you would find a number of occasions when their faith was not quite as strong as it could have been.  There were those times when they went to Egypt and Abraham told Sarah to pretend to be his sister – which resulted in her being taken by Pharaoh as a wife.  There was that time when Sarah gave her servant Hagar to Abraham as a wife, so that she could bear children for him.  There was also a time when Abraham suggested to God that maybe Eliezer of Damascus (a servant in his house) could be his heir.  All of these things happened as they got older and older – and still no children. Understandably, they wondered if God was ever going to come through on these promises.

         It is interesting how, many years later, when he writes to believers in Rome, Paul seems to have forgotten those times when their faith wasn’t very strong.  About Abraham, Paul writes:

Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So numerous shall your descendants be.”  He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.  No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised (Rom. 4:18-21).

Of course, Paul is trying to encourage the Romans in their faith as he writes this.  However, he is also making the point that not all offspring are biological.

         In Paul’s estimation, all those who believe in Jesus are children of Abraham – not necessarily biologically, but as people of faith.  In this sense, Paul writes that Abraham “is the father of all of us” (Rom. 4:16) – an ancestor in faith to Jews, and Christians, and Muslims.  For our part, however, it is a good thing to have ancestors in the faith who also experienced doubts and even despair.  After all, they were only human – just like us – and they were asked to do some hard things as they sought to live out their faith.

         Leaving their home behind and traveling to an unknown land would not have been easy for Abraham and Sarah.  And it certainly wasn’t easy for Abraham when he thought he was being asked to sacrifice his only son – the son God had promised.  And, in a similar vein, both Jesus and all those who follow him are asked to do some hard things, as well.

         In some ways, today’s gospel is a continuation of the temptation in the wilderness that we heard about last week.  As Jesus tells his followers what will happen to him, and how he will be rejected and put to death, he is presented with the temptation to avoid this suffering.  Peter pleads with him, and even gets angry at the suggestion that such things should happen to the Messiah.  And, just as he did in the wilderness, Jesus says, “Get behind me, Satan!” (Mk. 8:33).  These are human concerns that are not part of God’s plan for Jesus.

         Peter – perhaps understandably – has a hard time believing that the long-awaited Messiah would need to suffer and die.  Perhaps we have a hard time believing it, too.  At the same time, however, there is the promise of resurrection – not only for Jesus, but for us.  In fact, this is only one of the promises given to us in baptism, as we are also given new birth and cleansed from sin.

         These promises stand firm – even when we are asked to do hard things or have our doubts – just like the promises to Abraham and Sarah, and to all those who follow Jesus.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Lent 2(B)                                           Mark 8:31-38

February 25, 2024                           Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church  Romans 4:13-25

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2024 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved