Children of Abraham

Rev. Wesley Menke

13 March 2022 

Second Sunday in Lent

The city and country have had a long standing tension. Cities tend to aggregate resources from the country, sometimes the city can be scene as hostile to the country, as exploitative. I hear this in the words of Jesus from Luke 13. Jerusalem had been a place that at times was violent toward prophets and messengers of God. Jesus was from Galilee, not Jerusalem, and he is threatened with violence. So what does he do? He retreats. God provides a peaceful retreat for Jesus. We can do what Jesus did, we can retreat from harm into God’s grace, if not physically, then at least spiritually.

Paul writes in Philippians that each of us are citizens of heaven. This is significant because it means that no matter our geographical differences on Earth we all belong to the same spiritual family. This is important to keep in mind when violence escalates in our world. We must keep a vision of all of humanity sharing the same spiritual home: heaven. I imagine heaven as a place where all people of all religions are welcome. Currently the war in Ukraine is stressing interfaith relationships. Many Jewish and Muslim people live in Ukraine, not to mention Christians. 

I struggled with the reading this week from Genesis 15. Why? Because in it; it appears that God appeases Abraham’s complaint that a slave will not inherit his possessions, and that God will give Abraham land from almost all of the middle east. In a time of conquest and war, this passage can be used to justify conquest. But it shouldn’t be used that way. As I prayed and reread the passage all week long, it became clear to me that God was not condoning slavery or conquestion. God was inviting Abraham to change his worldview: to not see Eliezar as a slave, but has his own flesh and blood, his own family, and full of dignity. In this way the promise of land is not one of dominance, it is one of stewardship. God called Abraham to be a godfather to the many peoples, lands, and even religions of the world. We are to understand ourselves as siblings in one human family. We are included not because we are so great, but because of God’s grace to admit us in like a loving adoption. We must work for peace. Amen.