Genesis 18:1-15; (21:1-7) (NRSV)
The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.” Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate. They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. He said, “Oh yes, you did laugh.”
[The Lord dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised. Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Now Sarah said, “God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” And she said, “Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”]
… Homily…
I love the stories of Abraham the Patriarch. Throughout the whole of the Scriptures, this man of God is again and again lifted up as a example of faith.
Today and over the weeks to come, as we read through the life of this man and his wife Sarah, we will be reminded of the depth of that faith and why throughout the generations, even to our own day, the faith of Abraham is so inspiring. In today's Old Testament lesson we find Abraham sitting under a tree when suddenly three visitors pay him a visit. Abraham receives his guests. He shows great hospitality to them.
At some point it becomes clear who these visitors are. Abraham and Sarah have been visited by God. At this visit, God repeats a prior promise made to Abraham. God had promised Abraham that he would have a son, that he would be the father of many generations through this son. But Abraham and Sarah remained childless. After some time waiting, Sarah gives her servant Hagar as a wife to Abraham. From her, Abraham becomes the father of a son.
Only this isn't what God had in mind. In today's reading God makes it clear that the son promised to Abraham is the son of Sarah, the son yet to be born.
Sarah laughs at this Word of God. And let's not be hard on her for that. The simple fact is that Sarah is well beyond the stage of life when a women can bring forth a child. Abraham also is now an old man. Biologically the chances that these two in this stage of life could conceive a child are less than slim to none. Sarah laughs because she knows it simply cannot happen.
I wonder how many times we have stood in that place where we find Sarah in this reading. We have all felt at times that something is impossible. Perhaps we have even laughed at those hope against hope in the face of the impossible.
In the case of Abraham and Sarah, remember who it was who spoke this impossible word. It's not very clear that Sarah knows at this moment what Abraham knew even then, what we know as we hear this promise. The one who speaks this promise is none other than God.
Remember that truth! This reading says something powerfully to us about the God we serve. Our God does all things, even the impossible. Scripture reminds us if that time and time again. Sarah bears a son in her old age and in spite of the barrenness of her womb. Elizabeth experiences the very same thing in becoming the mother of the forerunner to Christ, St. John the Baptist. Hannah's experience is similar too in the conception and birth of Samuel the prophet. The Gospel provides us with too many examples of the impossible to recall them all. But there is one more that I shall share. The Evangelist John tells us that Jesus lingers before going to Bethany to be with Martha and Mary after the falling-asleep of their brother, Lazarus. By the time that the Lord arrives, the body of Lazarus is in the tomb, and it is the fourth day following his death. How easily we miss the significance of that simple fact. The generation of Lazarus and the faith of their ancestors told them that the spirit lingered near the deceased body for three days. For three days, there was some slim chance of hope that the spirit would return to that body and life would be restored. On the fourth day, that chance was gone and hope was lost. Death was final, real, even undeniable. But on the fourth day, Jesus, God Incarnate, stands before the tomb and speaks the Word of God as hope against hope, doing the impossible.
If Jesus were not God, Lazarus would never have come forth from the tomb. If the visitors welcomed by Abraham had not been God, Isaac would never have been born, and the great patriarch would not be the father of a vast multitude that includes us.
What then shall we say about these things that speaks to our own lives and our own day and generation? Remember that God does all things, even the impossible. In fact sometimes God chooses to do the impossible in order that it might be abundantly clear that no one else could have done so. And in those moments we have no other option than to acknowledge that the work witnessed is the work of God.
With that in mind, my friends, today we look around us and witness the realities of the world about us. There are so many things that can come to our mind that seem to be hopeless causes. Shall we loose all hope as we witness these things? We could do so very easily. In today's Gospel the disciples are sent forth to bear witness to the presence of Christ in the midst of impossibilities. Today we are sent back into the world with that same mission. Remember as we go forth into the world that nothing is ever impossible for our God. Speak this truth to those who are in need of hearing of such a God. Lift up these ones to God in prayer. Hope against hope that God can accomplish far more than we can desire or imagine. God is in our midst, and nothing or no one is beyond hope when standing before the God whose powers are beyond limit.
Father Timothy Alleman, Rector
The Church of the Holy Cross
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