God Has Come To Us
Commentary
Here is the good news: God loves us. God loves us in spite of everything we have done to push God away. God loves us when we’re throwing a tantrum, being mean to our brothers and sisters, shouting at the top of our lungs. God loves us even when God is angry at our behavior. God is good to us when we are doing things we know are wrong. God loves us so much, even in the midst of our sins, that God took on our humanity and set us free from our enslavement to putting ourselves as the center of the creation, demanding that we get everything we want, right this minute.
Today, we look at the very beginning of the Jewish people, born in the usual way to a man and a woman who are both well past their prime. We listen to Paul, writing from jail to the Christians in Rome, describing the heart of the good news. And we read what Jesus commissioned his followers to do to spread the good news among God’s chosen people. We see clearly, from these passages, that God still has work for us to do today. In a world where there is no place that we can run to escape the threat of Covid-19, where we are forced to stay in one place (preferable home) to allow the angel of death to pass over us, God still urges not just to love members of our own families, not just to love our neighbors, but to also love and forgive those we count as our enemies.
As we do so, we will find peace. Not peace as the world gives, where we accuse one another of trying to kill us. Not peace that is here one minute, while in the next minute we are pulling out a knife or a gun to kill anyone who disagrees with us. Peace as the Holy Spirit gives us, the ability to apologize when we are wrong and to forgive one another. Peace not just as the absence of war, but a world that really can come together to make the world a better place.
Genesis 18:1-15, (21:1-7)
The story of Israel always begins with Abraham and Sarah. But Abraham’s journey was a continuation of his father Terah’s covenant with God. He was to leave the city-state of Ur of the Chaldees1 and to settle in Canaan. But when they got to Haran, they settled down, and Terah died there. God then came in a vision to Abram (as he was originally named) and told him to finish the journey to Canaan. God made some big promises to Abram, (“I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing”).2 and Abram followed willingly. However, God’s timing is seldom the same as ours. Abram lived a long time without children. When he and Sarai had not conceived, she suggested using a surrogate. This did not turn out well, since the surrogate was her personal maid, Hagar, and lived with them. Frustration and swagger on the part of these two women led Abram to complain to God, God’s response was to change his name to Abraham (“Father of Nations”).
Our passage for today (from the Yahwist editor) ought to be read alongside Genesis 17:1-22 (the priestly editor). They are essentially the same story, but in the priestly version, God’s immediate response is to change his name (a sign of the renewal or edit of an agreement) he also told him that Sarah would bear a son in the coming year. God appears, in the priestly version, in a form that Abraham recognizes as divine, but does not cost him his life (“for no one can see my face and live,” Exodus 33:20).
The Yahwist, on the other hand, does not couch the encounter as a vision. He says that the appearance is of three men walking on the road.3 The Hebrews would say that they were three angels, carrying a message from the LORD.
We don’t have the Yahwist concept of angels. For those today who think about angels at all, angels are individuals serving God. And, while the Bible says that angels pre-date humans in the process of creation, I have often been told by church members that they will be watched over by deceased family members, enabled by God to assist their friends and family still on earth.
The deeper meaning of angels is that they are a manifestation of the LORD, extensions of God’s being, a little like an internet image of a person we’re talking to on Zoom or Skype . Our friend is not in our phone, but given the proper technology, we can see them as though they were with us. We can talk with them, laugh together, and feel good about the contact, but still be aware that our friend is hundreds of miles away and can only see what shows on their monitor.
So it was with the Yahwist concept of angels. The angels speak, and the words are from God. They prophesy, and we can believe what they say, because it is God speaking through the angel. The New Interpreter’s Study Bible4 note to this story says that to the Yahwist, there is a blurring of the line between the human and the divine. By the time of the New Testament, angels were never seen as humans; Gabriel comes to Zechariah, and there is no doubt that an angel has visited; Gabriel comes to Mary with an astounding announcement, and she has some questions, but there is no doubt that she has been visited from on high.
