The Divine Deal ...
Sermon
Sermons on the First Readings
Series III, Cycle B
Object:
The priest challenged the rabbi at lunch: "Rabbi Cohen, when are you going to eat a piece of this delicious ham?" The rabbi answered, "I'll make a deal with you, Father Laughlin. If you get married, I'll eat the ham at your wedding."
Deals. The owner of a house wants to sell it. She picks a realtor. In return for 6% commission, the realtor will find a buyer. The papers are signed. The deal is struck. The realtor has promised to represent the seller. A potential buyer seeks the help of the realtor. Naturally, the realtor will want to sell his listing. But the realtor must also be loyal to the buyer. What does the realtor do if he knows about a better house listed by another realtor offered for less money? Does he remain loyal to his client the seller (a loyalty putting more money in his pocket) or does he decide to take into consideration the interests of the buyer? The deals get messy.
Made With Abraham
God once made a deal with Abraham, a man of nineteenth century BC called by God to go up from Ur of the Chaldees to a new home that God would show him. According to one Old Testament line of thought (the P source), the covenant with Abraham was the third of four "dispensations." Following the dispensation of the creation and the covenant with Noah, God made a deal with Abraham, after which God made a deal with the nation of Israel at Sinai.
God's deal with Abraham, a new era, was marked by the change in Abram's name. Abram ("may God be exalted") was changed to Abraham ("the father of many nations").
The deal was somewhat one-sided. Abraham had no responsibility to God in exchange for God's blessing, except perhaps to say "thank you," head in the direction to which God pointed him, and introduce the practice of circumcision to his male descendents. God's sign that he would follow through with his part in the deal would be the pregnancy of Sarah, Abraham's wife, a laughing matter that would turn dead serious.
The deal was more like a call. God called Abraham to a glorious future rife with milk and honey in a place called Canaan. Abraham's response to God's offer would be simple gratitude and a willingness to go after the dream and to keep the dream alive.
Perhaps Abraham also had the charge to proclaim the goodness and power of the god named "El Shaddai" (God Almighty).
In some ways, the call of God to pastors and priests who are beckoned to enter the land of parish ministry is similar to the call of God to Abraham.
Dietmar Linke was a pastor called into church ministry in the former DDR. At Christmas 1983, he and his family were ordered to leave the DDR. The record of his "criminal activity" began when he was the pastor of his first congregation in the East German town of Meinsdorf. He noticed that the Jewish graves in the town cemetery were not cared for. He decided to organize a week of presentations and public discussion focusing on the theme, "Jews and Christians." The state accused him of propagandizing in behalf of the country of Israel and called him an agent for "outside interests."
He and his wife later participated in an effort to promote world peace by organizing small discussion groups that invited writers from the West to present their thoughts.
Pastor Linke and his wife incited the authorities to overt action when they participated in a human chain of lighted candles that extended from the American embassy to the Soviet embassy in East Berlin in the early morning of World Freedom Day, September 1, 1983.
That straw that broke the camel's back led to expulsion from their own country. In obedience to his "call," Dietmar Linke had to endure public accusations by the authorities, the relinquishing of his driver's license on several occasions, and the unannounced entry into his home by security police.
Complaints by the authorities against him were made to the leaders of his denomination, his children were harassed in school by their teachers, and hate letters were sent to his home. The strategy of the security police worked. Pastor Linke was forced to request permission to leave the country. He was ordered to leave the country within a month.
Like Abraham, he left his "Ur of the Chaldees" to enter unknown country. Once "safe and sound" in West Berlin, he had to wait two years to receive a parish assignment because of another "deal" between the western and eastern judicatories of his denomination. His loyalty to his God who called him forth to venture into a land of uncertainty led to the "milk and honey" of satisfaction that he had kept his part of the bargain. Abraham and Sarah were to find rest in the promised land in a burial cave near Hebron.
Fulfilled In Jesus
The priestly narratives of the Old Testament spoke of the four dispensations, but Irenaeus, an early church father, spoke of the four "covenants" made with Noah, Abraham, and Israel at Mt. Sinai, and, fourthly, with humankind through Jesus of Nazareth.
Irenaeus was coached by Saint Paul's letter to the Galatians: "... Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring; it does not say, 'And to offsprings,' as of many; but it says, 'And to your offspring,' that is, to one person, who is Christ" (Galatians 3:15-18). Paul, the rabbi, taught that the consummation of the promise to Abraham was, in fact, Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the way and the leader to the promised land. Perhaps he is also the promised land himself! When we find him, we find the milk and honey, the peace and the fulfillment to which God calls us. Ignatius, another early church father, said "Apart from Jesus we have not true life."
The promise to Abraham was that he was to be the "father of many nations." If Jesus is the one who fulfills the promise of salvation to many nations, then Christians need to think broadly and boundlessly.
