Rev. Dr. Les Martin

Lent 2 2025
Rev. Dr. Les Martin
Genesis 15:1-18, Psalm 27, Philippians 3:17-4:1, Luke 13:31-35

In the Name of the Living God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen

Jesus is moving towards Jerusalem.  It has been his destination in some sense for his whole life, but particularly since his encounter with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration.  Some Pharisees have come to him today, warning him that King Herod wants to kill him, and therefore he should alter his course. It’s odd to see the Pharisees in this role – perhaps they are moderate Pharisees, like Gamliel and Nicodemus. Perhaps they are merely trying to frighten and discouraged him, to shake his trust. Jesus is not swayed, however.  His commitment to his mission, and his trust in his Father is absolute.  He will finish his course, his “exodus.”  Nothing will stop Jesus from walking the necessary path towards Jerusalem and the cross; nothing will divert the Son of God from what he has bound himself to on our behalf.

Abram has also trusted God. At this point in his story, it’s been decades since he left Ur of the Chaldees at the direction of God’s voice.  Abram left his country and his father’s house in response to God’s command, “Go,” and God’s promise of blessing and prosperity. He went without asking any questions. Pushed out of the Negev by famine, Abram went down to Egypt. He prospered there and left Egypt rich in cattle, silver, and gold. He then journeyed back to Bethel and gave Lot first choice of land to settle. Again, God commanded and promised, telling him, “Walk through the land and I will give it to you.” He responded obediently. Later, Abram rescued Lot, who had become a prisoner of war, and returning from victory, Abram gave Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High, a tithe of all the men and goods he had captured. Melchizedek declared, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth” (Gen. 14:19). Abram seems bold, courageous, obedient, humble, and faithful in all he does.

But, there is a problem. Through all of this, he has trusted, and yet he has remained without the promised child who will grow into a nation. Up to this point, the biblical picture of God and Abram’s relationship has been fairly straightforward. God speaks; Abram listens. God promises; Abram believes. God commands: Abram obeys. We have now come to a point, however, when Abram finally says, “Wait a minute. I have a question…”  At Abram’s age, time is precious.  He must live with doubt and anxiety as constant companions.  One of his slaves is set to inherit his wealth and belongings.  This is not what was promised.

Trust. Faith.  The Epistle to the Hebrews talks about such things as “evidence of things not seen.”  When it comes to trust, to faith, it is human nature to want some proof.  Seeing is believing.  “Trust but verify” is the old Russian proverb that Ronald Reagan used so effectively in the nuclear disarmament talks of the 1980s.  Even our father Abram has come to the point in his story where, despite his blessings and how it’s gone so far, he needs verification that God is still on his side.  What saves him in this moment is where he looks- to God, and not to other things.

We are often in the same place as Abram, but we can make the wrong move in response.  Coming to a place of uncertainty is our lives, we can actually “double-down” on our lives, our plans- looking to them rather than to God.  We rely on stuff- pension plans and jobs to make us secure.  On food and entertainment to make us happy.  Our ethnic identity- St Patrick’s day is tomorrow, remember- our families, or beliefs and thought leaders to make us feel secure. We are all given to what Paul repeatedly calls earthly mindedness. We do not find our security in Christ and his body called the church, but rather in earthly sources.  As priest and theologian Jane Williams writes:

Paul urges his readers [that] we too have to trust in the bigger promise. Paul is utterly scornful about those who put their trust in ‘earthly things,’ but if we are to be as honest as Abram, we will have to admit how much of our security lies here on earth.

Even in Lent, where we try and reorient our lives to make room for God, we can make our disciplines the focus of our days.  The keeping of a Lenten practice can obscure the “why” of having a Lenten practice in the first place.  As priest and author Tish Harrison Warren reminds us:

Christian discipleship is a lifetime training in learning to pay attention to the right things.

Learning to pay attention to the right things.  Abram turns to God with his doubts, not to himself or his possessions.  He asks God in increase his faith and trust in the promise, he doesn’t seek it amidst the things of this world.  In response, God shows him the night sky and promises descendent as numbers as the stars.  Then, in a dream, he enacts a one-way covenant with him.  God binds himself to Abram and his future unconditionally.  Seeing these things, Abram believes anew.

Learning to pay attention to the right things. We are invited to trust in God as well.  It can be hard, because life right now is full of uncertainty.  As the writer to the Hebrews puts it: 

At present we do not yet see all things under his control, but we do see Jesus (Heb 2:8b-9a)

Jesus. He is what we are called to pay attention to in our uncertainty and anxiety.  Jesus, who would not be deterred on his path towards Jerusalem. Who longs to gather us in and protect us.  Who also makes a one-way covenant with us, not with the carcasses of animals, but with his own Body and Blood.  Jesus, present in the Scripture, at the altar where we commune with him, present in us.

Abram’s story doesn’t end with our reading today. He’s not even Abraham yet.  The son of the promise is still some ways away, as is the nation of his descendants.  There will be more missteps on his part, more trust in God for him to learn.  Yet he has seen enough of God’s proactive commitment to continue to journey onwards in trust.  Our life is like that, I think.  We will, again and again, doubt.  And in that doubt and fear, our inclination will be to rely on the wrong things, and so become enemies of the cross of Christ, choosing created things over the Creator.  That’s what repentance is for.  And sometimes, we may pay attention to the right things.  We may actually turn to Jesus, who is God’s proactive commitment to us made flesh.  Amid all the changes and chances of this life, he is certain.  When you feel the whole world is against you, he is for you.  In a sea of lies and illusions, he is trustworthy.  Trusting him, we too are able to journey on.