Despair to Hope, for Abraham, for Us

Here it is, long after the first burst of enthusiasm, long after the promise was first given, long after we first heard good news, long after God reached out and started us out on this path.

And the goal seems as far off as ever.

And yes, we do start asking what is the point of it all from time to time.

Why should we bother?

Why keep holding onto that old stuff from long ago?

Why don't we just chuck it, and go along with the flow?

Other people don't worry about these things; why should we?

Other people just grab all they can with no regard for their companions; why don't we just do the same?

Now I have a question: who is the speaker of all that I have just voiced?

Is it Abraham?

Is it us?

Or is it both Abraham and us?...are we in at least one sense a similar position before God?

We're in-between...

in-between a promise given and its complete fulfillment.

Abraham has seen very little toward fulfillment.

Years before God had told him, Go, and 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...and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. [Gen12]

And he had gone, and set aside the other gods, and worshiped only the Lord God, and waited... and waited.

And now he was 99 years old and still he had no land, no son, and was still treated as an alien in the land that was to have been his possession according to the vision.

It is no wonder that Abraham is about to waver in his resolve.

The Lord announces his presence to him again and commands

Walk before me, and be blameless (other scholars translate the word as be complete)

It isn't a suggestion, it isn't a wish;

it is a command.

All that follows depends upon Abraham's singular devotion to this God.

If he turns away, God has to find a different path to accomplish his ends.

If he turns toward God's promise, things may yet happen.

He doesn't know that for sure; he has already been waiting a lifetime.

Should he wait any longer?

Don't get hung up on the number 99.

The point of it is that Abraham and Sarah are both past the time of any human expectation of bearing children on their own.

Remember how Sarah thought she had to help God along in keeping his promise by offering her servant girl to Abraham so they could have a son through a surrogate.

“Thanks for the thought,” God tells them, “and Ishmael will have his own family and destiny, but the covenant will come through your own natural son.”

The present barrenness is contrasted with the future fertility.

What they were able to do is contrasted with what God promises to do still in the future.

The landless sojourners will have a place, forever.

The patched-together group of servants and retainers will yet be transformed into a cohesive natural family with its supporters.

And there is laughter.

Laughter!

[It is in part of the passage that was skipped in our reading this morning.]

Abraham fell on his face in laughter.

But laughter of which sort?

Is it laughter of derision and mocking?

--a “This is impossible! “kind of laughter?

Is it laughter that dismisses the babbling of an old man?

Or is it maybe, just maybe the laughter of joy in hope renewed?

Abraham and Sarah have heard a word, and made a conscious decision to hold onto it, to regard it as true, and trustworthy.

In year 99 they had laughter;

even though they had one year to wait for a son,

at least three generations to wait for land,

13 centuries to wait for Messiah,

and only God knows how long until his creating is complete.

But in the meantime, there was laughter in the tent of Abraham and Sarah.

God told them what to name the son that was to be born.

You see, “Isaac” means “laughter.”

What about us in our “meantime”?

What kind of laughter have we been hearing around council and committee tables these days?

Is it the laughter of derision?

We've been waiting how many years, and our dreams have not yet been fulfilled, have they?

Why should we hold on any longer?

Is this only the prattling of old men who refuse to face facts and keep up with the times?

Or is it time for a different kind of laughter, the laughter of hope, of anticipation?

Because there was another baby born whose name we translate “Jesus” and which means “God saves”.

He was the one who fully lived out his name, and in anticipation, makes it available to us.

Oh yes, there is reason for laughter, genuine laughter.

The institutional part of the church may have problems to work out, but let's keep it in that perspective.

God has made covenant with us.

Holy Baptism is its seal and sign.

Holy Communion is its festivities.

“Peace be with you” is its entrance greeting,

and “Amen...may it be so” its word of satisfaction.

With this covenant, we are blessed.

Here we are in the middle of things.

Here we are in the long, dry middle of it all.

Here it is, long after the first burst of enthusiasm, long after the covenant promise was first given, long after we first heard good news, long after God reached out and started us out on this path.

Here we are, with hope, with laughter.

Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.