These three angels appeared to be human men to Abraham and Sarah, so Abraham leaped to his feet to offer them hospitality. The concept of hospitality is very different in the Bible from what we in the United States follow today. Any stranger passing Abraham’s tent would have been offered the same kindness: some water to wash their feet, and a spot in the shade to cool off from their journey so far. Then he instructed Sarah to make “three cakes” for their guests, and gets a servant to slaughter and cook a calf (actually, a young goat, not a cow) so they can feed these visitors before they continue their journey.
After such good treatment from Abraham and Sarah, the men ask after Sarah. Abraham says she is in the tent, and this is certainly true — listening just out of sight to find out what the men are saying. So when one of the angels says, “I will return next year and your wife Sarah shall have a son,” though she laughed to herself, “At this point in my life, when I should be playing with the grandchildren I never will have, am I to be pregnant? Not likely!” the angels heard her. It isn’t necessarily clear that the angel was perturbed by her laughter. But the question is posed: “Is anything too wonderful for the LORD?”
Maybe not, but pregnancy is tough on many women, and in those days many died in childbirth, at whatever age. we might think that what she really said with her laughter was, “What, is God crazy?” It’s that sentiment, rather than a more willing “Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?” that would have made her afraid of the reaction of God or God’s angels. It’s one thing to have a child when one is young and healthy, but quite another to have one when you’re past 90!
Nevertheless, bear a son she did, at the time foretold. Abraham and Sarah named him Isaac, which means ‘laughter.’ Sarah had the son she and Abraham had longed for, which made them laugh at their good fortune, and of course Sarah laughed because in the natural order of things, her pregnancy was impossible. They may also have had in mind the sense of humor of God, who waited until no one could imagine Sarah bearing a child at her advanced age. In the passage of time, all of the people of the Hebrews, regardless of where they live, are called “the children of Abraham.” But not just Abraham; children of Abraham and Sarah, because even though Abraham asked for a blessing of the children of Ishmael (the Arabs) born to Hagar, and God did bless him and his descendants, there has been this split in Abraham’s descendants ever since.
Romans 5:1-8
What does the word ‘justification’ mean in the scripture? It is a word that in our modern day means, approximately, ‘What you did was justifiable.” It also means “I understand why you did that, your life was at stake.” But ‘justification’ can also mean that something measures up — we justify our account balances, especially if we run a business, on a regular basis. If a carpenter doesn’t justify (double check) his measurements, what he is building will not be square and risks falling apart.
It would not be out of order to apply any of these definitions to what Paul is saying. Each of them can be found in the sayings of Jesus. God is merciful, so even when we do something we should not, God takes the circumstances into account. With Jesus by our side, we may be adjudged innocent, because Jesus has paid our ransom. So, we are free to leave our past behind us. God, because of his experience of human life through Jesus, can say with Christ, “I forgive you. You didn’t know what you were doing.” Or even, “I forgive you, because I learned after the flood that even the best human beings are flawed and unable to be 100% mature.” (Genesis 8:21). God cuts us a break, even when we are like children throwing tantrums. This is why we talk about “being born again: -- because the past is over and done, and we can restart our lives from this moment on, at peace with God and ourselves.
We can live this way, Paul says, because God has done this amazing thing: even before we knew God: “While we were still sinners, Christ (God in flesh) died for us…and poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit the forgiveness that has been given to us.” It’s easy, when we are facing hard circumstances — such as needing to limit ourselves to living 24/7 with those we love, in an enclosed space — to dwell on our hardship, or even our inability to live together without screaming at each other.
We like to see ourselves as loving, competent, mature people. But when we are under stress, we may break. It is in times like these that it is good to know that “while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” Let’s not kid ourselves, in this trying time, that we could be judged innocent in our attitude about being constrained. Paul is writing from the middle of living with this same experience. He is writing from a jail cell underground, in the dark. It is in this exact circumstance that he says, “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us.”
