Blessed to be a blessing
For these 5 Sundays of Lent, we’re going to, at least in a broad-brush stroke kind of way, tell the overarching story of the first Testament
—Hebrew Scripture.
—Hebrew Scripture.
As I said last week, the first 11 chapters of Genesis (the History before History) are pulling we the reader to chapter twelve, pulling us to the promises of God made to Abraham and his family…
God promises them Land, Descendants, and Prosperity…
If an economist was to describe these blessings, they might call it “Land, Labor, and Capital.”
Or, if a therapist was describing them, they might call ‘em “the cause and ground of bad behavior and maladaptive family system dynamics.”
What I’m saying is, while God gives these gifts to Abraham and his kin-folk to be a blessing
—in fact, the whole underlying point is that God blesses them to be a blessing to others—declaring the world good through them, a new act of creation
—yet things fall apart rather quickly…
—in fact, the whole underlying point is that God blesses them to be a blessing to others—declaring the world good through them, a new act of creation
—yet things fall apart rather quickly…
This is as good a time as any to remind you all that just because you find something in the Bible, doesn’t mean it is to be emulated, doesn’t mean the thing is good or right… sometimes bad examples are more instructive than good examples!
While scripture tells a better story about God and God’s intentions for the world, as we looked at last week, it still is decidedly realistic about the human condition.
I remember in 4th grade when all the Church of the Nazarene children were describing the bible to me as having God’s perfect plan and being filled with nothing but uplifting stories
—I sat down and started to read it cover to cover—got about a third of the way through the book of Numbers and was so scandalized I had to stop!
—I sat down and started to read it cover to cover—got about a third of the way through the book of Numbers and was so scandalized I had to stop!
You get all these moralizers complaining about rap music and video games, Hollywood and half-time shows
—they don’t hold a candle to this family we follow in Genesis, Abraham and his kin… it’s got everything: sex, Violence, incest, sibling rivalries, and murderous fathers—this is Game of Thrones level stuff! All you need is dragons and ice zombies!
—they don’t hold a candle to this family we follow in Genesis, Abraham and his kin… it’s got everything: sex, Violence, incest, sibling rivalries, and murderous fathers—this is Game of Thrones level stuff! All you need is dragons and ice zombies!
But Genesis is ultimately about God’s promise
—I bless you so that you might be a blessing—this promise we read here in chapter 12—God’s promises, and o’ so human responses…
—I bless you so that you might be a blessing—this promise we read here in chapter 12—God’s promises, and o’ so human responses…
-With Abraham and his extended family there is an attempt at faithfulness—an opening negotiation of relationship with this God…
-With Jacob we get a trickster who constantly tests the promises of God—what would it take to break what God has offered my family? Truly an unfaithful response.
-Then, there is Joseph—God is continually faithful, even in the cruelest times, ever faithful—in Joseph’s story we see the promise redeemed.
Abraham’s attempt, Jacob’s testing, Joseph’s redemption. That is the story of God’s promise, blessed to be a blessing.
Prayer
Abraham is the first to hear God’s promise and receive God’s blessing. Land, Family, Prosperity…
He goes, immediately!
—and I don’t think most of us can truly understand what he is giving up
—he is willingly becoming a Sojourner, no longer under the house and protection of his extended family
—there is such risk in this, and yet immediately he sets off
—what faith, what trust, truly a courageous and good response to God’s promise…
—and I don’t think most of us can truly understand what he is giving up
—he is willingly becoming a Sojourner, no longer under the house and protection of his extended family
—there is such risk in this, and yet immediately he sets off
—what faith, what trust, truly a courageous and good response to God’s promise…
Yet he sets off, and ends up in Egypt—he takes a detour…
you see, this becomes the see-saw relationship between he and God
—Abraham endangers the blessing
and God heightens the promise.
you see, this becomes the see-saw relationship between he and God
—Abraham endangers the blessing
and God heightens the promise.
-He leaves the promised land—God reminds him of his blessing.
-He decides his nephew Lot (God help us) will be his heir, then his servant Eliazar of Damascus will be his heir, not whoever God has in mind—God reminds him of his blessing.
-Abraham rapes Hagar and makes their child Ishmael his son and heir—God reminds him of his blessing
-God shows up and promises a son—Sarah, Abraham’s wife, laughs. God reminds him of his blessing.
