Throughout the book of Genesis, God's promises, which is to say God's plan of redemption for our world, have been continually at risk. God's promise first came to Abraham in Genesis 12 as a promise that Abraham would be the father of a great nation and that God would make his name great and make him a blessing. In the simple reality of Abraham's aging, this promise comes to be at risk for Abraham grows old without having an heir. It's difficult to become the father of a great nation if you aren't even the father of one child. But out of the deadness of Sarah's womb and Abraham's old age, God brings forth life, a son, and therefore new possibility for his promise.
The promise is set at risk again as God calls upon Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, this very same son who was so graciously and miraculously given. There is no hint in this story that it has a forgone conclusion. It is only after Abraham shows he is willing to sacrifice Isaac that God says "now I know that you fear God". What if Abraham fails to trust God? Will that nullify the promise of God? What if Abraham does trust and actually kills his son? How will God fulfill his promise with Isaac dead? But out of this conflict between God's command and God's promise arises a new future in which God's promise can continue.
Abraham's son Isaac marries Rebekah and they have two children, Esau and Jacob. Perhaps we begin to think now that the promise is well on its way; the family lineage from Abraham is continuing and gaining strength. However, the relationship between Esau and Jacob is characterized by struggle and conflict even within their mother's womb. We come to know Jacob as a deceiver and con-artist whose only real goal is self-preservation and advancement. As such, Jacob poses a new kind of challenge to the promise of God. Can God really fulfill his promises to Abraham and Isaac through a person like Jacob? If the fulfillment of God's promise earlier depended so much on Abraham's obedience, will not Jacob's complete lack of moral character and total inattention to God force God to find someone else to work with, thereby abandoning his promise to Abraham? Apparently not. God makes the same promises to Jacob that he made to Abraham and Isaac and God keeps those promises despite Jacob's character (or lack thereof).
Twelve sons are born to Jacob, who is now renamed Israel, and so the picture of Israel as the mighty nation promised to Abraham begins to come into view. These twelve sons are the patriarchs of Israel. But rather than the promises of God being established firmly in these twelve, the promise now faces what might be its greatest risk yet. For this is a family torn apart, even driven close to murder, by favoritism and jealousy. Joseph is Jacob's favorite son and he makes no attempts to hide this favoritism but actually flaunts it by giving him a special robe that was more than just a piece of clothing; it was a designation of this son's status. Add to this the fact that Joseph was the second youngest of the twelve sons (and for some time the youngest since it seems Benjamin was not born until much later) and Joseph's propensity for grandiose dreams in which he played a role superior to his brothers, it becomes easy to see how Joseph's brothers "hated him and could not speak peacefully to him." As a result, Joseph's brothers begin to plot his death, only swerving from that plan because they decide it would be better to profit from their brother than to simply kill him and so they sell him into slavery. Again, the promise of God is in serious trouble. God had spoken to Joseph in dreams just as he had spoken to his father Jacob in dreams but now instead of those grandiose dreams being fulfilled, Joseph had become a slave. Moreover, how was God to raise up a great and holy nation out of a family like this one; a family willing to sell their own brother into slavery?
And yet, in the attempt of Joseph's brothers to kill his God-given dreams, they have actually put the fulfillment of those dreams in motion. Joseph's being sold into slavery is what will bring him into Egypt which, through a series of events involving more dreams, is what will ultimately allow him to become known to Pharaoh and thereby become the powerful man he dreamed he would be. By Genesis 45, the story has come full circle. The same brothers who sold Joseph into slavery now come to him in a position of humility, needing the grain which only he can supply. Joseph aptly sums up his story in Genesis 50:20 by saying to his brothers "you meant evil against me but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive". One again, the promise of God has not failed.
Even with Joseph in charge, the promise of God does not rest safe and secure. For Joseph will eventually die and the eighth verse of Exodus tells us that "there arose a new king over Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph." This will lead to the entirety of Joseph's descendants being enslaved, again causing us to wonder if this where the promise of God will come to an end. But like the story of Joseph himself, the enslavement of his descendants is only setting the stage for God to bring life where their seems only death, for God to create a new future for the people of his promise. God delivers the people from their slavery in Egypt and thereby makes them the nation he had long ago promised to Abraham. The story of God's promise is the story of God making a future that seems impossible in the present. That is, in fact, why it is promise at all. It is not merely an accumulation of human events. It is God's speech made real in our world.
Thus the Joseph story is especially adept at highlighting a theme that has run through Genesis and continues on through the rest of scripture: that God's promises will be kept, God's will will be done. Which is NOT the same thing as saying that God's will is always done in every circumstance or that everything that happens is the will of God. All kinds of things happen in our world that are not willed by God. God does not will slavery, rape, famine, and genocide. No, what the story of Joseph and many of the stories in Genesis teach us is not that God willed everything that happened but that God will accomplish what he desires one way or another in spite of all that happens against his will. There is nothing in scripture that indicates that God willed Jacob to be the kind of man he was or that God willed the jealousy and hatred that existed among Joseph's brothers but God was able to work through it to bring his promises to fruition in spite of those things. This is not determinism but, in fact, its opposite: hope, a hope that God can bring wholeness even out of our brokenness and faithlessness. It is a hope that where our past and present seem impossible the word of God can speak a new future into existence in which God's promise can prevail.
Showing posts with label Genesis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Genesis. Show all posts
Monday, August 1, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Wrestling God
Jacob has heard that his brother Esau is on the way to meet him with 400 men. Considering how Jacob and Esau last parted ways, with Esau planning on killing Jacob because of his deception, this is not good news. Jacob, as always, seeks to gain an advantage in this situation. For one, he begins to pray. But this is no pious prayer that God's will be done. This is an urgent pleading that God will remember his promises to Jacob. Jacob knows he is in trouble and he hopes that God will help him in a situation that he is not sure he can manage on his own. Jacob hedges his bets though in case God doesn't come through for him. He divides all that he has into multiple gifts for his brother while Jacob himself stays behind hoping to ameliorate Esau's anger before they meet face to face.
However, Jacob will have to meet a much more serious opponent face to face before he meets Esau. Not unlike the story of Jacob's ladder in Genesis 28, God again shows up in Jacob's life during the dark of night. We hear that they wrestle each other all night and that this God in human form must throw Jacob's hip out of socket in order to win the fight. Even then Jacob will not let his opponent go. He demands a blessing from his opponent before he will let him leave. As always, Jacob is seeking gain for himself. In fact, he even asks his opponent his name, yet another attempt to grasp control since knowing one's name was thought to be a form of power in the ancient world. God refuses to give his name but does give Jacob the blessing he seeks.
This story in Genesis 32:22-32 has to be one of the most intriguing stories in scripture. It raises all kinds of questions that our often simplistic, stale, black-and-white, easy answer approach to scripture can not answer. The most obvious question this text raises is how it is that Jacob, a mere man, is able to wrestle with God at all, much less all night and apparently wrestle God to at least a draw if not an outright victory for Jacob? Who is this Jacob who can pull off such a feat?
But I wonder if the most significant statement in this story is not one about Jacob but one about God; not that Jacob is able to wrestle with God but that God would wrestle with Jacob. This is a man who has shown no interest in God until confronted with the fear of seeing his brother Esau again. In spite of that, God keeps trying to get into his life. God blesses Jacob. He appears to him in a dream and binds himself to him with the same promises he made to his father and grandfather. But still Jacob is content to be blessed by God rather than really know God. But now, God wants to get into Jacob's life so badly that he shows up in human form and physically wrestles with him. Here is a God so desperate to get into Jacob's life that he is willing to take on human flesh and even be defeated in that flesh in order to be present in Jacob's life. Who is this God who would pull of such a feat?
Here we are, a people who are often less than righteous, less than completely honest, a people often seeking our own gain, going about our daily business, just trying to survive, seldom turning to God except in times of fear and desperate need. Into the darkness of our world steps a man whose identity we question only because we lack the light to see him for who he is; a man from whom we demand blessing, signs, and miracles only to have him remind us that it is we who need a new name and the transformation that comes with it. It is only after he wrestles with us, in our flesh and all its brokenness and weakness, even being willing to be defeated by us on a cross, that we come to realize that it is God himself with whom we have been striving and supposedly prevailed.
The God who wrestled with Jacob, who is Jesus Christ, is the God who continues to strive with us even now. Even as we are blessed by him, we often ignore him. Even as we ignore him, he still wants to get into our lives. So he waits for the quiet and still, maybe even those dark and fearful moments of our lives, and in the inky blackness the Spirit of God strives with our Spirit. Even as he grips our soul and we grasp blindly at him seeking blessing for ourselves, he remains hidden and unrecognizable, unable to be boxed in by our propensity to name and label and thereby limit, define, and control. Even as we seek to subdue this mysterious stranger who dares to insert himself into our life in this way, he reminds us that it is not more blessing but a new name, a new existence, a new birth that we really need. Like any birth, this one involves pain and even some scarring. Such an encounter with the living God will surely not leave our walk unchanged. It may even cause us to limp. But we will come away knowing the God who strives.