In other words, let us accept the current need to isolate ourselves physically, not necessarily for ourselves, but for others as well — those who are more at risk than we ourselves — and see it as a time in which God may purify us so that our character becomes more like that we see in Jesus.
Matthew 9:35--10:8 (9-23)
The greatest quality that Matthew saw in his Rabbi Jesus was compassion. Not just Jesus’ words, but his actions every day demonstrated this quality. Compassion — the ability to feel with others, even to suffer with them — is the primary quality that we ought to demonstrate and talk about as we lead congregations.
Compassion does not evoke nor take the place of pity. We may often pity those who come to talk about their struggles with life. We may need, from time to time, to shake off the burden of carrying in our own souls the suffering of others. It’s human to be unable to sustain the sacrifice of taking up the cross of sharing the pain of our family, friends, parishioners, community leaders. At some point, we must pray, “Thank you, God, that I don’t have to go home to an abusive spouse, an addicted daughter or an angry son. Help this person I just spent the last hour with to make good decisions about their situation.”
Matthew says that Jesus looked at the crowd coming to be healed and felt compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. City dwellers of today most likely have never had contact with sheep. I know I never did until I was an adult. I had the opportunity to become acquainted with a woman who kept sheep because she was involved in weaving and knitting and took an interest in producing top-quality fleece for market. Let me tell you the main thing we pastors need to know about sheep: it is no compliment to be compared to them. Yes, baby lambs are very cute. Within a day of being born, they are out in the pasture, bouncing around the grass like a wind-up toy. They love to be petted and will come to the pastor (shepherd) to be gathered into the protective circle of his or her arms.
But they really never get much smarter than they are when they are little lambs. Sheep are easily frightened, especially by loud noises. In the event of a thunder storm, they need to be gathered into a close group and shepherded into a corral or barn, because they will run every time lightning flashes, and they can pile up against a barbwire fence, pressing up against those closest to the fence until those sheep are dead. We have bred them for the thickest, fluffiest wool, and in a rainstorm that wool can get so soaked that the sheep falls over, and if that happens, they can’t get back on their feet. They need a shepherd to get them upright again. They will follow their ram, even if the ram is leading them astray. If the ram gets into trouble, the entire flock may follow them into disaster. It’s hard to be a sheep.
Matthew describes the crowds that followed Jesus as being harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. They came to Jesus like they come to us, looking for someone who will have compassion, not pity, and who will show them which way to go to find safety. History is full of stories about people who have misplaced their trust in a charismatic leader, only to wind up dead or worse. But Jesus’ followers are to be as compassionate as God is. What an impossible task! Jesus knew this and gave his disciples (including us) the assistance of the Holy Spirit, which Matthew observed gave them “authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.” And he instructed them to stick to the people they understood — “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” There would be time later to come to us — the Gentiles.
Their message was good news to those who would listen: the realm of heaven has come near. This is not a gospel that points to “pie in the sky by and bye.” God has come to us, rather than calling us to the throne of God. It is not good news that only a few may be saved. It is not good news that God is willing to throw the children of Israel into Gehenna, the open burning pit of waste outside the walls of Jerusalem. It is not good news that we have to earn our salvation. No, none of that is the good news we are to preach. The good news is that God was willing to take on human flesh and live as we have to live, and then was willing to take our blows and even die to free us from our kidnapper, whom many call the devil. This is the good news: God loves us and wants us to be healthy and happy, loved and loving, compassionate and cared for. And we are not to put money, or the size of the church or the number in the congregation, as our main focus. We are to accomplish God’s desire for the people in our care. We are to give freely because God gives freely. There is no standard to meet in order to become a child of God. This is why most Christian denominations baptize babies — because this is how we all come to God — before we even knew we were sinners, God died for our redemption.
Now that’swhat we call good news.
1 Considered to be the center of Sumerian culture. Located in today’s Iraq. It was located on the southern bank of the Euphrates River.
