Abraham and Sarah

July 27^th, 2014         “Abraham and Sarah”     Rev. Heather Jepsen

Sermon Series: Genesis: A Summer Sojourn

Genesis 18

          Today we continue our summer sermon series, Genesis: A Summer Sojourn, which is made up of sermons that you and I create together here in worship.  A shorter reading, today we are examining the material in chapter 18.  We have skipped ahead a bit after the story of Noah.  We have skipped the tower of Babel which concludes the stories of the earliest or pre-history narrative.  And we have moved into the unique story of the Israelites, which begins with the call of Abraham and the promise of a nation to come.

          God has made a covenant with Abraham and Sarah, promising that their descendants will be like the stars and be a special people, chosen by the Lord.  Already the two doubt the words of the Lord, since they remain childless.  Abraham considers having a servant, Eliezer be the heir to his house.  Sarah considers having a child for herself through the surrogate wife Hagar.  None of these plans work out and so the couple remain childless when we find them here in this story.

          Chapter 18 is neat, in that it acts like a diptych or one of those two sided pictures.  The mood is light and the feeling is one of great possibility.  In the first half, the Lord visits Abraham and Sarah along with two men, who are angels.  Abraham rushes to host them and they enjoy his hospitality.  They mention the promise that has been given, and that finally the time to have the child has come.  Sarah laughs at such a notion.  “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?” God asks, and the question is not meant to be rhetorical.

          In the second part of the diptych, we find Abraham and God talking together.  The two angels have headed into the city of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Abraham is wondering about God’s justice.  Do the good outweigh the bad or is it the other way around?  In the story we read last week of Noah and the flood, the justice of God outweighs the goodness of any people.  Everyone is destroyed.  Abraham turns things around, as he encourages God to consider whether or not the goodness of some can save the lives of others. 

          Of course, we touch on the story of Sodom and Gomorrah today which is always a bit prickly.  It is interesting to note the historical date of the stories here in our Bible.  We have talked a bit about the work of the editor in Genesis, and today we find a newer story purposely placed before an older one.  The story of the destruction of the cities is an older narrative, and this chapter has been added in as a commentary on that one.  We are meant to interpret the stories in chapter 19, in light of the stories here in chapter 18.

          Contrary to the popular culture of the Bible in our own time, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is not about gay people.  It has nothing to do with gays or sex; it has everything to do with hospitality.  Abraham demonstrates faithful behavior in showing hospitality to the angels who appear as strangers at his door.  So does Lot, when he meets them later on in the city.  The people of Sodom and Gomorrah neglect to show hospitality to strangers, and that is the sin they are condemned for.  Even the Bible itself supports this interpretation as we read in Ezekiel “This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.”  The issue is hospitality.

          We have two wonderful stories here in Genesis 18; the promise of new life for Abraham and Sarah, and the promise of new beginnings for our Lord when it comes to the definition of justice. 

So what do you think?

What do you see in this story?

What questions does this text raise for you?

What does the text say to you about the nature of God?

What does it say about the nature of humanity?

What is the sermon for us today?

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