You’d think Abram would be in a pretty secure place come the start of chapter 16, but, as we heard it really doesn’t go well. In fact whilst in the past we’ve seen Abram buckle into sin, here he really messes up. But as he and Sarai do, in the midst of the total mess they create, we see a moment of grace, as, for the first time in the Bible, someone names God, and it is the last person you’d expect.
As we’ve been reading about Abram, as we’ve been exploring his story we’ve been looking for Gospel echoes. Because we believe that the Gospel runs from Genesis to Revelation, it doesn’t begin with Jesus. And in our passage today, in a throwaway line about Abram’s belief, and in an incredibly strange ritual, we find the strongest echoes yet of the Gospel in which we believe.
As we live our lives, sometimes a national or international crisis can impact our lives. Governments changing, wars affecting food prices, even impacts of AI. Today we read of this happening to Abram. However the events that unfold become a vital part of the ongoing story of God’s working. In our reading from Genesis 14 we had a dramatic account of three battles. The first two concern attacks by 5 Eastern kings (Chedorlaomer of Elam plus) on 4 Western ones.
As Abram returns to the promised land we find him faced with a choice: to hold on tight to the riches of this world, or to let them go in trust to God.
I’m calling this sermon series Origins: Abraham, because this is the beginnings of God’s salvation plan, this is in some sense the beginning of the Gospel as Abram receives the Gospel promise. So far in Genesis we’ve heard of Creation, Fall, Noah and his Ark, the Tower of Babel, but now the narrative slows down and zooms in, we’re meant to dwell with Abraham for a while. Here with Abraham begins God’s plan of salvation, and here with Abraham we’ll discover more of what our God is like, and more of what we are like as we perhaps see ourselves a little in Abraham, and more of what it means to stumble along with God as we try to follow his will and purposes for us.
It is fitting that as we begin our journey towards Easter, the great feast of our Salvation, that we should start with where it all went wrong, with the Fall. We heard a few weeks ago, and reflected on, how God created everything. And now that he has finished, he places humanity at the centre of the garden, an earthly paradise, to care for it and to bring order to it.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was tohu va bohu. We tend to translate those words formless and void or empty. It’s a picture of chaos and disorder and yet here over the waters is the God who brings order and life out of chaos and darkness.
Our Gospel reading today is a slightly odd little section but it gives us two wonderful truths; the assurance that God is on control, and that wonderful image of Jesus gathering us to him like a hen gathers her brood under her wings.
…That’s going to be my approach to that first reading from Genesis this morning, an overview of lots of the strands this passage gives us. I want to explore how, as we look back to the beginnings of everything, we see the pattern for our life, for the ordering of creation and, even here, before the fall, the foreshadowing of our redemption and of the end of all things.
Our Gospel reading today is a famous one. Jesus welcoming the children has become the subject of plenty of artwork, stained glass windows, children’s Bible covers. As well as being the tagline for Diocesan and other church strategies down the years. And yes Jesus welcoming children is important, a surface level reading is no bad thing. We kid ourselves about our future if we aren’t willing to welcome children and their families to church. But there’s something much deeper going on in this passage, something which should challenge us all.
How do we receive the Kingdom of God like a child?