-Eventually they have a son, Isaac—and the next thing you know, Abraham attempts to take the life of his first son, Ishmael and his mother Hagar… God sees what an evil thing Abraham has done to her and her family and expands the blessing, blessing Hagar and her son Ishmael.
-Then Abraham tries to take his second son, Isaac’s, life! Such a scary action that it kill’s Sarah…
-Then Abraham tries to take his second son, Isaac’s, life! Such a scary action that it kill’s Sarah…
Then you have Isaac—he’s passive the whole time
—I swear whatever Abraham ended up doing on the mount of sacrifice never really left Isaac… All he is able to do is re-digs some wells his father had neglected, marries Rebecca, and then they plays favorites with their two sons.
—I swear whatever Abraham ended up doing on the mount of sacrifice never really left Isaac… All he is able to do is re-digs some wells his father had neglected, marries Rebecca, and then they plays favorites with their two sons.
Their two sons, Esau and Jacob…
Jacob, who steals the blessing of prosperity by trick, who ruins every familial relationship he runs across, and who is driven out of the land because of his trickster nature—Prosperity, Family, Land—all won and lost based on his unfaithfulness, yet still left standing on the basis of God’s promise.
In fact, God gives Jacob a new name, Israel, and with that new name a new claim to the promise.
Jacob, who steals the blessing of prosperity by trick, who ruins every familial relationship he runs across, and who is driven out of the land because of his trickster nature—Prosperity, Family, Land—all won and lost based on his unfaithfulness, yet still left standing on the basis of God’s promise.
In fact, God gives Jacob a new name, Israel, and with that new name a new claim to the promise.
Then, finally, we reach the story of Jacob/Israel’s son Joseph, who awkwardly
—arrogantly even
—describes to his family how the blessing is his
—the story, too, of his brothers leaving him to die in a well and telling a lie to their father about his death
His brothers go on to commit genocide on account of a Romeo and Juliet type situation between their sister and a local guy
…the story of Joseph’s continual humiliation and rise
—sold into slavery, blessed.
Imprisoned, blessed.
Forced to perform the impossible for Pharaoh, blessed.
—arrogantly even
—describes to his family how the blessing is his
—the story, too, of his brothers leaving him to die in a well and telling a lie to their father about his death
His brothers go on to commit genocide on account of a Romeo and Juliet type situation between their sister and a local guy
…the story of Joseph’s continual humiliation and rise
—sold into slavery, blessed.
Imprisoned, blessed.
Forced to perform the impossible for Pharaoh, blessed.
Eventually things work out such that he gets to see his family again, even his dying father, Jacob—they are able to reconcile, they all are blessed on account of him…
In fact, Genesis ends with Jacob relinquishing a final blessing of prosperity to his children, the family all together at Jacob’s deathbed, the family buying a plot of land—owning land in the promised land for the first time—prosperity, family, land…
In fact, Genesis ends with Jacob relinquishing a final blessing of prosperity to his children, the family all together at Jacob’s deathbed, the family buying a plot of land—owning land in the promised land for the first time—prosperity, family, land…
BUT
At the same time,
-Their prosperity is attached to Pharaoh’s good pleasure.
-Their family is together free… but along the way Joseph created the institution of debt-slavery, which will come back to bite their descendants in the book of Exodus…
-and while there is a tomb in the promised land, the people are all in Egypt.
-Their prosperity is attached to Pharaoh’s good pleasure.
-Their family is together free… but along the way Joseph created the institution of debt-slavery, which will come back to bite their descendants in the book of Exodus…
-and while there is a tomb in the promised land, the people are all in Egypt.
God’s promise is that his people are blessed to be a blessing—often poorly done, yet even in this messiness…
-Abraham the Sojourner finds a home,
the barren Sarah a child,
Hagar and Ishmael, cast away yet land in God’s loving arms, blessed as well.
-Abraham the Sojourner finds a home,
the barren Sarah a child,
Hagar and Ishmael, cast away yet land in God’s loving arms, blessed as well.
-Jacob the trickster with a bad reputation given a good name!
-Joseph an arrogant dreamer who is humbled.
A truly messed up family, given a chance to forgive each other before their father dies. All the while, Blessed to be a blessing.
A truly messed up family, given a chance to forgive each other before their father dies. All the while, Blessed to be a blessing.
Amen.
