A Sermon by Sydney V. (Skip) Jackson — August 8, 2010
Indianola Presbyterian Church, Columbus, Ohio
Texts:  Psalm 145;  Genesis 12:10-20

Sermon Text — Genesis 12:10-20 (my own translation)
Now there was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to reside there a while as an alien because the famine was so severe. Now when he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his woman Sarai, “Please consider this. I know that you are a woman beautiful to behold. Thus when they see you, the Egyptians will say, ‘This is his woman,’ and they will slay me, but you they will let live. Please say you are my sister, in order that it will go well for me on your account, and my life may be spared for your sake.

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This story of Abram and Sarai—who are later to be renamed Abraham and Sarah—must surely be one of the stranger stories in Genesis.  We’ve only just met them.  Immediately before this, God promises Abram blessings beyond measure, and Abram packs up his family and belongings and sets out on a journey into the unknown.  The Apostle Paul views this response as the supreme example of faith.  Yet here comes a story full of trickery and deception.  It looks like Abram and Sarai have gotten off on the wrong foot.  What are we to make of it?  It’s nearly impossible to find a commentary that does not condemn Abram for his actions.  Nearly all talk about what God demands from Abram and fault him for falling short of God’s demands.

 

Calvin says that Abram failed to rely on God’s grace as he was called to do.  Modern commentators usually speak of Abram’s lack of faith, of his cowardice and lack of honor, of how he resorts to self-serving expediency by scheming to sacrifice Sarai to save his own skin, and finally of how his unprincipled lie led to curses falling unjustly upon the household of an innocent Pharaoh.  They see Abram standing silent in guilt before Pharaoh’s accusations, shamed by Pharaoh’s refusal even to demand the return of the bride price for Sarai (all those flocks, herds, servants, donkeys, and camels).  Ultimately they see him (in the words of one commentator) being “unceremoniously bundled out of [Egypt] with his tail between his legs” (J. C. Gibson, Genesis).  Oh, they are so very hard on Abram.

So where is the Abram who was the model of faith and righteousness for Paul and throughout the Bible?  What are we to make of this Abram?  Perhaps the point is for us to learn from his mistakes.  If so, we should take a look at what it was that God required of Abram.  What sort of faithfulness did God demand from him after promising him blessings?  How did God react when Abram fell short?  Maybe we can learn what God asks from us.

In seeking answers, we need to look beyond this one particular story, to broaden our horizon and see how the Bible itself depicts the entire relationship between God and Abram.  One way to do this is to consider all of the Abram stories compiled by “J”—the person or group that scholars believe wrote down the earliest parts of Genesis.  (The name “J” comes from the German spelling of “Yahweh,” which is the name this writer uses to refer to God.)  As the Bible’s first storyteller/historian, J offers us the earliest recorded picture of the relationship between God and Abram.  So listen, as I sketch out the sweep of Abram’s story as told by J.  At each episode I will highlight God’s words or actions that directly concern Abram and his situation by reading from the relevant scripture verses.  We’ll look at what God has to say to Abram. And as I go along, be sure to keep in mind the question, “What does God want, or require, or demand from Abram?” 

The story begins in Genesis 12:1 as God first speaks to Abram.  He is living in Mesopotamia with Sarai, and they have no children.  Listen… we’re about to meet Abram for the first time.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land I will show you.  And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing… and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.  (Gn 12:1-3)

The Lord tells Abram to leave his homeland for a new land, promising him amazing blessings.  So at the age of 75, Abram with his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot gather up all they own and head out into the unknown.  Arriving in the land of Canaan, they find it already occupied, but the Lord says to Abram:

“To your descendents I will give this land.” (Gn 12:7a)

Here’s another divine promise.  But soon a famine forces Abram to seek refuge in Egypt, where crops are watered by the Nile River, and where Pharaoh rules supreme, with power to take Sarai as his woman.  This he does, and what does the Lord do?

Then the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his household with great afflictions because of Sarai, the woman of Abram. (Gn 12:17)

Abram, Lot, and Sarai are now quite wealthy with all those flocks and herds, donkeys and camels they got from Pharaoh.  They leave Egypt to return to Canaan.  Lot chooses to settle in the fertile plains east of the Jordan River, while Abram turns to the western shore of the Jordan, the land of Canaan.  The Lord says to him:

“Lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are… for all the land which you see I will give to you and to your descendents forever.  I will make your descendents as the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your descendents also can be counted.  Arise, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” (Gn 13:14-17)

Yet more promises, more blessings.  Then Lot finds himself under attack, and Abram goes to his rescue, defeating several armies.  Then Lord appears to him in a vision, saying—

“Fear not… I am your shield; your reward shall be great.” (Gn 15:1)

But Abram is wondering about something.  “Where are those children you promised?” he asks.  God responds—

“Look toward the heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then the Lord said to him, “So shall your descendents be.” (Gn 15:5)

Indeed, in a rather long story, Sarai’s slave girl Hagar gives birth to a son by Abram named Ishmael.  But Sarai continues to be childless.  Then one day—

The Lord appeared to [Abram] by the oaks of Mamre… (Gn 18:1)

Abram welcomes the Lord, and then—

The Lord said, “I will surely return to you in the spring, and [Sarai] your wife shall have a son.” (Gn 18:10a)

And Sarai, who was eavesdropping laughs out loud, because she and Abram are surely far too old for her to have a child.  But the Lord responds—