2 As he is today, being the father of Isaac (whom Jews and Christians claim as the progenitor of both faiths) and the father of Ishmael, father of the Arabs and thus, the Muslims of today. All three faiths are ‘people of the Book, as we share the Old Testament.
3 Christians have taken this to be a manifestation of the Triune nature of God, but there is no such concept in the Old Testament. The Hebrews saw these as being angels visiting Abraham.
4 Genesis 18:1 note, p. 36
Today, we look at the very beginning of the Jewish people, born in the usual way to a man and a woman who are both well past their prime. We listen to Paul, writing from jail to the Christians in Rome, describing the heart of the good news. And we read what Jesus commissioned his followers to do to spread the good news among God’s chosen people. We see clearly, from these passages, that God still has work for us to do today. In a world where there is no place that we can run to escape the threat of Covid-19, where we are forced to stay in one place (preferable home) to allow the angel of death to pass over us, God still urges not just to love members of our own families, not just to love our neighbors, but to also love and forgive those we count as our enemies.
As we do so, we will find peace. Not peace as the world gives, where we accuse one another of trying to kill us. Not peace that is here one minute, while in the next minute we are pulling out a knife or a gun to kill anyone who disagrees with us. Peace as the Holy Spirit gives us, the ability to apologize when we are wrong and to forgive one another. Peace not just as the absence of war, but a world that really can come together to make the world a better place.
Genesis 18:1-15, (21:1-7)
The story of Israel always begins with Abraham and Sarah. But Abraham’s journey was a continuation of his father Terah’s covenant with God. He was to leave the city-state of Ur of the Chaldees1 and to settle in Canaan. But when they got to Haran, they settled down, and Terah died there. God then came in a vision to Abram (as he was originally named) and told him to finish the journey to Canaan. God made some big promises to Abram, (“I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing”).2 and Abram followed willingly. However, God’s timing is seldom the same as ours. Abram lived a long time without children. When he and Sarai had not conceived, she suggested using a surrogate. This did not turn out well, since the surrogate was her personal maid, Hagar, and lived with them. Frustration and swagger on the part of these two women led Abram to complain to God, God’s response was to change his name to Abraham (“Father of Nations”).
Our passage for today (from the Yahwist editor) ought to be read alongside Genesis 17:1-22 (the priestly editor). They are essentially the same story, but in the priestly version, God’s immediate response is to change his name (a sign of the renewal or edit of an agreement) he also told him that Sarah would bear a son in the coming year. God appears, in the priestly version, in a form that Abraham recognizes as divine, but does not cost him his life (“for no one can see my face and live,” Exodus 33:20).
The Yahwist, on the other hand, does not couch the encounter as a vision. He says that the appearance is of three men walking on the road.3 The Hebrews would say that they were three angels, carrying a message from the LORD.
We don’t have the Yahwist concept of angels. For those today who think about angels at all, angels are individuals serving God. And, while the Bible says that angels pre-date humans in the process of creation, I have often been told by church members that they will be watched over by deceased family members, enabled by God to assist their friends and family still on earth.
The deeper meaning of angels is that they are a manifestation of the LORD, extensions of God’s being, a little like an internet image of a person we’re talking to on Zoom or Skype . Our friend is not in our phone, but given the proper technology, we can see them as though they were with us. We can talk with them, laugh together, and feel good about the contact, but still be aware that our friend is hundreds of miles away and can only see what shows on their monitor.
So it was with the Yahwist concept of angels. The angels speak, and the words are from God. They prophesy, and we can believe what they say, because it is God speaking through the angel. The New Interpreter’s Study Bible4 note to this story says that to the Yahwist, there is a blurring of the line between the human and the divine. By the time of the New Testament, angels were never seen as humans; Gabriel comes to Zechariah, and there is no doubt that an angel has visited; Gabriel comes to Mary with an astounding announcement, and she has some questions, but there is no doubt that she has been visited from on high.
