Today, we continue to read from the Book of Genesis. Last week, we talked about how the book is believed to have been written during the Exile in Babylon, in the 6th century before Christ, at this time where Israel starts to reflect on what it means to be a people, to have a land, a king, a holy city, a Temple…and to lose it all in the hands of a foreign power. Through the stories in Genesis, the Israelites ask this question again and again: “Why did things go so wrong for us?“. And we saw with the story of Adam and the woman and the loss of Eden how this question is clearly explored in an awareness of sin, disobedience to God’s commandment, lack of trust in God’s guidance. After what we have come to call “The Fall”, we see in Genesis how the offspring of Adam and Eve will continue to spiral down, almost literally: We leave off at Chapter 11 where God destroys the tower of Babel the people built as a monument to their pride. Yet, we should certainly not assume that the Book of Genesis is all about the people’s violence and God’s subsequent punishment. If indeed the authors of the Book wonder “What is it that went so wrong with us?“, they also try to respond to a deeper, and more helpful question: “And now, where do we go from there?“. The book of Genesis is certainly the story of the Fall of humankind but it is also, and more importantly, about the way God will raise the people and starts anew with them. This is certainly what the story of Abraham is all about. The passage we have heard this morning is very short, only three and a half verses, but there are many things we can notice and ponder if we wish, during this season of Lent, to not only reflect on our mistakes and shortcomings but also, and mainly, if we wish to start again with God.
First of all, what is quite striking is that Abraham is quite an ordinary man. I may need to explain that in the text, his name is Abram: God will change his name a little later in the story to Abraham, which means: “The Father of the people”. For now, Abram is not yet Abraham and we know next to nothing about the man. We learn at the end of Chapter 11 that he is married to Sara and, along with his father Terah and his grandson Lot, they have left their home in Ur of Babylon to go live to Canaan. We don’t know what happened but obviously, they have stopped on their way and settled in Harran where Terah has died. We can assume that it has been a difficult journey. Babylon (along with Egypt) was at the time the center of the civilization where arts, culture, trade, you name it, flourish. Now the family find themselves heading deeper and deeper in the wilderness. And it’s not only about the wilderness around them, we will learn later that Abraham and Sara as a couple are barren, now they lost have their father, the family is shrinking. There is very little hope left to them. Abraham is 75 years old when the story begins.
And so, it could be quite depressing, but if you think about it, it is also very interesting that this is where God puts things in motion and the adventure begins. I read a lot of novels but I am unable to remember a story that starts with a 75 years old man who so far hasn’t done anything remarkable, except following his father in the wilderness with an aging spouse. So there’s that, but even more deeply if we look at the third chapter of Genesis we read last week, we may realize how this old couple in the wilderness contrasts with Adam and the woman, incredibly young and full of life (after all they have just been created!) living in a luxurious garden. We see that Abraham and Sara are quite their opposite, but deeper than that maybe we can also see them as what’s left of Adam and Eve and the creation as a project, now humanity has decided to part from God. Abraham and Sara are Adam and Eve’s opposites but also their reflection. If you have ever read or seen The Picture of Dorian Gray, it makes me think of that. Dorian is this eternal, beautiful young man because he has sold his soul to the devil, he doesn’t age, but the picture of him he has at home ages for him and shows the desolate state of his soul. In the Bible, Abraham and Sarai are the picture of this desolate state humanity, aging and dying in the wilderness, with no offspring, when they were meant to multiply and rule over creation.
And yet, this is where God starts again and starts anew. God calls out to Abraham in his state of desolation and promises a lavish future: Abraham will be blessed, he will be a great nation, his name will be made great, and he will become a blessing to all who blesses him. Once again, we can connect the story of Genesis to the story of Israel. In reflecting on the father of their people, not a hero, not a warrior, not even a strong man, only a man God, for some reason, had elected, they could see themselves also leaving at last the land of Babylon and being able to go back to Canaan. They just needed to trust that God will get them there.For us, the story is all about this hope too. As we reflect on how things should have been, we realize how often we come short of God’s plans for us, we count our losses and can feel our life shrinking. We talked last week about the loss of possibilities sin brings into our lives. But as we understand more about ourselves while reading the book of Genesis, we also, and mainly, learn more about God, about how God is the God of new beginnings, of new possibilities, the God of hope, the God who comes to meet us where we are in the wilderness, in the pit, this God is the God who raises us and brings us new life. Jesus said “He is the God of the living” (Matt 22: 32) – what an astonishing way to describe who God is and what God has done and still does for us.
Now, and that would be the second part of our reflection, we see that Abraham still has a job to do. Most commentaries agree though that the promises God make aren’t conditional. It does not seem that God says that God will bring a great nation, a great name, and many blessings if Abraham leaves his country, his kindred and his father’s house. Yet we understand that, if Abraham believes the promise, he’d better leave because he is going to need a new place for this new beginning. We have seen earlier that this man looks nothing like a hero, or a warrior, he is an ordinary man and now, even more than that, we see that this man who portrays all what humankind has lost since the Fall, this man needs to add new losses so he can enter God’s plan. He needs to leave his country but even more he needs to leave his kindred, but even more he needs to leave his father’s house, and the God will bless him exceedingly. I don’t think it means that we need to turn our backs on our origins and on those who love us. Rather, it means that humankind is not meant to cling on the way they have accommodated with the poor state of the world. Abraham and Sara are not meant to be left barren in the wilderness. They have to continue the journey. Israel in its exile hope for a time where they can resume their journey too. For us, and especially during Lent, we are invited to think about all the things or even the people we cling to. It does not have to be something bad. What we are invited to think of is: How would my life need to look like if I wanted to receive from God a new beginning, a new place to go or just a new way to be? What is it that is barren in my heart or shrinking my life? Contrarily to today’s heroes, God’s heroes aren’t those who accumulate stuff, power or victories, they are the ones who are willing to lose false hopes and securities in order to find something real.
So there’s that: Abraham has to respond by leaving something, or a part of himself behind and trust God instead. Maybe Abraham has to leave behind the part of himself that thinks nothing will change ever. The second job that Abraham has to do is to become a blessing to all. He does not go out to “find himself” or even to fulfill his own quest. But neither does he go out to save all the people. Abraham is simply sent to others, in a fallen world, as a witness of God’s faithfulness to the people. So it is about Abraham’s trust in God yes, but mostly it is about God’s trust in Abraham. Abraham receives a blessing to become a blessing. In the same way that the Israelites have discovered themselves to be a blessing for all people in their time of Exile. As for us, we can reflect on the way we are not asked to be heroes, warriors or even asked to be strong or successful people, we are sent to be a blessing, to be God’s agents, not to save the world but to bring God’s love in the poor state of our world. We already talked a bit about that last week during our study on the many ways in which we can share God’s compassion around us. Lent is this time where we seek forgiveness, healing and yes a blessing to become forgivers and healers and witnesses to all those who hurt. Abraham’s journey is still unfolding in the story of all who want to be his descendants.