Genesis 15:1 – 12, 17 – 18 / Psalm 27 / Luke 13:31 – 35
This is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania
by Fr. Gene Tucker on Sunday, March 13, 2022.
“HOPELESSNESS – OR – HOPE?”
(Homily
texts: Genesis 15:1 – 12, 17 – 18 &
Luke 13:31 – 35)
Our
Old Testament reading, appointed for this morning, offers us a glimpse of
Abram’s predicament, which isn’t a good one at all: For Abram[1] and
his wife, Sarai, have no children. Now, they are both “up in years”, and the
prospect is that there will be no children for them.
God
appears to Abram in a vision and says, “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield, your
reward shall be very great.” In response, Abram says to God, “O Lord God, what
will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer
of Damascus”, to which God replies, “This man shall not be your heir, your very
own son shall be your heir.”
At
this point, it would be good for us to pause for a moment and remember how
important children were in biblical times. There are many accounts of Scripture
of the bad straits that people who had had no children were thought to be in.
Consider, for example, Hannah’s childless state, until God told her that she
would give birth to the prophet Samuel. Or Elizabeth, the Virgin Mary’s cousin,
who was childless. Luke, in his Gospel account, tells us that her childless
condition was a reproach to her. In time, however, God gave Elizabeth and her
husband, Zechariah their son, whom we know as John the Baptist.
Abram’s
situation seems hopeless. If we expand the scope of our reading this morning,
we discover in the following chapters of the book of Genesis that Abram and
Sarai come up with their own solution to their problem of childlessness, for
Sarai urges Abram to enter into a marriage with her slave girl, Hagar. To this
union, Ishmael is born. But God reminds Abram that Sarai will be the mother of
this promised son.
Eventually,
Abram and Sarai understand that God’s promise contains within it the power to
bring that promise into reality. Acting in faith and in response to God’s
promise, they become the parents of Isaac.
St.
Paul, writing to the early churches in Rome, says that “Hope which is seen is
not hope, for who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not
see, we wait for it with patience.”[2]
Hope
that is not seen…..
Hope
has an unseen and invisible reality, doesn’t it? But it also has a tangible
reality, as well.
That
tangible reality rests in God’s demonstrated ability to bring about those good
things that God has in mind for us. The pages of Holy Scripture contain the
record of God’s mighty acts, often acting in the midst of dire and seemingly
hopeless situations, to bring about a better day in the future. If we look into
our own life’s history, perhaps we can find that same sort of evidence. Or
perhaps we can find that same basis for hope in someone else’s life experience.
Our
appointed Gospel reading for this morning carries much the same theme of
hopelessness and hope. Jesus laments that the spiritual condition of the city
of Jerusalem is such that those in the city to whom He was sent were unwilling
to come into His care. “How often would I have gathered your children as a hen
gathers her brood,” He says, “and you were unwilling”.
The
visible reality we hear in Jesus’ statement seems to be one of a failed
ministry. Jesus’ attempts to bring God’s people into a proper relationship with
God seems to have borne little or no fruit. Like Abram and Sarai, there are few
spiritual children that have come from His work.
And
yet, Jesus exhibits the same sort of faithfulness that Abram and Sarai
eventually showed. For He says, “Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures
today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.” Mentioning even the
certainty of His own death, He is determined to stay the course laid out for
Him.
Faithfulness,
the faithfulness of Abram and Sarai, the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ,
forms the bridge from the unseen and unrealized hope that God promises to the
experienced reality of hope which has been fulfilled. Abram and Sarai become
the father and mother of a great multitude, numbered as the stars of the
heavens. Jesus Christ becomes the source of a great number of Christian
believers, who cannot be numbered, for they are so many.
“Now
hope which is seen is not hope”, St. Paul writes. In the midst of so much
troubling news in our world today, we can rely on God’s promise of His
continued care and presence. For, as St. Paul will also writes in the eighth
chapter of his letter to the early churches in Rome, “We know that for those
who love God, all things work together for good.”[3]
Thanks
be to God!
AMEN.
[1] Both Abram and Sarai undergo name changes: Abram is better known as Abraham, and Sarai is better known as Sarah.
[2] Romans 8:24b - 25
[3] Romans 8:28