These three angels appeared to be human men to Abraham and Sarah, so Abraham leaped to his feet to offer them hospitality. The concept of hospitality is very different in the Bible from what we in the United States follow today. Any stranger passing Abraham’s tent would have been offered the same kindness: some water to wash their feet, and a spot in the shade to cool off from their journey so far. Then he instructed Sarah to make “three cakes” for their guests, and gets a servant to slaughter and cook a calf (actually, a young goat, not a cow) so they can feed these visitors before they continue their journey.
After such good treatment from Abraham and Sarah, the men ask after Sarah. Abraham says she is in the tent, and this is certainly true — listening just out of sight to find out what the men are saying. So when one of the angels says, “I will return next year and your wife Sarah shall have a son,” though she laughed to herself, “At this point in my life, when I should be playing with the grandchildren I never will have, am I to be pregnant? Not likely!” the angels heard her. It isn’t necessarily clear that the angel was perturbed by her laughter. But the question is posed: “Is anything too wonderful for the LORD?”
Maybe not, but pregnancy is tough on many women, and in those days many died in childbirth, at whatever age. we might think that what she really said with her laughter was, “What, is God crazy?” It’s that sentiment, rather than a more willing “Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?” that would have made her afraid of the reaction of God or God’s angels. It’s one thing to have a child when one is young and healthy, but quite another to have one when you’re past 90!
Nevertheless, bear a son she did, at the time foretold. Abraham and Sarah named him Isaac, which means ‘laughter.’ Sarah had the son she and Abraham had longed for, which made them laugh at their good fortune, and of course Sarah laughed because in the natural order of things, her pregnancy was impossible. They may also have had in mind the sense of humor of God, who waited until no one could imagine Sarah bearing a child at her advanced age. In the passage of time, all of the people of the Hebrews, regardless of where they live, are called “the children of Abraham.” But not just Abraham; children of Abraham and Sarah, because even though Abraham asked for a blessing of the children of Ishmael (the Arabs) born to Hagar, and God did bless him and his descendants, there has been this split in Abraham’s descendants ever since.
Romans 5:1-8
What does the word ‘justification’ mean in the scripture? It is a word that in our modern day means, approximately, ‘What you did was justifiable.” It also means “I understand why you did that, your life was at stake.” But ‘justification’ can also mean that something measures up — we justify our account balances, especially if we run a business, on a regular basis. If a carpenter doesn’t justify (double check) his measurements, what he is building will not be square and risks falling apart.
It would not be out of order to apply any of these definitions to what Paul is saying. Each of them can be found in the sayings of Jesus. God is merciful, so even when we do something we should not, God takes the circumstances into account. With Jesus by our side, we may be adjudged innocent, because Jesus has paid our ransom. So, we are free to leave our past behind us. God, because of his experience of human life through Jesus, can say with Christ, “I forgive you. You didn’t know what you were doing.” Or even, “I forgive you, because I learned after the flood that even the best human beings are flawed and unable to be 100% mature.” (Genesis 8:21). God cuts us a break, even when we are like children throwing tantrums. This is why we talk about “being born again: -- because the past is over and done, and we can restart our lives from this moment on, at peace with God and ourselves.
We can live this way, Paul says, because God has done this amazing thing: even before we knew God: “While we were still sinners, Christ (God in flesh) died for us…and poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit the forgiveness that has been given to us.” It’s easy, when we are facing hard circumstances — such as needing to limit ourselves to living 24/7 with those we love, in an enclosed space — to dwell on our hardship, or even our inability to live together without screaming at each other.
We like to see ourselves as loving, competent, mature people. But when we are under stress, we may break. It is in times like these that it is good to know that “while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” Let’s not kid ourselves, in this trying time, that we could be judged innocent in our attitude about being constrained. Paul is writing from the middle of living with this same experience. He is writing from a jail cell underground, in the dark. It is in this exact circumstance that he says, “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us.”
