The book of Genesis can be broken into two different types of stories. First, and the way it begins, are with etiological stories, or stories of origin. These are stories that seek to explain why things are the way there are, and these have sometimes been called the primeval stories, or also the myth stories. But, myth here not understood the way we understand the word myth, meaning false and therefore not true. But that’s a modern understanding. Instead, we should see myths as stories that are fundamentally true, even if they aren’t factually true, and thus you can have multiple creation stories that tell different stories and yet contain fundamental truths about God and about the world and about us. And then we move into what are sometimes called the saga stories, or better the stories of the patriarchs and matriarchs, beginning with the father and mother of the faith, who begin their journey known as Abram and Sarai. And they also serve as the transition, as we are told that Abram is a descendent of Shem, who was one of the sons of Noah. And so we transition from universal stories, to particular story about the the beginning of the people who will become known as the Israelites although we are not quite there yet.
And so we are introduced to this man as being a descendent of Noah, through his son Shem, although he is many generations later, but God speaks to Abram and tells him to leave his family and his homeland and go to a land that God will show to him, and God will make his name famous and bless him, and through him the world itself will be blessed. And the surprising thing is, Abram leaves. That was just not something that was really done. There is safety and protection in familial ties, and in the land you know and inhabit, and protection in the local gods that you worship, that don’t travel, but live where the people live. And so although we aren’t told anything about Abram before this, including whether he knows anything about this God who talks to him, Abram packs up all his possessions, including, we are told, the people he owns, that is slaves, along with his nephew Lot, and they leave and go to the land which, as we are told, was occupied by the Canaanites.
And so God has already told Abram that he will make a great nation through him, and he will be blessed, and now God tells him that he will give the land that they are going to to his descendants. He won’t possess it himself, but there is a promise for what will happen for future generations, but there is one problem with the land: there is a drought. But this doesn’t stop Abram’s belief or faith in God about the promises, it’s just that they won’t live there yet, and so Abram and Saria and the family move onto Egypt because that’s what you do when there is a drought and there we get an interesting story in that when they enter Egypt, Abram asks his wife Sarai to say that she is his sister because otherwise he believes he will be killed because she is so beautiful.
Now this is sort of a troubling story about Abram, because he doesn’t seem to be concerned about Sarai, and her being taken into the harem of the Pharaoh, and we don’t even get her opinion given on it. But it certainly doesn’t necessarily reflect well on Abram or about his trust in God, because doesn’t he have to think that God will protect him and make everything come out right? Wouldn’t a righteous person try and protect his wife as well? Just questions to ask, but God punishes Pharaoh for taking Sarai, and rather than punishing Abram, he instead his given his stuff back and sent on his way. And lest we think he learns anything from this, he will do exactly the same thing again later.
But they make their way back to what will be the Promised Land, and he and Lot separate, and we’ll cover Lot and his family next week. And then Abram says to God, “look you’ve made this promise to me, but I don’t have any descendants, my wife remains barren, so what’s the deal?” And again God makes a covenant, a promise that Abram will have descendants more numerous than the stars, and we are told that Abram believes, and that the Lord reckoned this to him as righteousness, which is where Paul will then make the claim that we are saved by faith alone, because this gift of righteousness comes before God requires anything of the relationship in Abram being circumcised. And yet, Abram and Sarai still don’t have any children. So Sarai gives Abram her slave Hagar, and she and Abram have a son named Ishmael, and we’ll come back to that story in two weeks, because it’s important. But up to this point, Abram has been promised two things by God. First he has been Promised Land for his descendants, and second he has been promised that his descendants will be more numerous than the stars, or the grains of dust, and that the world will be blessed because of him. These are two covenants, two promises that God has made with him.