However, Jacob will have to meet a much more serious opponent face to face before he meets Esau. Not unlike the story of Jacob's ladder in Genesis 28, God again shows up in Jacob's life during the dark of night. We hear that they wrestle each other all night and that this God in human form must throw Jacob's hip out of socket in order to win the fight. Even then Jacob will not let his opponent go. He demands a blessing from his opponent before he will let him leave. As always, Jacob is seeking gain for himself. In fact, he even asks his opponent his name, yet another attempt to grasp control since knowing one's name was thought to be a form of power in the ancient world. God refuses to give his name but does give Jacob the blessing he seeks.
This story in Genesis 32:22-32 has to be one of the most intriguing stories in scripture. It raises all kinds of questions that our often simplistic, stale, black-and-white, easy answer approach to scripture can not answer. The most obvious question this text raises is how it is that Jacob, a mere man, is able to wrestle with God at all, much less all night and apparently wrestle God to at least a draw if not an outright victory for Jacob? Who is this Jacob who can pull off such a feat?
But I wonder if the most significant statement in this story is not one about Jacob but one about God; not that Jacob is able to wrestle with God but that God would wrestle with Jacob. This is a man who has shown no interest in God until confronted with the fear of seeing his brother Esau again. In spite of that, God keeps trying to get into his life. God blesses Jacob. He appears to him in a dream and binds himself to him with the same promises he made to his father and grandfather. But still Jacob is content to be blessed by God rather than really know God. But now, God wants to get into Jacob's life so badly that he shows up in human form and physically wrestles with him. Here is a God so desperate to get into Jacob's life that he is willing to take on human flesh and even be defeated in that flesh in order to be present in Jacob's life. Who is this God who would pull of such a feat?
Here we are, a people who are often less than righteous, less than completely honest, a people often seeking our own gain, going about our daily business, just trying to survive, seldom turning to God except in times of fear and desperate need. Into the darkness of our world steps a man whose identity we question only because we lack the light to see him for who he is; a man from whom we demand blessing, signs, and miracles only to have him remind us that it is we who need a new name and the transformation that comes with it. It is only after he wrestles with us, in our flesh and all its brokenness and weakness, even being willing to be defeated by us on a cross, that we come to realize that it is God himself with whom we have been striving and supposedly prevailed.
The God who wrestled with Jacob, who is Jesus Christ, is the God who continues to strive with us even now. Even as we are blessed by him, we often ignore him. Even as we ignore him, he still wants to get into our lives. So he waits for the quiet and still, maybe even those dark and fearful moments of our lives, and in the inky blackness the Spirit of God strives with our Spirit. Even as he grips our soul and we grasp blindly at him seeking blessing for ourselves, he remains hidden and unrecognizable, unable to be boxed in by our propensity to name and label and thereby limit, define, and control. Even as we seek to subdue this mysterious stranger who dares to insert himself into our life in this way, he reminds us that it is not more blessing but a new name, a new existence, a new birth that we really need. Like any birth, this one involves pain and even some scarring. Such an encounter with the living God will surely not leave our walk unchanged. It may even cause us to limp. But we will come away knowing the God who strives.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Results or Relationship
Genesis 29 tells the story of Jacob meeting Rachel and eventually marrying her and her sister, Leah. In some ways, this story sounds similar to a story just a few chapters earlier in Genesis 24. In that chapter, Abraham sends a servant to find a wife for his son. The servant meets Rebekah at a well and knows that she is the one for Isaac when she draws water for him and his camels. Rebekah and Abraham's servant then go and report all that happens to Laban (Rebekah's brother and Rachel's father). Likewise, the story of Jacob and Rachel's meeting takes place at a well, the watering of animals is significant to the story, and the meeting is ultimately reported back to Laban. However, it seems the similarities in these stories really serve to highlight the differences of these two characters.
Abraham's sending of his servant is a story of trust. Abraham states that the Lord "will send his angel before" his servant in order to guide him and ensure that he finds the proper wife for Isaac. The story, indeed, unfolds in this way. The servant's prayer is answered, Rebekah willingly goes with him, and the story concludes by noting that Isaac was comforted by Rebekah's presence.
These elements of trust in God to provide are absent from the story of Jacob. Instead, Jacob is portrayed as taking matters into his own hands. Rather than waiting for the right woman to come along to provide water, Jacob provides water for Rachel's flocks. (This is a clear demonstration of strength on Jacob's part since he rolls away from the mouth of the well by himself the stone which the other shepherds say they can not move until all the shepherds have gathered to move it together.) Jacob also does not propose the matter of marriage with Rachel to Laban as guidance from God. Instead, he offers it as a business contract; Jacob will work seven years for Rachel. When those seven years are complete, Jacob demands that Rachel be given to him as if he has earned her. Of course, things don't turn out quite that smoothly. Instead, Laban shows that Jacob is not the only one capable of deception. He throws a party and gives his oldest daughter, Leah, to Jacob instead of Rachel. Somehow Jacob manages to have intercourse with her without noticing that it is not the woman he has been pining over for seven years. In the morning, he realizes it is Leah and he becomes angry with Laban who says he must work another seven years if he wishes to marry Rachel as well.
At this point, it would be easy for me to say that this story demonstrates yet again why we should trust God instead of trying to be in charge of our own lives. It's tempting to say that if we will trust God as Abraham did then things will always go smoothly for us as they did for Abraham's servant and if we try to carry out our own agenda then we will run into problems as Jacob did. While there is probably some truth captured in that statement, it is not a whole truth. It doesn't do justice to the experience of those who have placed their trust in God and find that things still often do not go so smoothly. And I don't think it does justice to this story in its context either. After all, even though Isaac is initially comforted by Rebekah's presence, it is this same Rebekah who will incite Jacob to steal his brother's blessing, causing Isaac tremendous discomfort in his old age. Likewise, while Laban and his daughters will cause Jacob tremendous anxiety along the way, they (and their maidservants) do ultimately give him 12 sons (as well as some daughters) which would have been counted as a tremendous blessing in this culture. Additionally, these 12 sons are the fulfillment of the promises God made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; they are the 12 patriarchs of Israel.
So here's my crazy conclusion from all that. The primary difference between Abraham and Jacob wasn't the results of their lives but their relationship with God. Or to put it another way, the results of their lives were not a measure of their relationship with God. Abraham's closer relationship with God didn't automatically mean he was more blessed than Jacob. Jacob was actually blessed by God tremendously despite the fact that he showed no interest in having the kind of relationship with God that his grandfather had. Abraham knew God, walked intimately with God, knew the presence of God and that was its own blessing much greater than than any blessing Jacob would ever know. Jacob, on the other hand, knew the blessings of God but never really seemed to know God and seemed to be perfectly content with that.
I think this is a point worth making because I think most Christians and churches in America today are much more like Jacob than we are like Abraham. We too often equate God's blessing with knowing God himself and experiencing his presence. We assume that if an individual is blessed or a church is growing then "they must be doing something right". We assume that God would not bless a person or a church unless they really knew God but the story of Jacob demonstrates that this is not always true. Indeed, Jacob shows us that God can bless and bless and bless a person and that person still not be drawn any closer to God. They simply go on enjoying the blessing but they miss out on the relationship, the intimate presence of God that Abraham came to know in his life. As the Church, we have to ask ourselves whether or not really knowing God, experiencing his presence, being in intimate relationship with him is actually more important to us than whatever blessing God might pour out on us along the way.
Abraham's sending of his servant is a story of trust. Abraham states that the Lord "will send his angel before" his servant in order to guide him and ensure that he finds the proper wife for Isaac. The story, indeed, unfolds in this way. The servant's prayer is answered, Rebekah willingly goes with him, and the story concludes by noting that Isaac was comforted by Rebekah's presence.
These elements of trust in God to provide are absent from the story of Jacob. Instead, Jacob is portrayed as taking matters into his own hands. Rather than waiting for the right woman to come along to provide water, Jacob provides water for Rachel's flocks. (This is a clear demonstration of strength on Jacob's part since he rolls away from the mouth of the well by himself the stone which the other shepherds say they can not move until all the shepherds have gathered to move it together.) Jacob also does not propose the matter of marriage with Rachel to Laban as guidance from God. Instead, he offers it as a business contract; Jacob will work seven years for Rachel. When those seven years are complete, Jacob demands that Rachel be given to him as if he has earned her. Of course, things don't turn out quite that smoothly. Instead, Laban shows that Jacob is not the only one capable of deception. He throws a party and gives his oldest daughter, Leah, to Jacob instead of Rachel. Somehow Jacob manages to have intercourse with her without noticing that it is not the woman he has been pining over for seven years. In the morning, he realizes it is Leah and he becomes angry with Laban who says he must work another seven years if he wishes to marry Rachel as well.