“Why did [Sarai] laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?  At the appointed time I will return to you in the spring, and [Sarai] shall have a son.” (Gn 18:13-14)

Remember that question we are keeping in mind—“What does God want, or require, or demand from Abram?”  Are you catching any kind of a pattern in J’s story so far?  It’s nearly complete, but there is one rather complicated episode remaining between Abram and God.  Looking upon the evils of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Lord wonders—

“Shall I hide from [Abram] what I am about to do, seeing that [Abram] shall become a great nation, and all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by him?   No, for I have chosen him, that he may [teach] his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing… justice; so that the Lord may bring to [Abram] what he has promised him..”  Then the Lord said, “How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin! I must go down and see [what all] they have done…”  (Gn 18:17-21a)

Then a strange thing happens.  As the one chosen to bear the blessings of God’s promises in history, Abram challenges God’s judgment upon Sodom, asking, “God, will you destroy the innocent with the guilty?”  Will the Lord God as Judge do the justice that Abram is supposed to teach to his own household?  We might expect God to resent this challenge from Abram.   But the Lord answers—

“If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” (Gn 18:26)

But that’s not good enough for Abram.  He continues to challenge God, who patiently agrees, in turn, to spare the city for 45, 40, 30, 20, and finally even if there are only 10 innocent people. Then, with the principle firmly established that innocent lives override any evil, the Lord and Abram part.  But there are no innocents to be found in Sodom, except for Lot who dwells there as an alien.  So Lot is saved, but the city is destroyed.

J’s story contains no further encounters between the Lord and Abram.  God does not speak to Abram again in the story.  But with the arrival of spring—

The Lord visited [Sarai] as he had said, and the Lord did to [Sarai] as he had promised.  And [Sarai] conceived, and bore [Abram] a son in his old age at the time which God had spoken to him. (Gn 21:1-2)

The promise of a son by Sarai is fulfilled.  Isaac is born, his name meaning “Laughter,” because Sarai had laughed when the Lord said she would bear a child.  And finally J’s story of Abram comes to an end in Genesis 24:1 with the following summary—

Now [Abram] was old, well advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed [Abram] in all things.

That’s it—J’s entire story of the relationship between the Lord and Abram.  So, “what did God want, or require, or demand from Abram?”  Well, the answer to that question is surely astonishing.  For the answer is… NOTHING!  Not a thing!

God asks Abram to leave his home, which he does.  After that there is never a single word about God wanting or requiring or demanding anything from Abram.  Everything is about what God wants for Abram.  Promises, blessings, assurance—all are given freely.  J’s story of Abram is not about Abram’s faith or lack of faith, but about God’s absolute and total faithfulness.  God’s grace is always there.

We might be slower to criticize Abram in this morning’s story if we recall that Abram’s accuser in the story is that historical arch-enemy and oppressor of the Hebrew people, the Pharaoh of Egypt.  If we weren’t so ready to project onto Abram the cultural values we hold dear, we might recognize that this morning’s story is actually a “trickster story,” especially when virtually the same story repeats for Abram and Sarai in Genesis 20 and then for Isaac and Rebekah in Genesis 26.  Trickster stories, like those of Br’er Rabbit or Coyote or Raven or Anansi the Spider, are common in all the world’s cultures, with the trickster figure often acting on the side of society’s underdogs over against the powerful and privileged.  Such stories are one means that the powerless use to sustain hope in desperate, hopeless times.

Cultural values like honor, valor, strict honesty—these may not be all that desirable if they serve to reinforce a ruthless power like Br’er Fox… or Pharaoh, who is hardly innocent and is, in fact, ready, willing, and able to take any beautiful woman he wants whether or not she is someone else’s wife.  If we condemn Abram, we risk standing with Pharaoh over and against a much weaker people struggling to survive in the face of both famine and abusive power.  There are too many times when we as a nation have taken the side of unjust power in our world.  Recall that the Lord never criticizes Abram in this morning’s story.  What the Lord does do is afflict and condemn Pharaoh.

We are far too ready to imagine a demanding God, maybe because if we were God we would be demanding.  In any event, we then assume that we must meet God’s demands to earn grace and blessing.  But that is not how God works.  God blesses Abram because God is ever faithful to the promises of blessing made to Abram and through him to all the peoples of the earth.  And God is ever faithful to us.  The point of this morning’s story is not that we must learn from Abram’s or our own mistakes, but that we can depend on God’s all-encompassing faithfulness.  God gives us life and provides a world sufficient for all to live abundant lives.   Oh yes, the world is messed up, full of greedy Pharaohs as well as tricky Abrams.  But God is not a God of demands and judgment, but of mercy and grace.  God does not keep score, but declares us winners.  God does not demand our faith, but gives us our faith.  God’s promises are sure, and God is ever faithful.

Do we doubt such things?  Oh yes, but God stays faithful.  Are we overly critical of ourselves?  Yep.  But God stays faithful.  Are we obsessed with getting it right, with learning from our mistakes?  Nonetheless God stays faithful.  Do we still struggle, trying to be good enough for God?”  It’s not about being good enough!  God stays faithful… always!  Trust in the Good News!  If God is for us, then why should we be against us?  Thanks be to God, the God of Abram and Sarai, who is ever faithful and blesses us in all things!  Amen and amen.