Fear and Faith

 

A Sermon preached on 25 June 2023 (4^th after Pentecost) at St. Augustine’s, WI

Genesis 21:8-21, (Romans 6:1b-11), Matthew 10:24-39

At first sight, today’s lessons are not ones I would consciously choose for a family service! There is a traditional British card game called “Happy Families” and the object of the game is to collect complete – and happy - families. Today, both in the OT reading and the Gospel, we encounter families that are anything but happy. In a story a little reminiscent of the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale (but without a witch and gingerbread house), Hagar and Abraham’s son Ishmael are sent by his father into the wilderness with just some bread and a skin of water. And, quoting from the book of the prophet Micah, Jesus warns us that he will bring division in the family. What are we supposed to learn from this?

Don’t copy Abraham and Sarah, at least not in what they do in this story! They are supposed to be examples to us, both in their strengths – for example in their faithfulness and their willingness to trust God – but also in their weaknesses, and that is what is very much on display today. In fact, Ishmael is the result of one of their weaknesses. God had promised Abraham children, as many as the stars in the sky. (Genesis 15:6) But when, after 10 years in the land of Canaan, Sarah still did not have children, they decided to take matters into their own hands by having a child through Hagar, Sarah’s servant.

Now that Sarah has a child of her own, she is fearful for Isaac’s safety and afraid that Ishmael may be favoured more than her boy, Isaac. Ishmael – you’ll notice that his name is not mentioned at all in the passage - is the older son and would by rights inherit a double share. Sarah’s emotions, her love for her son, her jealousy, her fear get the better of her and so she demands from Abraham that he “Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.” Sarah does not believe that these two brothers can possibly coexist. Sarah sees in her son and Ishmael, a replaying of Cain and Abel. The word “cast out” is the same used when Cain was expelled after killing his brother Abel. The original sin is still going strong!

Abraham’s role is ambiguous to say the least. He is distressed and clearly loves his son Ishmael, who must be 15 or 16 by this time. We know that he cares for him because he had even earlier pleaded with God to accept Ishmael, rather than give him a second son from Sarah (Genesis 17:18) But obeying God, and I think trusting in God’s repeated promises (Gen. 17: 20; 21:13) that Ishmael will be blessed and have many descendants, and become a great nation, he sends Hagar and her child away.

This does not alleviate Hagar’s and Ishmael’s feelings of rejection and their very real fear of dying when their meagre supplies run out. But the name God had told Hagar to give her son, Ishmael meaning “God hears” is shown once again to be true: “God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.” (Gen. 21:17) And “God was with the boy, and he grew up.” (21:20)

It's not quite “they lived happily ever after” but comes close, and there is even later a moment of reconciliation, healing and hope when, in Genesis 25 (7-9) both Ishmael and Isaac come together to bury their father in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre.

Abraham and Sarah are chosen precisely because they are weak and fallible human beings. We will meet many such figures throughout the Bible, many flawed heroes, as there is only one perfect human: Jesus.

This shows us that God’s purposes can be achieved even through such people, which is good news for us, and that nobody is beyond redemption and healing. God’s promises and God’s grace are not limited, they are not just available “either” for Isaac and his descendants – the Jews – “or” for Ishmael and his line – the Arabs, but for both and for all people. How sad that the descendants of the two brothers are still in conflict with each other and that Israel and Palestine do not seem to be able to co-exist without one wanting to remove / expel / cast out the other.

“Do not be afraid” the angel tells Hagar. “Have no fear” and “do not be afraid” is what Jesus says to the disciples .. before going on to tell them all sort of frightening things about persecution, about conflict, and about division especially within families when “one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.” (Matthew 10:36) A lot of what Jesus says is not supposed to be threatening, but descriptive: this is the way of the world. Not every family is perfect all of the time. And families are often divided over politics and religion. Think of St. Francis, who gave his father’s money away and later renounced his father and inheritance.  That was not a happy family.

Following me has consequences, Jesus says. Following me is a full and single-minded commitment even in the face of suffering, even if it leads to conflict, even if there is division. Our Lord is the Prince of Peace, but as not everyone accepts the message of the kingdom, and some even fight it, peace is not the absolute value. Speaking the truth is. What Jesus initially tells and teaches the disciples, in secret, before he is truly revealed on the cross and in the resurrection, they must later proclaim out loud: “What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops:” (10:27)

It is not that Jesus wants conflict and disagreement, just that allegiance to him must be the top of the priority list and not denied or ignored out of a false sense of loyalty to family, tribe, or nation. Just as in the story of Abraham, these potential human weaknesses are contrasted with God’s faithfulness.

Be faithful to God, fear God even, the only one who could destroy body and soul. This fear of God is much more than simple fear, it includes awe, reverence, adoration, worship, trust, thankfulness, and love. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” Proverbs (9:10) teaches us. For Jesus, that wisdom or understanding is that God loves us more than even the cheapest food of the poor. God watches over the sparrows, God counts even the hairs of our heads, and God knows the unnumbered stars in the sky. Do not be afraid, you are of more value than all of this.

God’s grace is bigger than we can imagine. God’s faithfulness is worked out in ways we can’t predict, especially in difficult and dangerous situations. In moments of pain and suffering God will respond and react, just as Jesus promises his disciples and just as Hagar and Ishmael experienced. Whatever we do and wherever we go following God’s calling, God’s grace goes before us, and God’s love will be present. It as we heard in the Psalm (86:5,7):

“For you, O LORD, are good and forgiving, and great is your love toward all who call upon you. … In the time of my trouble I will call upon you, for you will answer me.”