At this point, it would be easy for me to say that this story demonstrates yet again why we should trust God instead of trying to be in charge of our own lives. It's tempting to say that if we will trust God as Abraham did then things will always go smoothly for us as they did for Abraham's servant and if we try to carry out our own agenda then we will run into problems as Jacob did. While there is probably some truth captured in that statement, it is not a whole truth. It doesn't do justice to the experience of those who have placed their trust in God and find that things still often do not go so smoothly. And I don't think it does justice to this story in its context either. After all, even though Isaac is initially comforted by Rebekah's presence, it is this same Rebekah who will incite Jacob to steal his brother's blessing, causing Isaac tremendous discomfort in his old age. Likewise, while Laban and his daughters will cause Jacob tremendous anxiety along the way, they (and their maidservants) do ultimately give him 12 sons (as well as some daughters) which would have been counted as a tremendous blessing in this culture. Additionally, these 12 sons are the fulfillment of the promises God made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; they are the 12 patriarchs of Israel.
So here's my crazy conclusion from all that. The primary difference between Abraham and Jacob wasn't the results of their lives but their relationship with God. Or to put it another way, the results of their lives were not a measure of their relationship with God. Abraham's closer relationship with God didn't automatically mean he was more blessed than Jacob. Jacob was actually blessed by God tremendously despite the fact that he showed no interest in having the kind of relationship with God that his grandfather had. Abraham knew God, walked intimately with God, knew the presence of God and that was its own blessing much greater than than any blessing Jacob would ever know. Jacob, on the other hand, knew the blessings of God but never really seemed to know God and seemed to be perfectly content with that.
I think this is a point worth making because I think most Christians and churches in America today are much more like Jacob than we are like Abraham. We too often equate God's blessing with knowing God himself and experiencing his presence. We assume that if an individual is blessed or a church is growing then "they must be doing something right". We assume that God would not bless a person or a church unless they really knew God but the story of Jacob demonstrates that this is not always true. Indeed, Jacob shows us that God can bless and bless and bless a person and that person still not be drawn any closer to God. They simply go on enjoying the blessing but they miss out on the relationship, the intimate presence of God that Abraham came to know in his life. As the Church, we have to ask ourselves whether or not really knowing God, experiencing his presence, being in intimate relationship with him is actually more important to us than whatever blessing God might pour out on us along the way.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Heaven in Unlikely Places
It is only three verses after the birth of Jacob and Esau that we begin to here about Jacob's conniving and self-serving ways. Genesis 25:19-26 tells of the birth of Jacob and Esau. Verses 27-28 give us a short summary about Esau and Jacob. Verse 29 begins the story of Jacob bartering for Esau's birthright. Jacob's story has barely gotten started and he is already portrayed to us as someone who is looking out for his own gain, trying to find the best angle to better himself. His brother is hungry and rather than treating him as a brother he sees Esau as someone who has something he wants. He refuses to share food with his brother until his brother gives up his birthright as the firstborn. Of course, this trend continues in Genesis 27. Jacob deceives his father Isaac in order to receive the blessing that should fall to Esau as the firstborn. Isaac, being too old to see well, was easily deceived when Jacob put on his brother's clothes and used goat skin to make himself feel hairy like his brother. So Jacob succeeds in obtaining both his brother's birthright and his blessing through questionable means. Surely Jacob is not the kind of person through whom God plans to fulfill his promise to Abraham. Surely God will look elsewhere.
As the story moves to Genesis 28, there has been no mention of any remorse or repentance on Jacob's part over what he has done. In fact, his only concerns seems to be his own survival. His mother has made up an excuse about him looking for a wife so that he can get away from home in order to avoid his own brother murdering him out of anger. So in this chapter one who is a proven deceiver and con-artist and fleeing from his family out of concern for his own self preservation finds himself in a "certain place" that is so unimportant as to be unworthy of a name at this point in the story and the only reason he has stopped in this place is to get some rest. There is nothing sacred about this person or this place or this journey or this activity. Jacob could not be any less interested in God. There is no reason for God to show up here.
But as Jacob sleeps, he has a dream about a ladder that reaches from earth to heaven with the angels of God ascending and descending on this ladder. And this is not just any dream filled with wishful thinking. Scripture tells us that God speaks to Jacob in this dream explaining the meaning of the vision. This is the God of Abraham and Isaac and this God is now extending the same promises to Jacob that he promised to Jacob's father and grandfather. God promises to be with Jacob and to keep him until the promise of inheriting this land on which he sleeps is fulfilled. God binds himself by these promises to a con artist who has spent no time or energy seeking God. Heaven has come to earth in this most ordinary of places. It is only after the dream of promises made by God that Jacob in turn promises himself to God, binding himself to be faithful to God if God will keep his promises.
Naturally, we wonder why God would do this. Why make promises to a man who has only served himself? Why should God reveal himself to one who was not even seeking? Why bind yourself to a man who felt no bond even to his own brother? What does God have to gain in this endeavor? While it may be difficult to answer those questions in a satisfactory way, we do find that this is a pattern with God. God is constantly showing up in places where we least expect, not least in the person of Jesus Christ.
The end of John 1 tells of Jesus' call to Philip and Nathanael. Jesus calls Philip first who then goes and tells Nathanael about Jesus of Nazareth. Nathanael is skeptical asking "Can anything good comes from Nazareth?" However, upon meeting Jesus, Nathanael is quickly convinced of Jesus' messianic qualities. But Jesus says to him "You will see greater things than these....Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." Jesus is letting Nathanael know that just as heaven came to earth in that unlikely place where Jacob dreamed now heaven has come to earth in a whole new way in the unlikely place of this man from Nazareth. The God revealed in Jesus Christ is a God who makes a habit of bringing heaven to unlikely places.
As the story moves to Genesis 28, there has been no mention of any remorse or repentance on Jacob's part over what he has done. In fact, his only concerns seems to be his own survival. His mother has made up an excuse about him looking for a wife so that he can get away from home in order to avoid his own brother murdering him out of anger. So in this chapter one who is a proven deceiver and con-artist and fleeing from his family out of concern for his own self preservation finds himself in a "certain place" that is so unimportant as to be unworthy of a name at this point in the story and the only reason he has stopped in this place is to get some rest. There is nothing sacred about this person or this place or this journey or this activity. Jacob could not be any less interested in God. There is no reason for God to show up here.
But as Jacob sleeps, he has a dream about a ladder that reaches from earth to heaven with the angels of God ascending and descending on this ladder. And this is not just any dream filled with wishful thinking. Scripture tells us that God speaks to Jacob in this dream explaining the meaning of the vision. This is the God of Abraham and Isaac and this God is now extending the same promises to Jacob that he promised to Jacob's father and grandfather. God promises to be with Jacob and to keep him until the promise of inheriting this land on which he sleeps is fulfilled. God binds himself by these promises to a con artist who has spent no time or energy seeking God. Heaven has come to earth in this most ordinary of places. It is only after the dream of promises made by God that Jacob in turn promises himself to God, binding himself to be faithful to God if God will keep his promises.
Naturally, we wonder why God would do this. Why make promises to a man who has only served himself? Why should God reveal himself to one who was not even seeking? Why bind yourself to a man who felt no bond even to his own brother? What does God have to gain in this endeavor? While it may be difficult to answer those questions in a satisfactory way, we do find that this is a pattern with God. God is constantly showing up in places where we least expect, not least in the person of Jesus Christ.
The end of John 1 tells of Jesus' call to Philip and Nathanael. Jesus calls Philip first who then goes and tells Nathanael about Jesus of Nazareth. Nathanael is skeptical asking "Can anything good comes from Nazareth?" However, upon meeting Jesus, Nathanael is quickly convinced of Jesus' messianic qualities. But Jesus says to him "You will see greater things than these....Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." Jesus is letting Nathanael know that just as heaven came to earth in that unlikely place where Jacob dreamed now heaven has come to earth in a whole new way in the unlikely place of this man from Nazareth. The God revealed in Jesus Christ is a God who makes a habit of bringing heaven to unlikely places.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
God Provides ...Again
In Genesis 24, Abraham sends his oldest, most trusted servant to find a wife for his son Isaac. He commands this servant to go to Abraham's homeland to find this wife and not to choose a wife for his son from among the Canaanites. This naturally raises a question for Abraham's servant: "What if the women doesn't want to come with me? Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?". Abraham's response is adamant. He knows that God called him from that land. His son must not go back there. Instead, Abraham trusts that an angel of God will go with his servant and insure the proper outcome. If the woman will not come back with him, then Abraham says that the servant would be released from his oath.
Interestingly, there is no mention of this angel of the Lord anywhere in the rest of the story. In fact, there is no real action by God narrated in this story. God is mentioned numerous times by the individuals in the story. Abraham's servant prays to God before meeting Rebekah and then thanks God afterward. He testifies to Laban about God's faithfulness to Abraham. Laban and Bethuel agree that God has been active in these events. But nowhere in this chapter are God's actions described by the narrator. We are not explicitly told that God speaks, acts, or sends an angel anywhere in this story even though all the characters in the story seem to assume these things.
