Lent 2C

Luke 13:31-35; Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

Our gospel takes place after Jesus set out for Jerusalem (9:51),

but before the final week that will lead to his arrest and crucifixion. His enemies have already made themselves known, criticizing him and his teaching (5:30, 5:33, 6:2, 15:2), grumbling about his healing on the Sabbath (6:7, 13:14, 14:1-3) and questioning his authority (7:49).

It isn’t clear whether the Pharisees, who were the religious experts, were genuine in their concern for Jesus, warning him that Herod Antipas wanted to kill him, or whether they were scheming to manipulate Jesus.

But Jesus responds with the same steely resolve he adopted when he turned toward Jerusalem. He is going to continue to do his Kingdom work – “casting out demons and performing cures” (13:32) – and he will complete his journey to Jerusalem on his own time.

But even as he dismisses his enemies,

and fully knowing what awaits him in Jerusalem,

Jesus offers a lament for the city and its people. He cries out for God’s beloved because he knows they have turned away from God and God’s “unwavering love for [them.]”[i]

This is the choice God’s people make over and over again.

Returning to our first reading in Genesis, we hear Abram in conversation with God. It’s not the first encounter Abram has had with God. It was in Genesis 12 in the land of Ur that the Lord first promised Abram,

² I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

Since then, Abram and Sarai have journeyed faithfully, trusting God’s promises, but they remain childless and dispossessed of any land of their own.  

But now the Lord comes to Abram and says, “Do not be afraid.”

For the ancient Israelites hearing this story, and for us today, those words carry a promise. Those words mean good things are coming.

Just in Genesis, we hear them when Hagar thinks Ishmael will die in the desert (21:17); when Isaac and Rebekah are in Beersheba (26:24); and when Israel, who is renamed Jacob, is traveling with his sons and their children and wives to Egypt to escape the famine in Canaan. (46:3)

But this time Abram doesn’t take God’s Word at face value.

This time, he has questions.

He is skeptical, asking, “What will you give me?” (15:2) and “How am I to know?” (15:8) because the promises God gave him in Ur haven’t been realized yet.

Abram isn’t simply impatient or fickle. He has been faithful, but he was 75 when the promises were made and with each passing year, they are harder to believe.

“Amazingly, God continues to be patient with him.”[ii] God continues to be steadfast and present, ready to bless Abram, despite his doubt and uncertainty.

God repeats God’s promise to Abram, saying, “Look toward the heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them...So shall your descendants be.” (15:5) and then he tells Abram “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.” (15”18)

And just as God gave Noah a sign of the covenant by placing a bow in the sky (9:17), God makes a covenant with Abram. God’s presence with the Israelites on that day appeared as a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch, and represented by those objects, God passed between the cleaved livestock as a sign of God’s commitment to fulfill the promises God has made to Abram.

The Genesis text tells us that even as God was repeating God’s promises and even as Abram was questioning God and asking for signs of God’s faithfulness, Abram believed what God was saying. (15:6)

Faith does not mean relinquishing questions and doubts.

But just as God demonstrates God’s patience for Abram, God patiently waits on us, hoping for our trust.

Importantly, our response does not change God’s faithfulness.

God continues to be the God of promise known to our ancestors in faith, and God continues to be the God of grace and mercy whom we know in the person of Jesus Christ - the same Christ who laments when God’s people turn away from God, when we forget that we are connected to one another as God’s children and when we are unwilling to love another without exception.

We are invited to wrestle with the uncertainty and challenges we face in life and to have hard conversations with confidence that God’s love is unchanging.

Let us pray…[iii]

Holy God,

Thank you for promising us that we have nothing to fear.

You made a lasting covenant with Abraham and with all Your children;

help us trust in your steadfast presence as we wait on You,

confident that nothing separates us from your unwavering love.

We pray in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

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[i] Bartlett, David L.; Barbara Brown Bartlett. Feasting on the Word: Year C, Volume 2: Lent through Eastertide . Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.

[ii] Bartlett, David L.; Barbara Brown Bartlett. Feasting on the Word: Year C, Volume 2: Lent through Eastertide . Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.

[iii] Laughing Bird Liturgical Resources.