The Mark of Discipleship

2LentB, Sullivan Park Care Center, March 1, 2015 by Annette Fricke

            It all began at creation, that’s for sure but since we don’t really have a physical description of creation, that’s all we know about that subject.  Creation seems to somehow have failed by way of the description that we are given as to what transpired in the Garden of Eden.  All was as it should be with God until people decided to follow what they wanted rather than what God wanted.  They tried to second guess God.  I suppose that is what really happens when people decide against God even to this day.  We pretty much know what happens in this life when people turn away from God: to put it simply, they become selfish.  They seek their own will while blinding themselves to the needs of those around them.  Instead of following God, they seek to follow their desires for fame and fortune to become well known and admired and amass all they can before leaving this world for the world beyond.  They seek to please the people around them or to be in competition for recognition, sometimes the recognition is accomplished by doing something clever, but evil.  We hear every day about a shooting here or there, a war being waged halfway around the world.  Violence is what makes the headlines.  People complain and argue about what it means to have a separation between church and state.  The words of the pledge of allegiance or where it should be recited are more and more debated.  The children seem to be undisciplined and uninterested in getting an education beyond high school.  Rules are no longer to be followed blindly, but challenged on several levels.  Morality in a work setting has many facets.  Some people no longer accept the authority of employers and certainly do not trust the big corporations or the people involved in trading on the stock market.  Other people frequently question with suspicion, whose needs are being met.  Just how do we serve God and our neighbor in such a world as this?

            But let’s back up for a moment.  What story comes after the story of creation and Adam and Eve?  Cain and Abel were born, but Cain killed Abel, so Adam and Eve had Seth.  In comes a whole lot of genealogy and then Noah is born.  Things just seem to be off track big time, so the flood comes and God saves only Noah and his family and some animals.  God sets a bow in the clouds and promises that he will never again flood the earth to destroy all flesh.  Then we see more genealogy.  We then go to the building of the tower of Babel whose purpose was thwarted by God because the reason it was built was for the builders to make a name for themselves.  Then we have more genealogy and Abram is born.  Abram and his wife Sarai settle in a spot called Haran.  In chapter 12 of Genesis, we get the nice, succinct description of God’s covenant with Abram: I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. In other words, God will take care of anyone who stands in the way of Abram and Sarai.  She is part of this deal as well by the time we make it five chapters down the road and into the land of Canaan.  He journeyed into Egypt, then back out.  He separated himself from his brother’s son Lot.  Lot went to Sodom and Abram to Hebron.  God’s promise was good.  Lot was rescued by Abram.  God blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”  And God once again comes to Abram, promising a great reward and to be Abram’s shield.  But Abram wants offspring, which God also promises.  God tells him to look to heaven and count the stars.  His descendants will be that many.  Abram believed that God would deliver.  After God delivers the bad news that Abram’s offspring will be enslaved for four hundred years, he is told specifically the land that God’s giving him.  Only after Abram has a son with his Egyptian slave-girl Hagar does he finally have a son with his wife Sarai. Today’s narrative begins with “When Abram was ninety-nine years old” God appeared to Abram saying “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless.”  We aren’t given any details other than we know that at this time, circumcision was not part of the Jewish ritual as the covenant people.  God makes the covenant first by way of the changing of names to Abraham and Sarah.  This covenant now bears the distinction of an everlasting covenant, a covenant that extends to Abraham, Sarah, and their offspring.  To these people, God will give land, the land of Canaan perpetually and will be their God. It is at this point that all males will be circumcised as part of the covenant with God.  As at creation itself, God once again creates something out of nothing.  Abraham is very old and Sarah, prior to this is barren, unable to conceive.  Separate story lines in the book of Genesis tell us that Abraham laughed and Sarah laughed.  God has kept what was promised so far, but this seems utterly ridiculous.  How is it possible that a very old man and an old woman past child-bearing age can conceive and bear a child?  Apparently, by this time in history, humanity has figured out the relative ages at which women and men are able to make a child.  They are probably saying to themselves that God has suddenly gone mad---either that or God really is the ruler of heaven and earth and all that exists.

            Spring ahead to that baby born at Bethlehem to a very young female, perhaps just old enough to conceive.  It is an opposite situation in many ways and yet just as unlikely.  God is still seeking the welfare of the people of the everlasting covenant.  God still seeks to gift them with what they need to be the people of God, a blessing to all nations.  God tells Abraham and Sarah to walk before God and be blameless.  Here is where I think we can meaningfully connect the instruction given to Abraham and Sarah with us, as Christians.  In our gospel text for today, Jesus tells his disciples and the crowd that gathers, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

            It means this: anyone can be a follower of Jesus.  The everlasting covenant of God is no longer limited to the physically circumcised Jewish people.  God has opened the kingdom of heaven to everyone.  However, part of discipleship means the denying of oneself.  We are called to always be of service to one another, just as Abraham looked after the welfare of his nephew Lot and made sure that Lot was safe from harm.  But we are to go beyond taking care of blood relation, beyond those who believe as we do, beyond our own community or own neighborhood.  Our reach and concern for others is to be global.  That’s what it means to take up your cross and follow Jesus.  When we help the sick and the suffering, we are serving God and we are practicing our discipleship. But it is not us who act, it is God who acts through us.  To God be all the glory. Amen.