I appreciate that a story like this one is included in our scripture. I appreciate it because it is just so mundane, so everyday, so seemingly human. The story takes place in the space where most of us live most of our lives; among everyday concerns and motives. This is in sharp contrast to the story we heard just last week from Genesis 22. That story, in which God commands Abraham to kill his own son, is exceptional and dramatic. It is anything but mundane. It's point may be easy enough to understand but its drama difficult to wrap our minds around because it is so "other", so different from our everyday experience. How can we really comprehend what was commanded of Abraham?
But as different as these two stories are, they share a common theme. In both, the Lord provides. In one, God provides through the dramatic and timely intervention of his angel. In the other, God provides in ways so subtle that they are not even narrated. Even though God's actions are not narrated, we are clearly meant to assume that God is at work in what could appear to be merely human actions. The same Abraham who trusted God in the drama of nearly sacrificing his own son also trusts God to provide a family and a future for that son.
I appreciate stories like this because I am thankful that God can be involved in the everyday routines of our lives just as much as the dramatic incidents. Everyone loves to hear a story full of drama and suspense and those stories are often formative for our faith. But if our faith had to be constantly one moment of crisis after another in order to draw closer to God, we would all wear out pretty fast.
Of course, this doesn't negate what I talked about last week. God doesn't stop being a God of risk just because he is also involved in the mundane. The God who provides a wife for Isaac in Genesis 24 is the same God who called Abraham to sacrifice Isaac in Genesis 22. God hasn't stopped calling Abraham to risk and trust in just two chapters. Its just that this risk and trust doesn't always come in the form of sacrificing one's son...or a call to be a missionary to Africa...or to suffer persecution in the name of Christ (though we must never forget that our calling includes these kinds of things as well; we can't have Genesis 24 without Genesis 22). Sometimes this risk comes in the form of trusting that God's grace will be enough to keep our children from inheriting every weakness we exhibit as parents. Sometimes it means trusting that there will be enough time in an incredibly busy week even if we will be faithful in setting aside time for prayer and study. And sometimes it means shutting down your computer and walking across the street to check on a neighbor...an urging from God I've been ignoring for some time now... so with that, may the Lord provide.
Interestingly, there is no mention of this angel of the Lord anywhere in the rest of the story. In fact, there is no real action by God narrated in this story. God is mentioned numerous times by the individuals in the story. Abraham's servant prays to God before meeting Rebekah and then thanks God afterward. He testifies to Laban about God's faithfulness to Abraham. Laban and Bethuel agree that God has been active in these events. But nowhere in this chapter are God's actions described by the narrator. We are not explicitly told that God speaks, acts, or sends an angel anywhere in this story even though all the characters in the story seem to assume these things.
I appreciate that a story like this one is included in our scripture. I appreciate it because it is just so mundane, so everyday, so seemingly human. The story takes place in the space where most of us live most of our lives; among everyday concerns and motives. This is in sharp contrast to the story we heard just last week from Genesis 22. That story, in which God commands Abraham to kill his own son, is exceptional and dramatic. It is anything but mundane. It's point may be easy enough to understand but its drama difficult to wrap our minds around because it is so "other", so different from our everyday experience. How can we really comprehend what was commanded of Abraham?
But as different as these two stories are, they share a common theme. In both, the Lord provides. In one, God provides through the dramatic and timely intervention of his angel. In the other, God provides in ways so subtle that they are not even narrated. Even though God's actions are not narrated, we are clearly meant to assume that God is at work in what could appear to be merely human actions. The same Abraham who trusted God in the drama of nearly sacrificing his own son also trusts God to provide a family and a future for that son.
I appreciate stories like this because I am thankful that God can be involved in the everyday routines of our lives just as much as the dramatic incidents. Everyone loves to hear a story full of drama and suspense and those stories are often formative for our faith. But if our faith had to be constantly one moment of crisis after another in order to draw closer to God, we would all wear out pretty fast.
Of course, this doesn't negate what I talked about last week. God doesn't stop being a God of risk just because he is also involved in the mundane. The God who provides a wife for Isaac in Genesis 24 is the same God who called Abraham to sacrifice Isaac in Genesis 22. God hasn't stopped calling Abraham to risk and trust in just two chapters. Its just that this risk and trust doesn't always come in the form of sacrificing one's son...or a call to be a missionary to Africa...or to suffer persecution in the name of Christ (though we must never forget that our calling includes these kinds of things as well; we can't have Genesis 24 without Genesis 22). Sometimes this risk comes in the form of trusting that God's grace will be enough to keep our children from inheriting every weakness we exhibit as parents. Sometimes it means trusting that there will be enough time in an incredibly busy week even if we will be faithful in setting aside time for prayer and study. And sometimes it means shutting down your computer and walking across the street to check on a neighbor...an urging from God I've been ignoring for some time now... so with that, may the Lord provide.
Monday, June 20, 2011
God of Risk
"Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son." - Genesis 22:10
Often when I read scripture, I come away wondering where most of us get our notions of Christianity from, myself included. How do we hear the kinds of stories that make up what we call the Word of God and come away with the impression that God just wants us to be nice people and that if we will do that he will bless us and make us happy? How does the story of Abraham being prepared to sacrifice his son, his only son, translate into us getting dressed up and getting into our nice new cars and driving to our nice comfortable building where we see people we are comfortable with and sing music we enjoy and then tell the pastor what a great job he did? How can we hear this story that calls us to a life of sacrificing what is most precious to us in obedience to God and then complain when our church varies in the smallest way from what we think it should be?
But even that last sentence doesn't do this story justice because we are expert rationalizers, masters of justifying our own actions. To say that the story of Abraham and Isaac's journey to Moriah is "really about" sacrificing what is most precious to us in obedience to God is to take Isaac's very human, very boyish face off of the matter. It is an abstraction. It is an escape hatch that allows us to say that this story is about "something else". It is to make this story less threatening by saying "A loving God would never actually have me kill my own child. This is just an illustration," And such words would not be untrue. I don't believe the God revealed in Jesus wants anything to do with child sacrifice. I do believe God calls us to sacrifice what we value most in life to him. But the great speed with which we move to our explanations and rationalizations of God's command reveal just how uncomfortable they are for us. It is easy to explain what this story "means". It is much harder to hear the confusion and fear of Isaac's weak and cracking pre-teen voice as he wonders aloud to his father where the lamb is for the sacrifice. It is easy to say "God is the most important thing in my life." It is much harder to put the face of our own son or daughter on that claim. God is great...as long as he knows the limits of our relationship with him.
The irony of the story in Genesis 22 is that it is actually very much about God testing the limits of his relationship with Abraham. God doesn't seem to know just how far Abraham is going to let him into his life. Inasmuch as this is a story about Abraham's trust it is also a story about God putting himself at risk. It is tempting to think that this is all fixed from the outset, that God knows what Abraham will do, or at least that there is really nothing at stake for God in the matter. It is simply a test for Abraham to pass or fail; to move up or fall down a rung on the spiritual ladder. This is another way we attempt to "explain" the story, to make it more comfortable, to empty it of any real risk.
But as the story is told, the test of Abraham involves risk for God as well. After all, this is not just Abraham's son, this is the child of the promise. Isaac is the one through whom God is to fulfill the promise that Abraham would be the father of many nations. If Isaac is dead, how will this promise be fulfilled? Or to put it another way, if Abraham fails to be obedient to this command, then where will God be? God has bound himself to Abraham by making these promises to him. If Abraham fails this test of trust, then God's promises fail also, don't they? If Abraham refuses to offer his son, then does God start over with someone else? Nor is God sitting comfortably by as all this goes on, for in v. 12 the angel of the Lord says "Now I know that you fear God, seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me" implying that God didn't know it before hand. The outcome was in question. The promise of God was genuinely at risk. God's plan, at least in its present form, depended on Abraham's trust.
Abraham trusts. God provides. This epitomizes so much of what our relationship with God is/should be about. And yet it bears repeating; it is easy to talk about trusting God to provide but to say "The Lord will provide" is to do what Abraham did. It is not some general notion of faith where we sit back and wait for God to throw good things our way. It is not exchanging our belief for God's blessing. It is to allow our fate to be bound up with God's. It is to step out in real, concrete action that could cost us dearly. It is to allow God to test the limits of our relationship with him when even he doesn't know for sure what the outcome will be. It is to know that the God of Abraham is a God of risk.
Often when I read scripture, I come away wondering where most of us get our notions of Christianity from, myself included. How do we hear the kinds of stories that make up what we call the Word of God and come away with the impression that God just wants us to be nice people and that if we will do that he will bless us and make us happy? How does the story of Abraham being prepared to sacrifice his son, his only son, translate into us getting dressed up and getting into our nice new cars and driving to our nice comfortable building where we see people we are comfortable with and sing music we enjoy and then tell the pastor what a great job he did? How can we hear this story that calls us to a life of sacrificing what is most precious to us in obedience to God and then complain when our church varies in the smallest way from what we think it should be?