A Catholic priest once told of an incident in an ecumenical study group in the Detroit, Michigan, area. The incident took place during the time of the Detroit riots of 1967. It seems that some folks clandestinely painted the statue of Jesus in front of Sacred Heart Seminary. Morning daylight revealed a black Jesus. A few nights later, white teenagers, with a bucket of white paint, rendered Jesus Caucasian again.
Some faculty members and students of the seminary recognized the potential for misinterpretation by the community. The times demanded a statement from the seminary. Again, for the third time, the paint buckets were employed. The faculty members and students went to work at 4 a.m. to return Jesus to the black race. Unfortunately, some neighbors, unaware of the plot, called the police. Only when the perpetrators were apprehended, did the boys in blue recognize their police chaplain and rector of the seminary, Msgr. Frank Canfield and friends. The vandals were released and Jesus remained black for a very long time. Ministerial and ecumenical groups regarded the riots as a wake-up call to begin aggressively the work of reconciliation and racial integration in the Detroit area.
Not all Christians celebrate the season of Epiphany but all Christians celebrate the story of the magi who came from the east to pay homage to the Christ Child. They were guided by a star. Maybe it was Halley's Comet that shot across the sky in 11 BC. Maybe it was a brilliant conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter that occurred in 7 BC. Maybe it was the star named by the Egyptians, Sirus, the dog star, which rose at sunrise with extraordinary brilliance. At any rate, it was not too surprising for the scientists of the day, the magi, who in this case could have been members of a priestly class, the Medes of Persia, to regard unusual stellar phenomena as signaling the birth of a new king. It is noteworthy that the popular legend about the three kings gives them precise identities. Melchior was an old man with a gray beard; Caspar was young and ruddy; Balthasar was swarthy, perhaps even black, with a newly grown beard. Epiphany means "manifestation." The Christ Child was manifested or revealed to foreigners, to the nations. The Christ Child had not come just to redeem the nations but to redeem the world, the "nations." To Abraham was given the promise, that he would father "many nations." His seed would be a beacon and a leader to many nations, perhaps a savior to lead "many nations" into a promised land hardly imagined by even Abraham himself.
With Benefits
According to the theology of Paul, Abraham became a "father" of millions. His "seed" would become a blessing to all those who proclaimed Jesus as Lord, thus participating in Abraham's faith. The future benefits of the contract God made with Abraham would accrue to countless millions. Paul might say that the investment of faith (or "trust") "deposited" by Abraham has been paid out to many beneficiaries. An Old Testament scholar, Gerhard von Rad, put it in his commentary on Genesis, "Abraham's call [was connected] with the hope of a universal extension of God's salvation beyond the limits of Israel [the covenant with Abraham has a] timeless validity...."1 "... In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:3).
The blessing given to Abraham is the blessing of faith joyously celebrated by all Christians who step onto the trail with Abraham's (spiritual) descendents who follow behind him on the way to the glorious promised land.
Most Christians might agree that believers are "grandfathered" into the list of beneficiaries on the day of their baptism. Once a group of American Presbyterians went to Scotland to enjoy a retreat. One day, between sessions, some of them began to stroll through the gardens of the retreat center to do a little exploring. Presently, they came to a stream spanned by a timeworn bridge. They failed to see the warning sign and began to cross the bridge. A gardener in the distance began to shout. Too far away to hear what he was shouting, one of the Presbyterians shouted back, "It's okay! We're allowed to be here. We're Presbyterians!" The gardener shouted back, "I'm no carin' aboot that, but if ye dinna get off the bridge, you'll all be Baptists!"
Presbyterians baptize infants and Baptists only baptize believers, but the practice of baptism is a good time to remember the divine deal. Some ministers use a shell to baptize, the sign of the blessing that comes from the water. Perhaps a candle will be lit from the Christ candle, the sign of the blessing transmitted from Christ, Abraham's "seed."
Sometimes oil or water is traced on the forehead of the baptized, replacing circumcision, the mark of adoption by the resurrected Christ, again, the "seed" of Abraham. Faith is at the center of baptism, the faith of those who present the child at infancy, or the faith of those who profess their faith before their adult baptism. Saint Paul links our baptismal faith to the faith of Abraham. "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness" (Romans 4:3). God's deal offered to Abraham was undeserved. Abraham was not a good guy and his faith did not entitle him to God's grace. His faith was his trust in God almighty who made him an offer. He accepted the offer. He believed.
Any deal we make with fellow humans involves an element of trust. The bank has to trust us to make the mortgage payments and we have to trust that the bank will not foreclose on our property without following the stipulations of the contract.
God's deal is rock solid. He will not withdraw his benefits. Furthermore, God will not force us to love and obey him. He will not back out of the deal but he allows us the freedom to reject his offer. Such a deal! Amen.
