Second Sunday in Lent
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 Psalm 27 Philippians 3:17-4:1 Luke 13:31-35 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Grace and peace to you from the one who goes to great lengths to keep promises. Amen The theme running through our readings for today is that God keeps the promises God makes. We know this, we affirm it, but sometimes, especially in the middle of hardship it’s hard to trust this, it’s hard to see anything other than what is right in front of us and our prayers start to sound like our psalm for the day. In the face of forces working actively against the psalmist they pray, and their prayer alternates between statements of trust almost as if making those statements will help the psalmist believe that they are true and acknowledging the reality of the present. The psalmist starts off “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear?” Who indeed, but behind these words we sense a reason to fear and sure enough in the very next verse the psalmist says “when evildoers close in against me” and goes on to describe bad things that happen in life. Back and forth the psalm goes, calling on the Lord’s promises and seeking reassurance in the midst of times of trouble I think we’ve all prayed something like this where we alternate between “I know you’re great God and have made these promises” and in the next breath crying out “help! Bad things are happening, right now!” and both are true at the same time. We need reassurance when the way gets tough, we need to vent our frustrations and fears after all of the emotions have been expressed the psalmist settles on the last two verses “This I believe--that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord and be strong. Take heart and wait for the Lord!” And it’s true, we do believe we will see the goodness of God, and we catch glimpses of it but that second part, the waiting is oh so hard, we’ve experienced that this past week as we’ve waited and watched the waters rise not knowing what the future will look like for communities and families around the state, and as much as we’ve wanted to do something, at a certain point all that’s left to do is wait we’re still waiting. And the longer the wait the more assurance we need. God keeps the promises God makes but our time line and God’s don’t always line up and so sometimes we question God, and God responds with reassurance. We see this in our first reading from Genesis in the conversation between God and Abram This scene is actually not the first conversation between the two earlier when God led Abram from his home God promised him land and descendants as numerous as grains of sand, Abram has been faithful in his following of God thus far but he’s getting older and he’s not seeing the fruit of those promises, So Abram questions God Essentially saying, yah you made those promises but what have you done for me lately? looking for more details in how this seemingly impossible promise will come true, and God reassures him pointing to the night sky and saying “look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them, so shall your descendants be.” And Abram, reassured, believes God. Then the pattern repeats itself. God repeats the promise of land to Abram and Abram questions God “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” and what follows is possibly one of the stranger passages that we hear on a regular basis, specific animals being cut in two, darkness, a smoking fire pot and flaming torch passing through the animal pieces… What are we to make of such a scene? We know from research scholars have done on the ancient middle-east that though it may have been terrifying for Abram the actual ritual would have been familiar to him for this was the ritual of covenant or contract making. Minus the presence of lawyers and paper and pen this was how contracts were made, the ritual of walking through the dismembered animals signified an important promise. essentially saying, “if I fail to keep my promise, may the same thing happen to me as to these animals.” God’s promise to Abram is so important that God “considers an experience of suffering and death” (NIB 449) in order to convey the seriousness of the promise. God keeps the promises God makes As Christians we have cause to know just how far God will go to keep a promise. In our gospel reading for today Jesus sets his face towards Jerusalem and immediately some Pharisees come and tell him that he shouldn’t go because it’s dangerous. Jesus already knows that, Jesus already knows what is going to happen and Jesus knows what lengths God is willing to go to keep promises all the way to death and back again. Jesus is the promised messiah the one the people have longed for, for so long but true to God’s form the fulfillment of the promise is beyond human conception of what it will look like. Jesus uses the image of a hen gathering her chicks under her wings, that is what he longs to do and in a way will do in his outstretched arms on the cross but the people, expecting a hawk or an eagle have not been willing to come under Jesus the mother hen’s wings, in fact like a hawk or eagle they will attack the mother hen as they have attacked previous prophets. Jerusalem, the city of God, is a risky place to go if you are a messenger from God but Jesus is willing to take those risks in order to keep the promises of God. God made a promise to Abram, Abram questioned God and God reassured Abram and Abram believed the Lord. Abram’s faith was possible because of God’s word and previous actions, which had all been true and faithful. At our baptisms God made a promise to us that we would always be God’s, that, as Paul said in our second reading, our citizenship would be in heaven. And some days we question that promise, we turn to God and say ‘you promised that your kingdom would come on earth as in heaven, Jesus said the kingdom of God has come near and yet there are still people who are hungry and countries at war, And terrorists who shoot people in their place of worship and loved ones who die, And rising flood waters how can your promise come true God?’ and God comes to us, at the table Jesus comes to us reassuring us with his own body and blood the new covenant shed for us for the forgiveness of sins Any time we gather together, break the bread, drink the wine Jesus is present, renewing the promise of abundant life everlasting, strengthening us in the midst of the waiting Reminding us that God has kept all of God’s promises even to the point of dying on a cross and rising on the third day. The life of faith is risky. Risky because though the promises are always kept we don’t know the particulars, risky because people expect hawks instead of mother hens to change the world. Yet The life of faith is secure because it is founded in the one who keeps their promises and no matter how often we question No matter what life throws at us, God is reaching out gathering us in like a mother hen gathers her chicks To safely in the shadow of her wings. Amen
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AboutPastor Emily Johnson preaches weekly at Christ Lutheran. These are manuscripts of her sermons given at Christ Lutheran. Feel free to engage with them in the comments section of the blog. Archives
February 2021
Categories
All
|