But even that last sentence doesn't do this story justice because we are expert rationalizers, masters of justifying our own actions. To say that the story of Abraham and Isaac's journey to Moriah is "really about" sacrificing what is most precious to us in obedience to God is to take Isaac's very human, very boyish face off of the matter. It is an abstraction. It is an escape hatch that allows us to say that this story is about "something else". It is to make this story less threatening by saying "A loving God would never actually have me kill my own child. This is just an illustration," And such words would not be untrue. I don't believe the God revealed in Jesus wants anything to do with child sacrifice. I do believe God calls us to sacrifice what we value most in life to him. But the great speed with which we move to our explanations and rationalizations of God's command reveal just how uncomfortable they are for us. It is easy to explain what this story "means". It is much harder to hear the confusion and fear of Isaac's weak and cracking pre-teen voice as he wonders aloud to his father where the lamb is for the sacrifice. It is easy to say "God is the most important thing in my life." It is much harder to put the face of our own son or daughter on that claim. God is great...as long as he knows the limits of our relationship with him.
The irony of the story in Genesis 22 is that it is actually very much about God testing the limits of his relationship with Abraham. God doesn't seem to know just how far Abraham is going to let him into his life. Inasmuch as this is a story about Abraham's trust it is also a story about God putting himself at risk. It is tempting to think that this is all fixed from the outset, that God knows what Abraham will do, or at least that there is really nothing at stake for God in the matter. It is simply a test for Abraham to pass or fail; to move up or fall down a rung on the spiritual ladder. This is another way we attempt to "explain" the story, to make it more comfortable, to empty it of any real risk.
But as the story is told, the test of Abraham involves risk for God as well. After all, this is not just Abraham's son, this is the child of the promise. Isaac is the one through whom God is to fulfill the promise that Abraham would be the father of many nations. If Isaac is dead, how will this promise be fulfilled? Or to put it another way, if Abraham fails to be obedient to this command, then where will God be? God has bound himself to Abraham by making these promises to him. If Abraham fails this test of trust, then God's promises fail also, don't they? If Abraham refuses to offer his son, then does God start over with someone else? Nor is God sitting comfortably by as all this goes on, for in v. 12 the angel of the Lord says "Now I know that you fear God, seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me" implying that God didn't know it before hand. The outcome was in question. The promise of God was genuinely at risk. God's plan, at least in its present form, depended on Abraham's trust.
Abraham trusts. God provides. This epitomizes so much of what our relationship with God is/should be about. And yet it bears repeating; it is easy to talk about trusting God to provide but to say "The Lord will provide" is to do what Abraham did. It is not some general notion of faith where we sit back and wait for God to throw good things our way. It is not exchanging our belief for God's blessing. It is to allow our fate to be bound up with God's. It is to step out in real, concrete action that could cost us dearly. It is to allow God to test the limits of our relationship with him when even he doesn't know for sure what the outcome will be. It is to know that the God of Abraham is a God of risk.
Monday, March 14, 2011
The Lord said...so Abram went
The call of Abram is recorded in Genesis 12 but in order to understand the context of that call we must take note of the final verses of Genesis 11. We hear in these final verses of Genesis 11 that Abram is one of three sons of Terah who lived in Ur of the Chaldeans (southern modern day Iraq). One of Abram's brothers, Haran, died while the family still lived in Ur. Abram's other brother, Nahor, was married to Milcah, Haran's daughter (so his own niece). Abram was married to Sarai who we are told was barren and had no children. In a culture where family and maintaining one's lineage was tremendously important, this is not a promising situation for Terah's family line. One son is dead, another's wife is barren, and another is married to his dead brother's daughter with no mention of any children of their own. Terah took this family of his and intended to move them to the land of Canaan but he never made it. Instead, they settled in Haran (north of Iraq in eastern Turkey, interestingly bearing the same name as the son who has died) and Terah died there.
"Now the Lord said..." begins Genesis 12:1. Into this bleak and unpromising situation, God speaks. This is the God whose words create and give life. This is the God who only a few chapters earlier was speaking all of creation into existence. And his word will bring life into this situation as well. God tells Abram to leave his country, his kindred, and his father's house to go to the land that God will show him. God promises that if Abram will follow that command then this will not be the end of the family line but, in fact, just the opposite. God promises to make Abram into a great nation and to bless him and all the families of the earth through him.
But as powerful as God's word is, as much creative and life giving force as it has, it does not work apart from Abram. Here God does not speak and it become immediately so as in the creation story. Instead, these words take the form of a promise to be fulfilled, a promise that Abram must continually choose to live by. "So Abram went, as the Lord had told him..." says v. 4. "The Lord said.... so Abram went." If there is any arguing, any complaining, any hedging of bets on Abram's part, we are not made privy to them. God commands and Abram goes.
At 75 years of age, with only his wife, his nephew, and his possessions, Abram went. Some commentators point out that Abram's family had always lived a nomadic existence so this move would not have been an unusual one for him. Still, the simplicity of the text is striking; "the Lord said ...so Abram went." There must have been some substantial temptations to stay. Abram's family was weak and vulnerable, its future in question. Perhaps if they could stay near some relatives they could work together to ensure their family's future. Whatever the temptations to stay, God speaks and Abram goes.
The payoff is not immediate either. God will bless Abram throughout his life and God will give Abram a son but he will never see the promise of land and "a great nation" fulfilled. This will not occur until many generations after Abram's death. Still, God's promise became the defining quality of Abram's life.
Haran is an easy place for us to get stuck. After all, its not Ur. Its not the starting point or the place of our loss. We can look back over the path from Ur to Haran and say "Look, how far we've come" and pat ourselves on the back because we trusted God to come this far. But its also not Cannan, its not the unknown, its not living by faith. It is familiar and comfortable. In a world where we feel threatened, where our future is in doubt, Haran seems like a safe place.
But the good news is that God still speaks...even in Haran. And wherever God speaks, God's words can still create and bring new life. But we must hear and obey the word that God speaks; "Go!". Go away from what is familiar and easy and enter unknown territory and trust that I, God, will bless you and guide your steps. We must go understanding that we may never see the promise fulfilled. The real blessing may come generations after we are long gone but we go because it is the God who speaks life into existence who has called us to go.
"Now the Lord said..." begins Genesis 12:1. Into this bleak and unpromising situation, God speaks. This is the God whose words create and give life. This is the God who only a few chapters earlier was speaking all of creation into existence. And his word will bring life into this situation as well. God tells Abram to leave his country, his kindred, and his father's house to go to the land that God will show him. God promises that if Abram will follow that command then this will not be the end of the family line but, in fact, just the opposite. God promises to make Abram into a great nation and to bless him and all the families of the earth through him.
But as powerful as God's word is, as much creative and life giving force as it has, it does not work apart from Abram. Here God does not speak and it become immediately so as in the creation story. Instead, these words take the form of a promise to be fulfilled, a promise that Abram must continually choose to live by. "So Abram went, as the Lord had told him..." says v. 4. "The Lord said.... so Abram went." If there is any arguing, any complaining, any hedging of bets on Abram's part, we are not made privy to them. God commands and Abram goes.
At 75 years of age, with only his wife, his nephew, and his possessions, Abram went. Some commentators point out that Abram's family had always lived a nomadic existence so this move would not have been an unusual one for him. Still, the simplicity of the text is striking; "the Lord said ...so Abram went." There must have been some substantial temptations to stay. Abram's family was weak and vulnerable, its future in question. Perhaps if they could stay near some relatives they could work together to ensure their family's future. Whatever the temptations to stay, God speaks and Abram goes.
The payoff is not immediate either. God will bless Abram throughout his life and God will give Abram a son but he will never see the promise of land and "a great nation" fulfilled. This will not occur until many generations after Abram's death. Still, God's promise became the defining quality of Abram's life.
Haran is an easy place for us to get stuck. After all, its not Ur. Its not the starting point or the place of our loss. We can look back over the path from Ur to Haran and say "Look, how far we've come" and pat ourselves on the back because we trusted God to come this far. But its also not Cannan, its not the unknown, its not living by faith. It is familiar and comfortable. In a world where we feel threatened, where our future is in doubt, Haran seems like a safe place.
But the good news is that God still speaks...even in Haran. And wherever God speaks, God's words can still create and bring new life. But we must hear and obey the word that God speaks; "Go!". Go away from what is familiar and easy and enter unknown territory and trust that I, God, will bless you and guide your steps. We must go understanding that we may never see the promise fulfilled. The real blessing may come generations after we are long gone but we go because it is the God who speaks life into existence who has called us to go.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Trust and Obey
If you've grown up in church, Genesis 3 is one of those passages of scripture you have heard so often that it becomes difficult to hear at all. One's inclination is to quickly read over thinking "Yeah, yeah, I know all of this. Let's get to something more interesting." Additionally, it is one of those texts that has had all kinds of tradition and centuries of theological debate poured into it. We designate this passage as "the fall" and we're off to the races discussing the doctrinal of original sin before we've even heard the Word of God. But before we assume that we already know that this is a story about the devil tempting Adam and Eve to fall from their created glory, let's pay attention to the details of what these verses actually have to say.
First, it is worth noting that the serpent in the story is never equated with Satan by scripture itself. Later Jewish and Christian tradition will certainly make that equation and it may not be a wrong conclusion to come to it but it is not one that we will find in the book of Genesis.
