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 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.
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.
We thought quite a bit about the first half of that passage at midnight on Christmas Day. But this morning I want to focus on two descriptions of Jesus in the passage. The end of verse 14, and verse 16, which both talk about Jesus’ fulness. What is he full of?
In many ways Joseph is often overlooked at Christmas and actually the rest of the year for that matter. He appears here, and we catch a few brief glimpses elsewhere as Jesus grows up, but by the time Jesus begins his ministry Joseph is nowhere to be seen, he seems to have died. But the glimpses we see of him enable us to see why he too is chosen to raise Jesus, to become Jesus’ adoptive Father. For here we have a man who is devout and righteous, but also merciful. Which we see most clearly when we hear how he responds to the news that Mary is pregnant.
What is your worth? How do you know that? And how do you get there? Questions that go right the core of our identity, questions which go right to the core of Jesus’ two little parables today.
Jesus is at the house of a leader of the Pharisees. And at this dinner he’s being watched to see what he might say or do. He’s just healed a man, and healed him on the Sabbath at that, but the religious leaders have remained silent. And now the watchers become the watched as Jesus points out how they are acting.
What is the Gospel? What is the good news at the heart of Christianity? That’s the question before us as we turn in our series on the Creed to what Jesus did, his actions. What did Jesus do, and how has he changed the world forever?
Our Gospel reading today is probably one of the most famous stories Jesus ever told, up there with the lost sheep, which actually comes just before it in this chapter. And you can tell Jesus’ mastery as a storyteller because not only is it memorable, but wrapped up in it is the Gospel. It’s a story of rebellion and rejection, of repentance, and of the Father who sweeps up again in love and welcome.
In our Gospel reading today a group of people come to Jesus with a current news story, almost expecting some sort of comment from Him about it. Perhaps hoping that Jesus will assure them of their moral goodness, and yet Jesus offers no such assurance, instead offering a warning and the promise of God’s mercy.
We have in our readings today two encounters with Jesus. We have Jesus calling the first of his disciples, including Simon, called Peter, and we have Paul writing about the Gospel, mentioning in passing his own encounter with Jesus.
In some ways these two men couldn’t be more different.