"Bad Examples" October 23, 2016

Genesis 25 Luke 18:9-14 The most powerful statement of our present time came after the final Debate was over and a pre-ordained group of undecided voters were asked if the debate changed their minds. A significant group said they were still undecided, and the interviewer described: “You have had 22 months of Primaries and Campaign, three debates and daily polls, what more do you need or want to know?” One respondent said “But I do not like either one, and am praying to God for something to change.” When we read the Bible, whenever we discuss faith issues, ethics or morality, we anticipate clear choices between right and wrong, between good and evil. The difficulty of this morning, both in the story of Isaac and Rebekkah’s children and Jesus’ Parable about righteousness and treating others with Contempt, is that each of the examples is very human and not what we would want to emulate as Good. The book of Genesis provides foundational stories of where our faith originates. This is long ago, before the Romans and Greeks, before the Babylonian Exile of Israel, before King David, before Joshua, Judges, the Temple, before the 10 Commandments, long long before Moses and Pharaoh, before the Exodus, even before Israel went down to Egypt and were enslaved. What we know from the beginning, is that God is Creator, any and all acts of creation can be traced back to God. After the flood, God began anew with one person and one family and a covenant promise. God is Creator. Abraham and Sarah received the Covenant Promise from God, they were nomads, refugees from a distant country wandering the land, while unable to conceive for 20 years, yet they trusted and believed God that their own child would be the father of nations, and would have a name and a land to inherit. Finally, when Sarah was 80 years of age and Abraham as good as dead, they gave birth to a child; then God commanded Abraham to sacrifice that child as a test of whether he would continue to trust God, or only trusted in fulfillment of the promise. When God saved Abraham’s child Isaac, they came down the mountain. Over time, Sarah died and was buried; then Abraham sought a partner for Isaac, not among the Canaanites, but sending his servant back to their own people, to Sarah’s brother Laban, and bringing Laban’s daughter Rebekkah to marry Isaac. When they were secure, Abraham died and was buried by Isaac and his brother Ishmael. Rebekkah and Isaac, like Sarah and Abraham, possessed the Promise but were unable to conceive. What physiological or psychological reasons were for this we do not know; I believe that this is a statement of how on our own, we are unable, yet with God all things, even the most miraculous, are possible. However, instead of giving birth to one child, they were to have twins, who even before birth wrestled with one another, threatening to tear their mother apart. I had brothers growing up, which led our father to have many sermons on the text “Blessed is the house, where brothers dwell together in peace and harmony.” Several years ago, when two of the refugees we had sponsored, had repeated fights, John’s mother Agot took me aside, to explain “Pastor, boys like young bulls fight, that is what they do.” The difficulty of this text becomes the parents playing favorites. Marriage can be difficult for all of us, instead of reacting and doing whatever appears to be good at the moment, you need to consider the needs and wants of this other who is the center of your life and your reason for living. Now, add into that relationship, a child. In a triangle, two always work against one. It may be the parents share in feeding and changing the infant, so that each can get rest. It may be that the child uses one parent to convince the other what they want to do. Imagine, not only that there were two parents and twin children, but that the mother is fused with her desires for the one child, and the father is fused with his desires for the other. There can be no honest relationships in the family, because the brothers are not free to be siblings, the parents are not free to be a couple in love. Each one is acting in multiple identities, trying to please others, with no room for their relationship with God. Before the 10 Commandments, the children of Abraham had 5 basic laws of identity: The Lord our God is one and God only shall you serve. Circumcision, that you are set apart as God’s people. To demonstrate our relationship with God, there are sacrifices to God of your best, your most precious. Because our ancestors were wanderers, who on occasion hosted angels unaware of who they were, you have a responsibility of hospitality to provide shelter for the homeless and food for the hungry. There is the rule of progenitor, that the firstborn inherits everything and they are to decide whether and how to care for the others. By the third generation these begin to be questioned and challenged. While Isaac prays to God, and Rebekkah receives word from God before the birth of their sons; there is no mention of God following the birth of these sons during their growing up. There is no circumcision. There is no sacrifice offered to thank God. Without these relationships with God, when Esau comes home from hunting and is famished, Jacob is unwilling to give him basic hospitality, until he trades his birthright. Realize in that culture, a birthright was just as tangible as a pot of stew and loaf of bread. Birthright ensured a future, life and health and prosperity and land for yourself and family. Not only do they trade the birthright for a bowl of stew, afterward, they resent their birth order, they resent each other and they resent their own lives. The story then follows Jacob describing Esau as the father of the Nation of Edomites, but Jacob is far from a hero or role model of Good and ethical behavior at this point. Jesus was thoroughly educated in Judaism. His sermons, his parables, his teachings all underscore and interpret the Hebrew Bible of our First Testament. When Jesus told the parables of the Prodigal Son and Elder Son, at some level this was an interpretation of the story of Jacob and Esau and their father Isaac. Here also, Jesus is telling a parable about two brothers; his point was to explain that whether a sinner or the most religious, both were examples of wrong doing. The Pharisees held a liberal interpretation of Scripture and attempted to make the Law available and applicable to all. However, the Pharisee in this parable never gives any allegiance to God, his claim of righteousness is a resume of his own accomplishment and a lack of compassion or humility in reference to the Tax Collector. The Tax Collector, while kneeling humbled before God and asking for mercy, never vows to change the actions which brought him here, makes no offering to atone for his sin. On the surface this is a simple parable about avoiding Pride and living in humility, the trap of this parable is that when making a vow of humility, we often fall into Spiritual Pride boasting of our humility. My frustration is that Preaching has become a Gospel of Guilt, humiliating us to our knees and keeping people there. The point of the Reformation was a shift to Redemption. Rather than Guilt or Conceit or Hate of ourselves or others, may we all seek redemption, asking for mercy from God, knowing we all have fallen short of the glory of God. May our Yes be yes, our No be no, and may we attempt to live our lives in trust with our Savior and Lord.