Now the first covenant we have in scripture is actually made with Noah after the flood, and the sign of the covenant is the rainbow, which we are told God will put into the sky as a symbol that God will never destroy the earth by flood again, and this symbol is not for humanity, but instead we are told that God will put it there to remind God of the promise. So, so far all the covenants have sort of been one-sided, but a covenant is an agreement between two parties, or at least two parties, of things that both sides will do or are required to do, and so what we have from today’s passage is the second side of the covenant, what the people will do, but it also brings a significant change in the relationship between God and the people. And it starts in some ways with a change in God, or at least a change in God’s name. God says “I am God Almighty” which a translation of El Shaddai. But, this is not the name for God that has been used before, and we have had two names used, Elohim and YHWH, and so just at the time that God is going to rename Abram and Sarai, we get a another name for God given as well. And there are significant things about names, especially the changing of names, something we’ll talk about more when we get to Jacob.
And then God again tells of the covenant that is being made with Abram, a promise of multitudes coming from him, but not from Ishmael, but a promise of a child for he and Sarai, and the promise of land for his people, and this will be an everlasting covenant. This is not just between God and this generation, this is between God and all generations. And as a sign of this covenant, all of the men are to be circumcised, and those that aren’t, or won’t be circumcised are to be cut off, and notice the word play and humor there. If a cutting off of circumcision is not done, then they are cut off from the people. But, and this is important, circumcision is not the covenant itself. Circumcision is an outward sign of the covenant, but the covenant with the people is an inward decision and change. Because pay attention to what God says at the beginning: “Walk before me and be blameless.” That is really the covenant commandment that Abram is to follow, and his response shows his faithfulness because he falls on his face, that is he worships God. Circumcision is an outward sign to God and to Abram of the covenant that he has made inwardly to follow God and do what God asks or commands, to walk before God and be blameless. And it is then that God changes his name, before he has been circumcised, God says that he will no longer be called Abram, which means father or ancestor, but instead shall be called Abraham, which means father of many nations. And then God gives instruction on circumcision, which was actually a common practice in the ancient world.
Now under Judaism, women are incorporated into the covenant through the men in their families being circumcised, that as long as the men continue to practice this ritual then the women also continue in the convenant. But, we should notice that the covenant is not just made with Abraham, but it is also made with Sarai, which is the reason her name is changed as well to Sarah, which best guess means princess. She is promised a son and then she too will be blessed and give rise to nations and kings, although this is said to Abraham and not to Sarah herself. But the promise is still with her. And then, even though we see Abraham as being the father of the faith and the example of faithfulness lived out amongst the patriarchs, we should notice that after this pronouncement Abraham once again falls on his face before God, but this time it’s in laughter because he doesn’t believe that it can be true since he and Sarah are so old.
And so I think we should see this as a sign that doubt is also a part of faith. Abraham, faithful to leave his own land and family to follow God, does have doubts about what is possible, although, of course, God does prove him wrong, but it’s an indication that while we are called to strive our best to walk before God and be blameless, that we will fall short, but that God’s side of the covenant remains because God is ever faithful to us and that God’s grace covers us in that moment and God leads us back to righteousness, which has nothing to do with what we have done, so that we can’t boast about it, but about what God has given to us, and for us as Christians that is a new covenant given by water and the Spirit that has freed us from the captivity to sin and death and set us free in God’s love and grace.
In a few moments we are going to celebrate our high school graduates and we are going to talk about our sign of the covenant, which is baptism, and outward sign of an inward change. That is a covenant we make with God, but it is also a covenant we make with each other, just as the membership vows are a covenantal agreement. And part of the baptismal vows for congregations says that we will assist parents in bringing up their children in a Christian environment and to love on them and support them and teach them, and so in this moment we are going to celebrate that. And it also serves as a time to remember that we do not do this thing called faith alone. We do it together. You cannot be a solitary Christian, it must be lived out in community, because the covenant is not just between God and us, but it involves everyone. Even though the promise was to Abraham in particular, it was to everyone and for generations to come, and involved all the men being circumcised, not just Abraham. And so our covenant is also for everyone, that we are to be here for one another in the best of times and the worst of times, to support one another and build one another up and teach one another and be brothers and sisters, beloved sons and daughters in the faith, united in covenant with God and with one another. I pray that it will be so my brothers and sisters. Amen.
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