Amen.

 

What is faith?

A Sermon preached on Sunday 11 June 2023 (2^nd after Pentecost) at St. Augustine’s, WI and St. Christoph, MZ

Genesis 12:1-9, Romans 4:13-25, Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

Considering the theme of all three readings today, how could I not preach about faith? Abram shows great faith when he “went, as the Lord had told him” - leaving country, family, and house behind. (Genesis 12:1) Paul uses Abraham’s faith as an example when writing to the Roman Christians. And in the Gospel, not only does Matthew show great faith when, like Abram, he leaves his previous life behind to follow Jesus’ call, but also both the unnamed synagogue leader and the unnamed woman show faith in Jesus and in his healing power.

What is faith? For Martin Luther, faith was one of the three “sola or only,” three things that are “only and alone” necessary for salvation (clearly, I understand the word only differently from Martin Luther!).

They are “Sola Gratia” ("only by grace alone"): That it is only through God's free and infinite grace, not any works a person can do, that salvation is accomplished.  Sola Fide ("only through faith alone"): Salvation only comes through a person's faith in God, a faith that God also provides. Sola Scriptura ("only through the Scriptures alone"): That the Bible is the sole, infallible source of authority for Christian faith and practice, which means that everyone must be able to have access to God's Word, the Bible. While we Anglicans are also a church of the Reformation, we tend not to emphasise these Sola quite so much and when we use them, we qualify or temper them. Faith is not static, but a process and we see our salvation in our transformation through faith and the Spirit. Faith is also never an abstract but must be something that expresses itself in how we live and how we love. And Scripture is for us not the sole but the primary source for Christian doctrine, as viewed and interpreted through the twin lenses of reason and tradition.  

What is faith? The faith shown and expressed by the various actors in today’s readings from scripture was not abstract, not just a matter of passive belief. Abram and his family set off on a long journey around the fertile crescent through – on today’s maps – Iraq and Syria and down through Israel into the south, into what became the kingdom of Judah. He did this at great age – 75 – trusting in God’s protection and promise. That was a big ask, after all 75 is not the best time to want to start a family or a new life. God needed his action as part of the fresh start for humanity that God had planned through Abram. Paul picks up on this idea in his letter. Not only did Abram believe that he would become “father if many nations,” he also did what was necessary on his part to make this happen – although with a little more initial scepticism than Paul is willing to acknowledge. God’s promise and Abram’s faith and actions lead directly to the new expanded family of faith formed both of believing Jews (the adherents of the law) and to believing Gentiles (who share the faith of Abraham).

Too often we tend to define faith as a system of religious beliefs and doctrines – the “Christian Faith” – as something to be learned and just accepted. But true faith, a living faith is much more, it requires action, it requires us to live a life of faith, to want to follow Jesus, to trust in him. Not blindly of course, even if Matthew immediately jumped up and followed Jesus. Questions are not only permitted, but they are also welcome. That is what we mean when we talk about faith seeking understanding.

What is faith? The author of the Letter to the Hebrews defines faith as “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1, NIV) Hope certainly played a big role in the two healing stories we heard in the Gospel. The leader of the synagogue, called Jairus in Mark’s Gospel, hopes that his daughter will live again and has so much confidence in Jesus’ power to give life that he comes and kneels before him, saying, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” (Matthew 9:18) Against all hope, the woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years, still hopes for a cure and believes that “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” (Matthew 9:21) And according to Paul, “Hoping against hope, (Abraham) believed that he would become the father of many nations.” (Romans 4:18) What gives us confidence in what we hope for, what we trust in, and what we believe in are God’s own actions, our trust comes from the evidence of how God has acted throughout salvation history, and from those we experience in our own lives.

And so, Paul writes, Abraham was “fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.” (Romans 4:21) And later he raises up Abraham’s faith as an example not only to believe in what God had done in the long distant Jewish past, but in a God who was and is still acting, for we “believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.” (4:24-25)

What is faith? Faith is not a one-way street; our faith is a reaction to God’s faithfulness and love. God trusts in us; God does not give up on us; and God is faithful to God’s promises. At the centre of all the promises that we see being fulfilled in today’s passages is the gift of “life” from God “who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.” (4:17) For Abram it is a new life in a new country as the founding father of a new nation. Despite his and Sarai’s age, God promises him the gift of another sort of new life, with a son. Paul makes this point with very drastic language: “He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.” (4:19) In the Gospel reading Matthew was invited to begin a new life with Christ. The woman was not only healed of her sickness but restored to a full life in community, and the leader’s beloved daughter was brought back to life by Jesus, who, as we hear at the end of this section of Paul’s letter, will himself be raised from the dead by God, as a sign of the promise of resurrection to new life that is available to anyone who believes and trusts in it.

What is faith? It is a way of living, but we need more than just faith to live a Christian life. Rather than the Reformation trio of “grace, faith, and scripture,” those “sole” sources of salvation, I think that Paul’s triad from 1 Corinthians (13:13) best describes the key elements of a life in Christ: “And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” For love – God’s love – is what we trust in, what we hope for, what we try and live by and in the end what we will be part of.

Amen.