Promises Made, Promises Broken: Do Not Fear!

Our theme for this entire year is about how God is revealed in story. Today’s zooms in on the story from last week, moving from Adam and Eve, our distant ancestors, to today’s story, which focuses on two people with whom God forges a relationship. It’s a story that shows us that, no matter how often we break our promises to God, God continues to make and keep promises to bless and to care for God’s people. It is this theme of promises made and promises broken that we will be considering over the next several weeks. 

Today, our story is from the book of Genesis, chapter 15.

After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, "Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great." But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will you give me? For I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus." And Abram said, "You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir." But the word of the LORD came to him, "This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir." He brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your descendants be." And he believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness. --Genesis 15:1-6 (NRSV)

If you’ve seen the news over the past 24-48 hours, then you know about the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Over these past few years, her popularity has soared in our country, particularly among younger women. The Notorious RBG, she became known as. Graduating first in her class at Columbia Law. And who, unable to find work as a young female lawyer, moved into education, eventually teaching law at her alma mater. But, it was her legal work on behalf of women for which she is most known, a formidable advocate for gender equality and women’s rights - losing only 1 of 5 arguments before the Supreme Court. And an advocate without whom I would most likely not be here with you today as an ordained member of the clergy.

On Friday night after I found out she had died, I went onto Twitter to see what was being said about her and about her legacy. I was particularly struck by two tweets, coming just a couple of hours apart. 

The first from a woman named Ruth Franklin, who wrote that there is a tradition in Judaism that if a person dies on Rosh Hashanah - which is the Jewish New Year and the first of the high holy days set out in Leviticus, a time of solemn reflection and repentance that concludes with Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year...if a person dies on Rosh Hashanah, as did Justice Ginsburg, they are known as a tzaddik, a person of great righteousness. 

And then there was the second tweet. From Nina Totenburg, a reporter for public radio who has covered the courts in our country for decades. She wrote this. "There is a Jewish teaching that says that those who die just before the Jewish new year are the ones God has held back until the last moment because they were needed most & were the most righteous. And so it was that RBG died as the sun was settling last night marking the beginning of Rosh Hashanah."

So, there’s this. A tzaddik. A person of great righteousness, one of the most needed and most righteous. And, then, there’s this. From our story today: Abraham believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness. Or, in Hebrew, tzedakah.

Do you see the connection between these two words? Tzaddik and tzedakah. One the noun. The person - the righteous person. The other the act of righteousness, of being righteous. The verb. Both related to the word, righteousness.

We often confuse this word righteousness. We have been too impacted by pietistic and moralistic movements in Christianity that connect this word righteousness with right and wrong. That to be righteous is about being a good person. Or not. 

In the Hebrew scriptures, though, the term, righteousness, is a term of relationship and of justice. To be a righteous person is to be a person who abides by the claims that their relationship makes on them. To do all that is needed to remain in the relationship. And if one fails in this, to be restored back into relationship - because that’s what justice is about, about always being restored back into the relationship. With one another. And, particularly, with God. 

In Abram’s case, he is judged righteous in relation to his covenant with God. 

We first hear of this covenant - this promise - in Genesis 12. God calls Abram to pick up his entire family and household. To leave his homeland. And to move to a land that God had promised to Abram and his wife Sarai. It was there that God promised to bless him. To make of him a great nation. To make his name great so that he could be a blessing. This was the promise God made to Abram. And to Sarai.

But, by today’s reading in chapter 15, years have passed. Abram and Sarai have no heir. No way to become this great nation promised by God. They become discouraged. Fearful that God will not keep God’s promise. They begin to take things into their own hands, preparing to name their servant as their heir. It is here where God steps in. “Do not be afraid,” God says to Abram. “I am your shield. Your protector.”

And, then, God tells Abram to look to the skies. To count the stars, if you can. So, shall your descendants be.

 

Aren’t we just like Abram and Sarai? We, who are the heirs of that promise. Living in the time between the first and second coming of the Messiah, long promised, not only to Israel, but to us, as well. We who wait for God’s kingdom to come on earth in all its fullness. And its truth. And justice. And righteousness. It’s easy to become discouraged. Particularly, this year. When it feels as though every time we turn on the television, or open a newspaper, or check our phones, it’s just one more thing. One more devastating thing. How easy it is to lose all hope! How easy it is to sink into despair! 

“Do not fear,” God says to Abram. And to us. “Do not fear! Look to the skies. See its broad expanse. Trust that my vision is broader than the narrow horizon of your limited human eyesight. Trust in me and in my promises, even when it seems that they and you are in jeopardy. Have faith! Know that I am your shield. Your great protector. Believe that your reward will be great!"

May we, like Abram, have faith. May we trust in God’s promises despite all evidence to the contrary. And may we lean into the future - into God’s future - with hope. That we, too, may be judged righteous, faithful in our relationship with the Creator. May God grant this. Amen.  

Preached Sunday, September 20, 2020, online at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY.

Pentecost 16

Readings: Genesis 15:1-6; Galatians 3:6-9; Psalm 105:1-15