Second, many translations describe the serpent as "more crafty" than any other animal. We thereby assume that the serpent is a schemer, a deceiver, one who intentionally outsmarts the man and the woman arguing and persuading them into sin. Again, that may not be entirely wrong. Later in the chapter the woman will accuse the serpent of deceiving her and God does not argue with her assessment and punishes the serpent accordingly. However, craftiness does not necessarily convey the idea of deceitful scheming. It can simply mean wise, resourceful, and sensible. It can carry a meaning similar to that of the steward in Luke 16 whom Jesus commends in his parable for being cunning in his use of unrighteous wealth, an example he calls upon his followers to imitate.
Third, the conversation between the woman and the serpent is not presented to us as in anyway unusual. The serpent does not contradict God's command and never says something that is blatantly false. The serpent simply asks the woman questions and not unreasonable ones at that. We could read this story as nothing more than an innocent theological discussion, the world's first Bible study. The serpent and the woman are simply discussing God and God's commandment. In fact, if either of them is twisting God's command it is the woman who adds the prohibition "neither shall you touch it" (3:3) whereas God had simply said not to eat from the tree.
Finally, when the man and the woman do eat from the tree which was forbidden to them they do in fact have their eyes opened. The serpent was right! The man and the woman gained knowledge; knowledge which apparently God had been keeping from them.
So what went wrong here? There doesn't seem to be some grand sinister scheme here. This all started out as a simple conversation and it ended with a gaining of knowledge.
But somewhere in the midst of this story was a serious breach of trust and obedience. God had provided everything for this man and woman. He had placed them in the midst of this luscious garden that provided food for them. They had no need of anything. And the only thing that God asked for in return was for them to trust him; to trust that he could provide for them, that he knew what was best. God had given them every reason in the world to trust him and all he asked for in return was that they obey this one commandment, avoid this one thing, and thereby show that they trusted God. But somehow along the way the woman and the man failed to see God as someone they were in trustful and obedient relationship with and instead began to see God as something to talk about, an object of discussion. They began to think that they knew better than God did, that they could make decisions for themselves instead of trusting in their creator and so they tried to become their own gods, the rulers of their own lives.
The rest of Genesis 3 describes the disastrous consequences of that human attempt to be gods. The man and woman's lack of trust in God's command obviously harms their relationship with God. While previously humanity had enjoyed a meaningful fellowship with his creator, now the man says to God that he hid himself because he was afraid. The previous relationship of trust and obedience is replaced with one of fear. But it is not only the relationship with God that is impacted. Our relationships with one another immediately begin to degenerate as well. When God asks the man if has eaten from the tree the first thing he does is lay the blame on his wife and when the woman is asked the first thing she does is pass the blame on to the serpent. The relationship between humanity and creation is corrupted as well, the earth no longer bearing fruit effortlessly as it once did. Finally, this damaged relationship with God even impacts our relationship with ourselves. Prior to eating from the tree, the man and the woman walked naked and proud through the garden. Their bodies were creations of the almighty God, nothing of which to be ashamed. (I get a pretty good representation of this when Malachi manages to get away from Jess or I in the middle of changing his clothes. He proudly streaks through the house as if to say "Look at me! I'm naked and its fantastic!) But now the man and the woman are so ashamed of their bodies that they have to make impromptu clothing out of fig leaves in order to cover their shame.
This story is a microcosm of Israel's and of all humanity. God also created Israel as a nation, graciously delivering them from their slavery. God gave them manna and quail in the wilderness and led them into an abundant land in which to live. God provided everything they could possibly ask for and gave Israel every reason to trust him and all that God asked for in return was that trust and obedience. But repeatedly the people of Israel act as if they know best, they want to be in charge, they want to make the decisions, they want to be gods for themselves. There are a few glimmers of hope along the way; individuals like Abraham, Moses, and David who exhibited remarkable trust in God but at times even they failed to trust God completely. The story of scripture is that God keeps calling us to place our trust in him. God promises that he will provide, he will defend, he will protect, if only we will trust and obey but instead our response is often "No thanks God. I think I can do better on my own." Over and over again, our story is a failure of trust...with the exception of one man. There is one man to whom God said "just trust me" and he did no matter the circumstances.
In the gospel reading for this week (Matthew 4:1-11), we hear a story that sounds eerily like the one in Genesis 3. Jesus is praying and fasting in the wilderness and the tempter shows up to have a theological conversation with him. In this conversation, the devil makes some very reasonable, we might even say sensible and crafty suggestions. Each of these suggestions is essentially an alternative to the cross. The devil is saying "Hey look, if you are really God's Son, the rightful king of the world, then you shouldn't have to go through the messy and painful business of a crucifixion in order to inherit your rightful kingdom. Surely there is an easier way. If you can turn stones into bread, that will surely get the people excited. If you jump off the Temple and survive, that will get people talking and you'll be king no time. Or let's just cut straight to the point, just bow down to me and I'll give you everything." And nowhere along the way can we say that the devil has said anything blatantly false. In fact, we know that Satan was right to say that most people will follow whoever can produce food and miracles. The devil even quotes scripture in this conversation.
But at stake in this story is the same thing at stake in Genesis 3. Will Jesus trust his own judgment when he sees an easier path to the same result or will Jesus trust his Father? Will Jesus grasp at power as Adam and Eve grasped the fruit of the tree or will he cling to his Father's direction no matter where it leads him? And we shouldn't turn a blind eye to where this path leads; straight to the cross and into the gaping jaws of death in a stone sealed tomb. But Jesus chooses trust and obedience over his own life. Jesus trusts his Father even to the grave. Jesus believes that his Father can provide even on the other side of death.
Paul tells us in Romans 5 that Jesus' trust and obedience has undone the impact of Adam's lack of trust and disobedience. He says just as sin and death spread to all of humanity because of what Adam, so also life and righteousness have come to all because of what Christ has done. Our broken relationship with God, our broken relationships with each other, our broken relationship with creation, even our broken relationship with ourselves can be mended because Jesus trusted his Father and that trust transformed our world.
The essential element of our faith hasn't changed from Genesis 3 to the life of Jesus to our own day. God is still calling us to trust him. God's call is still for us to obey his commands because we believe that he is God and we are not and therefore he knows what is best. God's call is for us to be a people who live in faithful obedience no matter the circumstances because we believe in a God who raises the dead.
First, it is worth noting that the serpent in the story is never equated with Satan by scripture itself. Later Jewish and Christian tradition will certainly make that equation and it may not be a wrong conclusion to come to it but it is not one that we will find in the book of Genesis.
Second, many translations describe the serpent as "more crafty" than any other animal. We thereby assume that the serpent is a schemer, a deceiver, one who intentionally outsmarts the man and the woman arguing and persuading them into sin. Again, that may not be entirely wrong. Later in the chapter the woman will accuse the serpent of deceiving her and God does not argue with her assessment and punishes the serpent accordingly. However, craftiness does not necessarily convey the idea of deceitful scheming. It can simply mean wise, resourceful, and sensible. It can carry a meaning similar to that of the steward in Luke 16 whom Jesus commends in his parable for being cunning in his use of unrighteous wealth, an example he calls upon his followers to imitate.
Third, the conversation between the woman and the serpent is not presented to us as in anyway unusual. The serpent does not contradict God's command and never says something that is blatantly false. The serpent simply asks the woman questions and not unreasonable ones at that. We could read this story as nothing more than an innocent theological discussion, the world's first Bible study. The serpent and the woman are simply discussing God and God's commandment. In fact, if either of them is twisting God's command it is the woman who adds the prohibition "neither shall you touch it" (3:3) whereas God had simply said not to eat from the tree.
Finally, when the man and the woman do eat from the tree which was forbidden to them they do in fact have their eyes opened. The serpent was right! The man and the woman gained knowledge; knowledge which apparently God had been keeping from them.
So what went wrong here? There doesn't seem to be some grand sinister scheme here. This all started out as a simple conversation and it ended with a gaining of knowledge.
But somewhere in the midst of this story was a serious breach of trust and obedience. God had provided everything for this man and woman. He had placed them in the midst of this luscious garden that provided food for them. They had no need of anything. And the only thing that God asked for in return was for them to trust him; to trust that he could provide for them, that he knew what was best. God had given them every reason in the world to trust him and all he asked for in return was that they obey this one commandment, avoid this one thing, and thereby show that they trusted God. But somehow along the way the woman and the man failed to see God as someone they were in trustful and obedient relationship with and instead began to see God as something to talk about, an object of discussion. They began to think that they knew better than God did, that they could make decisions for themselves instead of trusting in their creator and so they tried to become their own gods, the rulers of their own lives.
