Abraham’s Struggle to Be Faithful
Genesis 22:1-19
February 17, 2008
One of the greatest privileges I have had in my adult life is to visit the Holy Land. It was a relatively short trip, but we traveled from Jerusalem down to the Dead Sea and the desert fortress of Masada, up along the Jordan River Valley to the city of Tiberius on the Sea of Galilee, west to Nazareth and Megiddo, on to the seaside city of Caesarea, and then to Mount Carmel where Elijah had his confrontation with the 400 prophets of Baal.
But it was Jerusalem that fascinated me the most. There is a mental picture that I carry with me whenever I think about that city; one iconic picture that remains with you forever. It is the striking visual image of the Dome of the Rock towering over the old city.
The Dome of the Rock was built between 688 and 691 on the site of the Jewish Temple. With its golden dome, it dominates the 24 acre Temple Mount. It is not a mosque, but rather a shrine. The El-Aksa mosque, which was built between 709 and 715, stands at the southern end of the Temple Mount. For Muslims, it is the third most holy site in the world after Mecca and Medina. The Dome of the Rock was built as shrine and resting place for pilgrims. The huge rock over which it towers is the central piece of real estate for world monotheism.
The three great monotheistic religions all agree on one thing. Before time began, there was water and darkness covering the deep. The first piece of land that emerged from the water was the rock. The first ray of light radiated from this rock. Adam is buried here. Solomon built his Temple here. Muhammad ascended to heaven here. And Abraham brought his son Isaac here in order to offer him as a sacrifice to God.
I realize that we live in a time and atmosphere when it is not necessarily a welcome topic of conversation to suggest that Christians, Muslims, and Jews share the bedrock of faith. That bedrock is Abraham. He is the shared ancestor of Jews, Christians, and Muslims and as such, is the great patriarch of the Hebrew Bible, the forefather of the New Testament, and the architect of the Koran. He is believed to be the biological father of 12 million Jews, 2 billion Christians, and 1 billion Muslims around the world.
This morning, we continue on with our journey through Lent as we take a closer look at some of the Bad Boys of the Bible. I want to spend some time with Abraham; a strange choice perhaps, but one that fits with our theme.
Abraham probably isn’t a fellow who comes to your mind if you were to choose some bad boys. Last week, if you remember, I said that none of the bad boys we are going to look at are bad all the time. If it were not for Abraham and his willingness to trust and follow God, we wouldn’t be here today. But as great a man as he was, as close to God as he was, as solid of a role model as he was; Abraham still had some periods when he made some bad decisions.
He is a man of faith, but sometimes forgets that. He seeks to walk in God’s ways and yet he is a dead-beat dad. He extends gracious hospitality to strangers, but stands by as his wife Sarah exploits his mistress Hagar. He negotiates justice with God at the same time he is telling lies to kings. He lives his life as an alien on the lands of others, but insists that his son Isaac marry within his own clan.
In the end, we all want Abraham to be better than we are, but often he isn’t. His life is pretty messy at points, but it is that messiness in which we can learn some things about our relationship with God.
Very quickly, let’s remember Abraham. Back when he was simply a seventy year old man named “Abram,” the Lord called him and told him to pack up everything he had and set out on a journey. God was determined to make a great nation out of Abram’s offspring. To his credit, Abram didn’t question God. He simply showed up for duty. He gathered up his wife, household staff, all of his household goods, and all his animals. And they all set off together, open to whatever God had in store for them.
But it didn’t take long for his initial act of badness to rear its ugly head. When they got to the land of Canaan, there found a famine, and so continued on to Egypt. There, upon meeting the King, he told him that Sarah was his sister. He was afraid that if the Egyptians knew that she was his wife, they would kill him. So he took the chicken’s way out and publicly announced that she was his sister. He proved himself ready to sacrifice the purity and dignity of his wife for the sake of his own skin.
Pharaoh then took her into his own harem, but God sent plagues on the country for this great sin. The King released Abram and Sarah and sent them on their way with all of their possessions.
One of the great puzzlements in this story is the contrast between the promise of God and the initial reality of Abram. You see, Sarah was barren. She could have no children and yet God promised Abram descendants as many as the stars in the sky. It was at this point that Sarah had a proposal. Since she was unable to have children, perhaps her slave girl, Hagar could provide Abram’s offspring. Taking Hagar as another wife, she quickly got pregnant, which angered Sarah. Abram told Sarah that she could do anything she wanted to do with her, so Hagar was regularly abused, and finally driven out into the desert to wander alone. Abram did nothing to stop that abuse; just stood by and watched it happen.
As I said, Abram is a mixture of good and bad – just like the other bad boys we are going to talk about – just like us. After refusing to stop Hagar’s abuse, Abram had his name changed to Abraham and was promised that his wife would indeed, even in her old age, have a son.
He then went on record as speaking for justice for Sodom. This was a city full of depravity and sin, and God had decided to destroy it. But Abraham rose to their defense. What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? What if there are 45 righteous? What if there are forty? What if there are thirty? What if there are 20 righteous people? What if there are ten?