____________
1. Gerhard von Rad, Genesis: A Commentary (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1961), p. 195.
Deals. The owner of a house wants to sell it. She picks a realtor. In return for 6% commission, the realtor will find a buyer. The papers are signed. The deal is struck. The realtor has promised to represent the seller. A potential buyer seeks the help of the realtor. Naturally, the realtor will want to sell his listing. But the realtor must also be loyal to the buyer. What does the realtor do if he knows about a better house listed by another realtor offered for less money? Does he remain loyal to his client the seller (a loyalty putting more money in his pocket) or does he decide to take into consideration the interests of the buyer? The deals get messy.
Made With Abraham
God once made a deal with Abraham, a man of nineteenth century BC called by God to go up from Ur of the Chaldees to a new home that God would show him. According to one Old Testament line of thought (the P source), the covenant with Abraham was the third of four "dispensations." Following the dispensation of the creation and the covenant with Noah, God made a deal with Abraham, after which God made a deal with the nation of Israel at Sinai.
God's deal with Abraham, a new era, was marked by the change in Abram's name. Abram ("may God be exalted") was changed to Abraham ("the father of many nations").
The deal was somewhat one-sided. Abraham had no responsibility to God in exchange for God's blessing, except perhaps to say "thank you," head in the direction to which God pointed him, and introduce the practice of circumcision to his male descendents. God's sign that he would follow through with his part in the deal would be the pregnancy of Sarah, Abraham's wife, a laughing matter that would turn dead serious.
The deal was more like a call. God called Abraham to a glorious future rife with milk and honey in a place called Canaan. Abraham's response to God's offer would be simple gratitude and a willingness to go after the dream and to keep the dream alive.
Perhaps Abraham also had the charge to proclaim the goodness and power of the god named "El Shaddai" (God Almighty).
In some ways, the call of God to pastors and priests who are beckoned to enter the land of parish ministry is similar to the call of God to Abraham.
Dietmar Linke was a pastor called into church ministry in the former DDR. At Christmas 1983, he and his family were ordered to leave the DDR. The record of his "criminal activity" began when he was the pastor of his first congregation in the East German town of Meinsdorf. He noticed that the Jewish graves in the town cemetery were not cared for. He decided to organize a week of presentations and public discussion focusing on the theme, "Jews and Christians." The state accused him of propagandizing in behalf of the country of Israel and called him an agent for "outside interests."
He and his wife later participated in an effort to promote world peace by organizing small discussion groups that invited writers from the West to present their thoughts.
Pastor Linke and his wife incited the authorities to overt action when they participated in a human chain of lighted candles that extended from the American embassy to the Soviet embassy in East Berlin in the early morning of World Freedom Day, September 1, 1983.
That straw that broke the camel's back led to expulsion from their own country. In obedience to his "call," Dietmar Linke had to endure public accusations by the authorities, the relinquishing of his driver's license on several occasions, and the unannounced entry into his home by security police.
Complaints by the authorities against him were made to the leaders of his denomination, his children were harassed in school by their teachers, and hate letters were sent to his home. The strategy of the security police worked. Pastor Linke was forced to request permission to leave the country. He was ordered to leave the country within a month.
Like Abraham, he left his "Ur of the Chaldees" to enter unknown country. Once "safe and sound" in West Berlin, he had to wait two years to receive a parish assignment because of another "deal" between the western and eastern judicatories of his denomination. His loyalty to his God who called him forth to venture into a land of uncertainty led to the "milk and honey" of satisfaction that he had kept his part of the bargain. Abraham and Sarah were to find rest in the promised land in a burial cave near Hebron.
Fulfilled In Jesus
The priestly narratives of the Old Testament spoke of the four dispensations, but Irenaeus, an early church father, spoke of the four "covenants" made with Noah, Abraham, and Israel at Mt. Sinai, and, fourthly, with humankind through Jesus of Nazareth.
Irenaeus was coached by Saint Paul's letter to the Galatians: "... Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring; it does not say, 'And to offsprings,' as of many; but it says, 'And to your offspring,' that is, to one person, who is Christ" (Galatians 3:15-18). Paul, the rabbi, taught that the consummation of the promise to Abraham was, in fact, Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the way and the leader to the promised land. Perhaps he is also the promised land himself! When we find him, we find the milk and honey, the peace and the fulfillment to which God calls us. Ignatius, another early church father, said "Apart from Jesus we have not true life."
The promise to Abraham was that he was to be the "father of many nations." If Jesus is the one who fulfills the promise of salvation to many nations, then Christians need to think broadly and boundlessly.
