“Grace to you, and peace, from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.”
And in the manner of Paul, I bring you greetings from the other side of Mingus, from Pastor Tricia Lowe, and from your brothers and sisters in Christ at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Prescott Valley, and from the saints at Windhaven Hospital, where I would normally lead worship on Sunday morning. Blessed be the Word we serve and share in the name of Jesus. Amen.
“But, Mom, you promised!”
I would be hard-pressed to remember more heart-breaking words from my son when he was young. Whether it was a day at the park ruined by an unexpected thunderstorm, or a game I couldn’t attend because of a work assignment, hearing Michael’s words, knowing that I had broken his trust, could fill me with guilt. Even with the best of reasons, I had failed to keep my promise.
Promises are the building blocks of relationships. Marriage vows are promises to be faithful to one another, to put the relationship before other people and other commitments. So important are these promises that they are often made before God, and in the presence of the couple’s family and friends.
Lies and broken promises are the foundational cracks that crumble marriages and friendships. They strain and divide family bonds. Sometimes it is a huge rift, but more often it is hundreds or thousands of repeated schisms and dashed expectations that finally cause irreparable damage.
God had made a promise with Abraham and Sarah that seemed a bit far-fetched from the start. God had shown Abraham the vast, clear night sky, and told him that his descendants would be as uncountable as the stars. God chose a 75-year-old man and 65-year-old woman to create this nation.
Believing God was faithful, Abraham and Sarah left their family as God directed. And with each passing year, the promise grew a bit less hopeful, and carried more sting. The couple, who thought they had found favor with God, found their confidence fading. No son, not even a family heir. Most likely, those closest to the couple had stopped asking. And as they distanced themselves from God, they determined if baby was to be, perhaps it wasn’t Sarah who should be the mother. Sarah and Abraham decided her slave girl, Hagar, could bear a child. And they set aside the promise and estranged themselves from the Promise Maker.
After Hagar’s baby was born, God arrived and repeated the promise. Your son, born of Sarah, will be the way my covenant will be fulfilled. Reassured, they share the good news with their extended family and neighbors, and tell people to save the date for a baby shower – which was the best joke among the women at the water’s edge for months. More time passes and many more prayers are lifted. Each morning, Sarah glanced at her magnificent aging body with despair. Each night, Abraham considered the beautiful night sky with discontent.
God appears again, with the same promise. Abraham and Sarah must have wondered what God was up to … making a promise that their aged bodies most assuredly could not keep. God, they decided, has a rather unconventional, or maybe even hurtful sense of humor.
A familiar saying, when things don’t go as we expected is, “We plan and God laughs.” On the other hand, in this case, perhaps the saying should go, “We laugh, and God plans.” This time, Abraham laughs at God. Maybe “scoffs” is a better description. “Imagine that, your promise is a promise this old man’s body can’t keep.” Now God’s pronouncement seemed empty. They certainly didn’t share the news. They avoided each other’s looks for days. Both of them exchanged unspoken sadness: “How could God raise our hopes, then leave them dashed in the desert?” They were certain God had passed on making them parents of a great nation – perhaps something had caused them to lose favor in God’s eyes. Heavy thoughts, indeed….
I imagine at some point in your life, you’ve been right there with Abraham and Sarah. Looking back, life didn’t turn out the way you had hoped. Maybe you never found a life partner. Maybe you never graduated or went to college because your family needed you to work. Perhaps you made regrettable mistakes, your health failed, or your family had to sell the farm. At some point in life, all of us share that same question: “Why, God?”
And maybe the situation made you bitter and unfulfilled. Or you came to terms with it and did your best to be grateful for what life did provide.
However, when three men show up at the tent, Abraham welcomed the distraction. He greeted them with words and water, asking them to rest in the shade while he found a bite to eat and share.
