SERMONS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE BECOME OUR COWORKERS (III)

I have been a very pensive person ever since childhood. I tended to be a quiet child, and so I did not talk much, but in my head I was always thinking about something. Whether I was eating a meal or walking somewhere, I was so pensive that I sometimes forgot to greet the elderly in my neighborhood and was rebuked for being impolite. As you might know yourself, in the old countryside, not greeting the elderly appropriately was a cause for chastisement. Frankly, few people in this world actually fulfill everything they have dreamed about. But as everyone is entitled to a little delusion of his own, everyone has a dream and imagines about the future. In this light, perhaps it’s inevitably for people to live with certain delusions or imaginations. Anyways, my mind was preoccupied with many thoughts like this, running with all kinds of imaginations, sometimes about unattainable things, and in this way I was living in my own little cocoon.

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In Genesis 17, God is teaching us all about circumcision. The definition of the word, ‘circumcision’ in the dictionary means ‘removal of the prepuce of a male.’ To be specific, it is the surgical removal of the foreskin of the penis. God said that not only the Israelites but everyone in this world should be circumcised. He added that those who are circumcised will belong to God, but those who are not will be cut off from His people.

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In today’s Scripture reading taken from Genesis chapter 19 we see God rained down fire and brimstone on the land of Sodom and destroyed it completely; a city where Abraham’s nephew Lot had been living. As you know very well, God judged this world with water in the days of Noah. And now, in the days of Abraham, God judged the land of Sodom with fire. Abraham’s nephew Lot was living in Sodom at this time, but because Sodom and another nearby city, Gomorrah, were so wicked, God had decided to judge them. When Lot heard about this imminent judgment from the two angles that were sent by God, Lot told his family members about it, but while his wife and two daughters believed him, his sons-in-law did not take his words seriously thinking he was only joking.

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It is very important for you to understand here that it was not the son of Sarah, Abraham’s legitimate wife, who scoffed first. It’s written, “Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing.” As the above passage shows, Ishmael the son of Abraham, who was born from Hagar the bondwoman, first scoffed at Isaac the son of Sarah. At that time, Ishmael was around 13 years old. And Isaac had just been weaned. It says here that Abraham held a great feast after Isaac was weaned.

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When God told Abraham to offer up his son as a burnt offering in order to test him, Abraham complied and obeyed that Word of God just as it is. Abraham fully obeyed what God had told him to do. Seeing Abraham’s faith, God made a blessed promise to him saying that He will multiply his seed and that through the one born from his flesh all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.

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When we look at this Scripture carefully we see Abraham trying to get his son Isaac married and entrusted everything concerning this marriage to his old servant. Abraham had this trusted servant bring back for him the bride-to-be for his son. We see Abraham entrusting not only his son’s marriage but the management of the possessions and wealth of his entire household to this servant. The reason for this was that Abraham knew that among the many servants he owned, this old servant was the most trustworthy and had the exact same faith he had.

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Today’s Scripture passage deals with the story of how our forefather of faith Abraham had grown old and how he attempted to have his only son Isaac be married. And in this passage, Abraham instructs his servant who goes to find his future daughter-in-law, saying, “You shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” Yes, he told his oldest servant to go to his country and to his family to find a wife for his son. Then, why did Abraham say this and why did God have this event recorded in this way? You and I will examine this together from this point on.

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