A Catholic priest once told of an incident in an ecumenical study group in the Detroit, Michigan, area. The incident took place during the time of the Detroit riots of 1967. It seems that some folks clandestinely painted the statue of Jesus in front of Sacred Heart Seminary. Morning daylight revealed a black Jesus. A few nights later, white teenagers, with a bucket of white paint, rendered Jesus Caucasian again.
Some faculty members and students of the seminary recognized the potential for misinterpretation by the community. The times demanded a statement from the seminary. Again, for the third time, the paint buckets were employed. The faculty members and students went to work at 4 a.m. to return Jesus to the black race. Unfortunately, some neighbors, unaware of the plot, called the police. Only when the perpetrators were apprehended, did the boys in blue recognize their police chaplain and rector of the seminary, Msgr. Frank Canfield and friends. The vandals were released and Jesus remained black for a very long time. Ministerial and ecumenical groups regarded the riots as a wake-up call to begin aggressively the work of reconciliation and racial integration in the Detroit area.
Not all Christians celebrate the season of Epiphany but all Christians celebrate the story of the magi who came from the east to pay homage to the Christ Child. They were guided by a star. Maybe it was Halley's Comet that shot across the sky in 11 BC. Maybe it was a brilliant conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter that occurred in 7 BC. Maybe it was the star named by the Egyptians, Sirus, the dog star, which rose at sunrise with extraordinary brilliance. At any rate, it was not too surprising for the scientists of the day, the magi, who in this case could have been members of a priestly class, the Medes of Persia, to regard unusual stellar phenomena as signaling the birth of a new king. It is noteworthy that the popular legend about the three kings gives them precise identities. Melchior was an old man with a gray beard; Caspar was young and ruddy; Balthasar was swarthy, perhaps even black, with a newly grown beard. Epiphany means "manifestation." The Christ Child was manifested or revealed to foreigners, to the nations. The Christ Child had not come just to redeem the nations but to redeem the world, the "nations." To Abraham was given the promise, that he would father "many nations." His seed would be a beacon and a leader to many nations, perhaps a savior to lead "many nations" into a promised land hardly imagined by even Abraham himself.
With Benefits
According to the theology of Paul, Abraham became a "father" of millions. His "seed" would become a blessing to all those who proclaimed Jesus as Lord, thus participating in Abraham's faith. The future benefits of the contract God made with Abraham would accrue to countless millions. Paul might say that the investment of faith (or "trust") "deposited" by Abraham has been paid out to many beneficiaries. An Old Testament scholar, Gerhard von Rad, put it in his commentary on Genesis, "Abraham's call [was connected] with the hope of a universal extension of God's salvation beyond the limits of Israel [the covenant with Abraham has a] timeless validity...."1 "... In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:3).
The blessing given to Abraham is the blessing of faith joyously celebrated by all Christians who step onto the trail with Abraham's (spiritual) descendents who follow behind him on the way to the glorious promised land.
Most Christians might agree that believers are "grandfathered" into the list of beneficiaries on the day of their baptism. Once a group of American Presbyterians went to Scotland to enjoy a retreat. One day, between sessions, some of them began to stroll through the gardens of the retreat center to do a little exploring. Presently, they came to a stream spanned by a timeworn bridge. They failed to see the warning sign and began to cross the bridge. A gardener in the distance began to shout. Too far away to hear what he was shouting, one of the Presbyterians shouted back, "It's okay! We're allowed to be here. We're Presbyterians!" The gardener shouted back, "I'm no carin' aboot that, but if ye dinna get off the bridge, you'll all be Baptists!"
Presbyterians baptize infants and Baptists only baptize believers, but the practice of baptism is a good time to remember the divine deal. Some ministers use a shell to baptize, the sign of the blessing that comes from the water. Perhaps a candle will be lit from the Christ candle, the sign of the blessing transmitted from Christ, Abraham's "seed."
Sometimes oil or water is traced on the forehead of the baptized, replacing circumcision, the mark of adoption by the resurrected Christ, again, the "seed" of Abraham. Faith is at the center of baptism, the faith of those who present the child at infancy, or the faith of those who profess their faith before their adult baptism. Saint Paul links our baptismal faith to the faith of Abraham. "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness" (Romans 4:3). God's deal offered to Abraham was undeserved. Abraham was not a good guy and his faith did not entitle him to God's grace. His faith was his trust in God almighty who made him an offer. He accepted the offer. He believed.
Any deal we make with fellow humans involves an element of trust. The bank has to trust us to make the mortgage payments and we have to trust that the bank will not foreclose on our property without following the stipulations of the contract.
God's deal is rock solid. He will not withdraw his benefits. Furthermore, God will not force us to love and obey him. He will not back out of the deal but he allows us the freedom to reject his offer. Such a deal! Amen.
____________
1. Gerhard von Rad, Genesis: A Commentary (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1961), p. 195.