The rest of Genesis 3 describes the disastrous consequences of that human attempt to be gods. The man and woman's lack of trust in God's command obviously harms their relationship with God. While previously humanity had enjoyed a meaningful fellowship with his creator, now the man says to God that he hid himself because he was afraid. The previous relationship of trust and obedience is replaced with one of fear. But it is not only the relationship with God that is impacted. Our relationships with one another immediately begin to degenerate as well. When God asks the man if has eaten from the tree the first thing he does is lay the blame on his wife and when the woman is asked the first thing she does is pass the blame on to the serpent. The relationship between humanity and creation is corrupted as well, the earth no longer bearing fruit effortlessly as it once did. Finally, this damaged relationship with God even impacts our relationship with ourselves. Prior to eating from the tree, the man and the woman walked naked and proud through the garden. Their bodies were creations of the almighty God, nothing of which to be ashamed. (I get a pretty good representation of this when Malachi manages to get away from Jess or I in the middle of changing his clothes. He proudly streaks through the house as if to say "Look at me! I'm naked and its fantastic!) But now the man and the woman are so ashamed of their bodies that they have to make impromptu clothing out of fig leaves in order to cover their shame.
This story is a microcosm of Israel's and of all humanity. God also created Israel as a nation, graciously delivering them from their slavery. God gave them manna and quail in the wilderness and led them into an abundant land in which to live. God provided everything they could possibly ask for and gave Israel every reason to trust him and all that God asked for in return was that trust and obedience. But repeatedly the people of Israel act as if they know best, they want to be in charge, they want to make the decisions, they want to be gods for themselves. There are a few glimmers of hope along the way; individuals like Abraham, Moses, and David who exhibited remarkable trust in God but at times even they failed to trust God completely. The story of scripture is that God keeps calling us to place our trust in him. God promises that he will provide, he will defend, he will protect, if only we will trust and obey but instead our response is often "No thanks God. I think I can do better on my own." Over and over again, our story is a failure of trust...with the exception of one man. There is one man to whom God said "just trust me" and he did no matter the circumstances.
In the gospel reading for this week (Matthew 4:1-11), we hear a story that sounds eerily like the one in Genesis 3. Jesus is praying and fasting in the wilderness and the tempter shows up to have a theological conversation with him. In this conversation, the devil makes some very reasonable, we might even say sensible and crafty suggestions. Each of these suggestions is essentially an alternative to the cross. The devil is saying "Hey look, if you are really God's Son, the rightful king of the world, then you shouldn't have to go through the messy and painful business of a crucifixion in order to inherit your rightful kingdom. Surely there is an easier way. If you can turn stones into bread, that will surely get the people excited. If you jump off the Temple and survive, that will get people talking and you'll be king no time. Or let's just cut straight to the point, just bow down to me and I'll give you everything." And nowhere along the way can we say that the devil has said anything blatantly false. In fact, we know that Satan was right to say that most people will follow whoever can produce food and miracles. The devil even quotes scripture in this conversation.
But at stake in this story is the same thing at stake in Genesis 3. Will Jesus trust his own judgment when he sees an easier path to the same result or will Jesus trust his Father? Will Jesus grasp at power as Adam and Eve grasped the fruit of the tree or will he cling to his Father's direction no matter where it leads him? And we shouldn't turn a blind eye to where this path leads; straight to the cross and into the gaping jaws of death in a stone sealed tomb. But Jesus chooses trust and obedience over his own life. Jesus trusts his Father even to the grave. Jesus believes that his Father can provide even on the other side of death.
Paul tells us in Romans 5 that Jesus' trust and obedience has undone the impact of Adam's lack of trust and disobedience. He says just as sin and death spread to all of humanity because of what Adam, so also life and righteousness have come to all because of what Christ has done. Our broken relationship with God, our broken relationships with each other, our broken relationship with creation, even our broken relationship with ourselves can be mended because Jesus trusted his Father and that trust transformed our world.
The essential element of our faith hasn't changed from Genesis 3 to the life of Jesus to our own day. God is still calling us to trust him. God's call is still for us to obey his commands because we believe that he is God and we are not and therefore he knows what is best. God's call is for us to be a people who live in faithful obedience no matter the circumstances because we believe in a God who raises the dead.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
A Conversation about Creation.
Recently, I have been enjoying a coversation over facebook with my cousin Steve, who directs a Christian campground (www.camponeway.org) here in Illinois. He believes that the scientific theory of evolution contradicts the first two chapters of Genesis. I, on the other hand, believe that the theory of evolution can co-exist with a less literal reading of Genesis 1 and 2. I thought it would be worth reproducing my rather lengthy response here on my blog. I thought about posting our smaller exchanges within this conversation to give more context to this discussion but I didn't want it to become overwhelming. (This is already pretty long as it is.) I think what I've wriitten here can more or less stand on its own and represents well why i read Genesis 1 and 2 the way that I do.
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I, too, am glad that as you mentioned in your response and as I mentioned in our previous discussion that we are in much more agreement than disagreement here. We both agree that God created which is the important affirmation as far as our faith is concerned. However, as we’ve already seen in the discussion so far this question is connected to other important ones such as how we interpret scripture and the nature of God. So while I don’t think we have to ultimately agree on the issue, I think it is worthy of the discussion.
You might ask then why I get to decide which kinds of questions the Bible can answer and which it can’t. The answer, of course, is that I don’t. However, what I believe that I can and must do as a faithful reader of Scripture is to pay attention to the cues that the Bible itself gives as to what kinds of questions it is trying to answer. One of those cues is the fact that the Bible is always concerned with who God is and what God is doing. Even the books of the Bible that we normally call historical are not history in the sense of simply keeping records of human actions. No, they unapologetically make God and what God is doing through human beings the center of the story at all times. I think that by it’s own contents Scripture shows us that it’s primary purpose is not to describe what happened (history) as much as it is to say what those happenings communicate about who God is (theology). The Bible suggests itself first and foremost as a book of theology before it is anything else. As such, we should look to it for theological answers rather than scientific and historical ones.
However, this by no means settles the question. This is because more so than many other religions, Christianity’s theology is connected to its history. In other words, God often reveals himself to us through historical events, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ being the primary example. In those places, the “how” question of history becomes inseparable from the theological question of what it all means. For example, Paul says in 1 Corinthians, “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins”. This is an example of history and theology being inseparable. Jesus’ resurrection can not simply be a metaphor for new life in Paul’s theology. If Jesus has not been bodily raised in a very literal and historical sense, then we are all hopelessly lost in the power of sin because the new age in which the Spirit of God has been poured out on all believers has not actually begun as Jesus’ resurrection indicated in Paul’s thought.
So why did I feel that Scripture itself pushed in that direction? Again, it is important to go back to the distinction I made above concerning how we use the word “literally”. All good Christians read the Bible literally in the colloquial sense of the word. That is, every committed Christian believes that the Bible is really, genuinely true and that it has very real meaning for our lives today. That much is non-negotiable. However, we’ve already noted in our previous conversations that no one reads the whole Bible literally in the technical sense of that word. For example, it would simply be foolish to think that when Jesus says in John that he is the bread of life or a vine (and the disciples the branches) or a shepherd that Jesus meant for us to take any of these things literally. They are obviously metaphors. The point that Jesus is making with those metaphors are really genuinely true but they are not literally true, that is, they are not communicated in a literal way. I hope that simple example is enough to illustrate that no one reads the whole Bible literally and that everyone who has ever read the Bible has made decisions about what to take literally and what to take metaphorically.
So then, how do we decide what should be taken literally and what should be read in some other way? Of course, most of the time this comes to us intuitively, as it does in the examples from John’s gospel. It just makes very little sense to read the text any other way. But what do we do when it’s not so obvious? How do we decide in places where there are often disagreements such as in Genesis 1 and 2? Again, my hope is that we pay attention to the text itself and try to hear it as clearly as we can through all the years of history and the cultural and linguistic differences that divide us from its original writing. After all, history, culture, and language are exceedingly important factors when it comes to our ability to discern metaphorical language. If someone from your mom and dad’s neck of the woods said to a person in my town who is not a sports fan “I bleed orange.” they may simply wonder if that person has some kind of blood disorder rather than recognizing that they are indicating their loyalty to the Clemson Tigers. How much more difficult is it for us then reading a text written in a vastly different language and culture thousands of years ago? With that in mind, I think the following factors are significant in how we decide to read the Genesis story.
Adam is the Hebrew word for humanity. I think that if we were reading any other story and in the story there was a character named “humanity” we would immediately assume that we were not supposed to understand this story as a historical account but instead as an observation about the plight of all humankind, wouldn’t we?
There are actually two creation stories. The first story is Genesis 1:1-2:3. The second is from 2:4-2:25. Notice how 2:4 starts the story over again. (This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created…Wait, I thought we just heard that account?) The stories do no contradict each other but they certainly tell it differently. In my opinion, this pushes us toward the conclusion that neither account was focused on the “how” of the creation. Instead, each was focusing on a different aspect of its significance.
These stories are not unique in the literature of the Ancient Near East. Most of the cultures that surrounded
So there are some of the reasons that I read Genesis 1 and 2 the way that I do. I’ll look forward to hearing what you think about all that. Hope all goes well during your camp this weekend.
Monday, March 2, 2009
A Covenant of Walking
Walking...