God answered that if there were ten righteous people to be found, he would not destroy Sodom and her sister city Gomorrah. This is a picture of Abraham standing up to God and insisting that justice be evident in God’s dealings with the people.
After this, Abraham and his wife took up residence in another foreign country. Once again, Abraham told the king that Sarah was his sister, fearing for his own life. He was willing to give her to another man as long as he didn’t have to face the consequences. Are you beginning to see a pattern here? First we have the good Abraham and then the bad Abraham and then the good Abraham again.
Can anyone in this congregation this morning say that Abraham’s story is not his or her story? Every one of us here has had periods when our faith journey was roaring down the tracks at a hundred miles an hour. We’ve all had those times when being obedient to God was the most natural thing in the world to be. We’ve all had those times when our prayer life was on target, our hearts were warmed in worship, we were learning and growing in our faith, and we were feeling the pull of God to move out into service among the least of these.
We also know what it is like to fall off the wagon. We have been through those periods when our faith life is dry as dust. There have been days when it has been next to impossible to get out of bed to attend worship. We’ve all had those times when we just get burned out in compassion fatigue and want everyone to leave us alone.
I’m amazed at Christian’s ability to be schizophrenic in regards to our faith. Sometimes we are up and sometimes we are down. Sometimes we care and sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we are faithful and sometimes we are anything but faithful. Sometimes we have learned the lessons of our faith from our ancestors and sometimes we go out of our way to be disobedient.
The story of Abraham which I read a few minutes ago is a story of a guy who was able, when it counted, to be counted on. Chapter 22 of Genesis is, I think, the story of God wanting to know beyond a doubt that Abraham is qualified to be the father of a people who number with the stars in the skies. Actually, I believe that this is a second call of Abraham. The first was for him to pack up all of his possessions and move to a place known only to God. If that wasn’t hard enough, here comes a second call. “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will show you.” In other words, God is demanding a human sacrifice to demonstrate Abraham’s commitment, devotion, and obedience.
Abraham has to make a choice, to be obedient or disobedient. He doesn’t have a great track record in the obedience department.
If Abraham doesn’t pass this test, then the grand design that God had for the world would have to be revisited and revised. If Abraham doesn’t pass this test, then another patriarch would have to be found. If Abraham doesn’t pass this test, he would be relegated to the dust bin of history.
We know the end of the story. At the last possible minute, an angel of the Lord steps in to stop the sacrifice of Isaac by providing a sacrificial ram. Isaac is saved and God knows the truth. Abraham can indeed be counted on, even if asked to do the impossible.
It may be misleading to consider Abraham one of the Bad Boys of the Bible because in the end, his goodness and faithfulness far outweighs his missteps. He is indeed, one of the most important people in Scripture. I believe that we can learn much from him because he, like us, struggled to be faithful. Sometimes he got it right and sometimes he didn’t. But he never stopped trying.
There are times when Abraham is selfish, self-centered, heartless, ruthless, stubborn, and defensive. And yet God found a way to use him. He was an imperfect vessel, and yet played a decisive role in God’s plan to redeem the world. When God needed him most, he rose to the occasion.
I believe that Christians need to hold themselves up to the highest standards of beliefs and conduct. We worship a great God. We serve a great Savior. We rely on the greatness of the Holy Spirit to get us through each day. The world desperately needs our witness. Any misbehavior that detracts from our witness and message is a tragedy and a sin. There is no excuse for Christians not living up to the faith that they profess.
At the same time (and I don’t think this is a contradiction) we have to realize that we are sinners, that we will fall and miss the mark, that we will be disobedient and selfish from time to time. Striving to reach the perfection demanded by Jesus, we will constantly be tested by our failures and mistakes.
I was talking to a young man not too long ago. He told me of some things that he had done which were weighing heavily on his mind. They were not criminal activities, but just his humanness showing through in some of his relationships and behaviors. He told me that he didn’t deserve to be loved by God. He didn’t think that God loved him. How could he go on? How could God love him?
I said this. I’m not sure it is a great theological insight or anything, but here is what I said. “So apologize to God for what you have been doing. Just apologize. God will hear and accept your apology and then you will be able to go on with your life. It’s really pretty easy. Just say you’re sorry.”
I honestly don’t know what this young man did. I haven’t talked to him since that day. But I hope he offered up his apology.
And I hope you offer up your apologies as well, for those times when you have fallen short of the high calling of God through Christ. I know that it is sometimes a struggle to be faithful. Abraham struggled with it. Yet he stood up when it really counted. God used him when he needed him the most.
I believe that God has a job for each and every one of us. All of us have a role to play in the shaping of the Kingdom. Let Abraham be your guide and mentor. When you mess us, keep coming back. Struggle on. I believe that God will reward your faithfulness. He did it for Abraham. There is no reason he won’t do it for you.