Now here’s where words are important. These are strangers to Abraham and Sarah. And the custom was to be hospitable to visitors. But Abraham didn’t just welcome them – he ran to meet them and bowed low to the ground. His words and actions went far beyond welcome: “My lord (he addressed all three), if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant.” He told them he would get a bit of water and a bit of bread. No visitor would refuse a small touch of hospitality – it would be offensive. So they stayed. Then Abraham had a servant butcher and cook a calf, had Sarah bake three measures of flour – imagine a five-gallon bucket packed full of flour and you get the picture – enough bread to eat for days. And I’m sure Abraham didn’t skimp on the water, milk or curds. He had ordered up a feast!
And there were THREE men. Three is biblical code for completion or fulfillment: the three persons of the Trinity, Jesus’ three temptations, three crosses at the crucifixion, Peter’s three denials, Resurrection on the third day…. The Bible is full of 3’s – 467 appearances of the number three, according to one reference. My guess is that Abraham knew God was present, and hence his over-the-top hospitality.
Abraham and the visitors ate. Time passed. And then one visitor fulfilled Abraham’s expectations. In due season, at the appointed time, the visitor said, he would return and Sarah would bear a child. Still flour-dusted, hot and tired from bread-baking, Sarah laughed out loud from where she was hiding, just inside the tent. Now, revealed as the Lord, the visitor asked Sarah why she laughed. “Why?” she must have thought. “Why? We’ve been waiting 25 years. People who know us have ceased to believe and think we’re crazy. We’ve stopped believing. We’re senior among senior citizens. We’re. Not Having. A. Baby.” But then, afraid of her disrespect, she denied she laughed. And the visitor, in that one glance, put her at ease. This IS unbelievable. It IS OK. “But you did laugh.”
And Sarah became pregnant, and in due time, a son was born. And perhaps in the last laugh, they named him “Isaac,” meaning “he laughs.” Imagine the laughter when Sarah felt the first movements, pieced together a layette, saw Abraham’s handiwork in preparing a bassinet. Imagine the cries mixed with laughter as they met their son, and as they woke in the middle of the night to tend to his needs. ”Your turn, old man.” Imagine the stories they told their toddler, and later, the laughter as they suggested young man Isaac might not want to wait until he’s 100 to grow that nation!
As we begin this journey into the story of God and God’s people – maybe the question that comes to mind is why? Why did God promise Abraham and Sarah they would be the beginning of a great nation? Why did God wait so long to bring the covenant to fulfillment? Why was this story carried by God’s people, and included in the beginning of the larger story.?
First, and here’s that number THREE again: Abraham became the father of a great nation – or three great nations! Not only did Abraham and Sarah begin the Jewish people, but they are the beginning of the Judeo-Christian tradition. They started the tradition out of which Jesus, the Messiah, would be born. And through Abraham, especially the line with Hagar and her son, Ismael, the Islamic faith would grow.
Second, God is faithful. Not sometimes. Not usually. God is faithful. Period. Maybe that’s the word you need to hear today, or the word someone else needs to hear from you. God’s promises are certain, even when we don’t hold up our end:
- God promises to be near to the broken-hearted, even when our grief turns us from God.
- God promises to forgive, even when we cannot forgive others or ourselves.
- God, “who began a good work in you, will bring it to fulfillment by the day of Jesus Christ.”
Third, God’s timing is not our timing, and nothing we do or do not do will change that. Even today, when we may struggle to hear God’s promises, those we read in scripture, those pronounced at our baptisms, and those we hear from each other, those promises are just as certain as God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah. Sometimes we will have to wait … maybe even a long, LONG, L-O-N-G time. That’s the word this impatient child of God often needs to hear. Maybe you too.
And finally, equally worthy of our contemplation, God is the master of the impossible, the improbable, the unbelievable, the inconceivable. We are made in God’s image, and with God, all things are possible. So be faithful, stay connected, believe in all things, and … on this journey of God’s relationship with God’s people, and on our own faith journey – Don’t forget to LAUGH!!
Amen.
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