A simple, ordinary, everyday activity. It is a constant, steady motion; not running but not standing still either. A destination is probably implied but is not necessarily the whole purpose or even the most important part of walking. If it were then we would probably choose another way to get there, one that is faster and more efficient. It is a pace that allows you to observe what is around you, to interact with those you meet along the way. It doesn't require any special skill or talent. It only requires a willingness to begin and to continue.
"Walk before me and be blameless."
This is how God chooses to state his covenant call to Abraham in Genesis 17. In other words, this is Abraham's end of the bargain; the part of the agreement with God that Abraham has to live up to. Of course, the rite of circumcision is mentioned just a few minutes later and that will become extremely important in later Judaism. But at this point in the story, circumcision is not the covenant, it is only a sign of the covenant. The covenant itself is that if Abraham will walk before God and be blameless then God will make him a father of many nations and kings and will establish this covenant as an everlasting covenant with Abraham's descendants.
The covenant is amazing in its simplicity. God doesn't give Abraham a destination to reach in a certain amount of time. God doesn't give Abraham a finite task to complete. He doesn't give Abraham certain rules to follow or ask for a list of his qualifications. He simply says "walk before me. Journey with me. Trust that I know where I am leading you even if you don't know where you are going. Live everyday knowing that I am walking with you."
And just in case the whole "be blameless" thing really gets you worried, know that most of the time in scripture this word doesn't mean perfection or sinlessness. Most often it means completion. So God isn't saying "Walk before me and I'm watching to see if you take one wrong step." After all, Abraham takes several wrong steps along the way and God doesn't abandon him. God is saying "Walk before me and see it through to completion. Live with integrity and consistency. Don't lag behind where I am leading you and don't run on ahead by yourself trying to get there without me. Keep a steady pace walking with me. Know that the journey with me is as important as the destination. And if you look up and realize that you have wandered off on your own, look around and you'll see that I'm not too far away, pointing you back to the right path.
Such is God's covenant with Abraham. Such is God's covenant with us. God calls us to a journey; a journey characterized by our continued trust in Him and the obedience and faithfulness that is the result of that trust.
A simple, ordinary, everyday activity. It is a constant, steady motion; not running but not standing still either. A destination is probably implied but is not necessarily the whole purpose or even the most important part of walking. If it were then we would probably choose another way to get there, one that is faster and more efficient. It is a pace that allows you to observe what is around you, to interact with those you meet along the way. It doesn't require any special skill or talent. It only requires a willingness to begin and to continue.
"Walk before me and be blameless."
This is how God chooses to state his covenant call to Abraham in Genesis 17. In other words, this is Abraham's end of the bargain; the part of the agreement with God that Abraham has to live up to. Of course, the rite of circumcision is mentioned just a few minutes later and that will become extremely important in later Judaism. But at this point in the story, circumcision is not the covenant, it is only a sign of the covenant. The covenant itself is that if Abraham will walk before God and be blameless then God will make him a father of many nations and kings and will establish this covenant as an everlasting covenant with Abraham's descendants.
The covenant is amazing in its simplicity. God doesn't give Abraham a destination to reach in a certain amount of time. God doesn't give Abraham a finite task to complete. He doesn't give Abraham certain rules to follow or ask for a list of his qualifications. He simply says "walk before me. Journey with me. Trust that I know where I am leading you even if you don't know where you are going. Live everyday knowing that I am walking with you."
And just in case the whole "be blameless" thing really gets you worried, know that most of the time in scripture this word doesn't mean perfection or sinlessness. Most often it means completion. So God isn't saying "Walk before me and I'm watching to see if you take one wrong step." After all, Abraham takes several wrong steps along the way and God doesn't abandon him. God is saying "Walk before me and see it through to completion. Live with integrity and consistency. Don't lag behind where I am leading you and don't run on ahead by yourself trying to get there without me. Keep a steady pace walking with me. Know that the journey with me is as important as the destination. And if you look up and realize that you have wandered off on your own, look around and you'll see that I'm not too far away, pointing you back to the right path.
Such is God's covenant with Abraham. Such is God's covenant with us. God calls us to a journey; a journey characterized by our continued trust in Him and the obedience and faithfulness that is the result of that trust.
Monday, February 23, 2009
A Universal Covenant of Patience and Love
There can be no doubt that the God revealed in scripture is a God who hates sin. Story after story, text after text makes this abundantly clearly. God is constantly calling upon his people to be faithful and obedient and when they are not he takes action or proscribes some action to deal with that sin or disobedience. The story of Noah and the flood found in chapters six through nine of the book of Genesis is just one such story that demonstrates God's hatred of sin. Genesis 6:5 says that "the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil" and so God decides that he must rid his creation of humanity's abundant wickedness by destroying everything on the earth except for Noah, his family, and the animals who come on the Ark with him. If God is willing to wipe the slate of creation clean through the waters of a flood, the creation which God called good only a few chapters earlier, then clearly God regards humanity's sin as having fouled things up pretty badly
But in the midst of this story of corruption, sin, wrath, and punishment there is also a story of God's patience and grace. This is the case because after the flood God makes a covenant with Noah and his descendants and even all of the earth. This is the first of many covenants which God enters into in the Old Testament. (We'll actually be looking at each of the major OT covenants throughout the season of Lent. The only one we won't cover is the one with David which I preached about on the last Sunday of Advent. You can listen to the sermon here or read about the passage here.)
This particular covenant between God, Noah, and all the earth is a promise that God will never destroy the earth in this way again. This is a truly remarkable promise on God's part, especially when we consider how much God abhors sin and the ways it destroys his beautiful creation. Certainly, our world has seen levels of sin and evil at least as abhorrent as those in the days of Noah, if not more so. If God hates sin so much that he was willing to wipe the earth clean once just to be rid of it then certainly at times like the crusades or the holocaust or even with the gross injustices that exist today, it must be tempting for God to simply start over, to gather up a few righteous folks, the holiest of saints, and just be done with the rest of us.
But God doesn't do that. He has bound himself not to do so by this covenant that he made with Noah. Therefore, this covenant represents God's incredible grace and patience. It represents God's refusal to give up on his creation. It means that God is constantly working toward our redemption even if that means that for now he must put up with the corruption of his world while he waits for us to turn to him.
We might do well to consider this covenant with Noah the next time we ask ourselves how God can let all the bad things happen in our world that do happen. We say that we want God to come and right all of the world's wrongs but perhaps we don't realize what a cataclysmic action that would be. Perhaps the evil and injustice that exists in our world today is not a sign of God's absence or powerlessness but of God's patience. God suffers with us as he sees us and all of his creation suffer but out of his grace and patient love he refuses to step in and clean things up by sheer force as he did in the flood. Instead, God stepped into our world in the form of love made flesh in the hope that all of creation might never be destroyed again but redeemed and restored to be all that God intended for it to be. In his covenant with Noah, God proclaims to the entire world that even though there is nothing God hates more than sin, it will not ultimately be that hatred of sin which defines him. Instead, it is God's immense love for his creation which is God's defining characteristic.
But in the midst of this story of corruption, sin, wrath, and punishment there is also a story of God's patience and grace. This is the case because after the flood God makes a covenant with Noah and his descendants and even all of the earth. This is the first of many covenants which God enters into in the Old Testament. (We'll actually be looking at each of the major OT covenants throughout the season of Lent. The only one we won't cover is the one with David which I preached about on the last Sunday of Advent. You can listen to the sermon here or read about the passage here.)
This particular covenant between God, Noah, and all the earth is a promise that God will never destroy the earth in this way again. This is a truly remarkable promise on God's part, especially when we consider how much God abhors sin and the ways it destroys his beautiful creation. Certainly, our world has seen levels of sin and evil at least as abhorrent as those in the days of Noah, if not more so. If God hates sin so much that he was willing to wipe the earth clean once just to be rid of it then certainly at times like the crusades or the holocaust or even with the gross injustices that exist today, it must be tempting for God to simply start over, to gather up a few righteous folks, the holiest of saints, and just be done with the rest of us.
But God doesn't do that. He has bound himself not to do so by this covenant that he made with Noah. Therefore, this covenant represents God's incredible grace and patience. It represents God's refusal to give up on his creation. It means that God is constantly working toward our redemption even if that means that for now he must put up with the corruption of his world while he waits for us to turn to him.
We might do well to consider this covenant with Noah the next time we ask ourselves how God can let all the bad things happen in our world that do happen. We say that we want God to come and right all of the world's wrongs but perhaps we don't realize what a cataclysmic action that would be. Perhaps the evil and injustice that exists in our world today is not a sign of God's absence or powerlessness but of God's patience. God suffers with us as he sees us and all of his creation suffer but out of his grace and patient love he refuses to step in and clean things up by sheer force as he did in the flood. Instead, God stepped into our world in the form of love made flesh in the hope that all of creation might never be destroyed again but redeemed and restored to be all that God intended for it to be. In his covenant with Noah, God proclaims to the entire world that even though there is nothing God hates more than sin, it will not ultimately be that hatred of sin which defines him. Instead, it is God's immense love for his creation which is God's defining characteristic.
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