In other words, let us accept the current need to isolate ourselves physically, not necessarily for ourselves, but for others as well — those who are more at risk than we ourselves — and see it as a time in which God may purify us so that our character becomes more like that we see in Jesus.
Matthew 9:35--10:8 (9-23)
The greatest quality that Matthew saw in his Rabbi Jesus was compassion. Not just Jesus’ words, but his actions every day demonstrated this quality. Compassion — the ability to feel with others, even to suffer with them — is the primary quality that we ought to demonstrate and talk about as we lead congregations.
Compassion does not evoke nor take the place of pity. We may often pity those who come to talk about their struggles with life. We may need, from time to time, to shake off the burden of carrying in our own souls the suffering of others. It’s human to be unable to sustain the sacrifice of taking up the cross of sharing the pain of our family, friends, parishioners, community leaders. At some point, we must pray, “Thank you, God, that I don’t have to go home to an abusive spouse, an addicted daughter or an angry son. Help this person I just spent the last hour with to make good decisions about their situation.”
Matthew says that Jesus looked at the crowd coming to be healed and felt compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. City dwellers of today most likely have never had contact with sheep. I know I never did until I was an adult. I had the opportunity to become acquainted with a woman who kept sheep because she was involved in weaving and knitting and took an interest in producing top-quality fleece for market. Let me tell you the main thing we pastors need to know about sheep: it is no compliment to be compared to them. Yes, baby lambs are very cute. Within a day of being born, they are out in the pasture, bouncing around the grass like a wind-up toy. They love to be petted and will come to the pastor (shepherd) to be gathered into the protective circle of his or her arms.
But they really never get much smarter than they are when they are little lambs. Sheep are easily frightened, especially by loud noises. In the event of a thunder storm, they need to be gathered into a close group and shepherded into a corral or barn, because they will run every time lightning flashes, and they can pile up against a barbwire fence, pressing up against those closest to the fence until those sheep are dead. We have bred them for the thickest, fluffiest wool, and in a rainstorm that wool can get so soaked that the sheep falls over, and if that happens, they can’t get back on their feet. They need a shepherd to get them upright again. They will follow their ram, even if the ram is leading them astray. If the ram gets into trouble, the entire flock may follow them into disaster. It’s hard to be a sheep.
Matthew describes the crowds that followed Jesus as being harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. They came to Jesus like they come to us, looking for someone who will have compassion, not pity, and who will show them which way to go to find safety. History is full of stories about people who have misplaced their trust in a charismatic leader, only to wind up dead or worse. But Jesus’ followers are to be as compassionate as God is. What an impossible task! Jesus knew this and gave his disciples (including us) the assistance of the Holy Spirit, which Matthew observed gave them “authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.” And he instructed them to stick to the people they understood — “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” There would be time later to come to us — the Gentiles.
Their message was good news to those who would listen: the realm of heaven has come near. This is not a gospel that points to “pie in the sky by and bye.” God has come to us, rather than calling us to the throne of God. It is not good news that only a few may be saved. It is not good news that God is willing to throw the children of Israel into Gehenna, the open burning pit of waste outside the walls of Jerusalem. It is not good news that we have to earn our salvation. No, none of that is the good news we are to preach. The good news is that God was willing to take on human flesh and live as we have to live, and then was willing to take our blows and even die to free us from our kidnapper, whom many call the devil. This is the good news: God loves us and wants us to be healthy and happy, loved and loving, compassionate and cared for. And we are not to put money, or the size of the church or the number in the congregation, as our main focus. We are to accomplish God’s desire for the people in our care. We are to give freely because God gives freely. There is no standard to meet in order to become a child of God. This is why most Christian denominations baptize babies — because this is how we all come to God — before we even knew we were sinners, God died for our redemption.
Now that’swhat we call good news.
1 Considered to be the center of Sumerian culture. Located in today’s Iraq. It was located on the southern bank of the Euphrates River.
2 As he is today, being the father of Isaac (whom Jews and Christians claim as the progenitor of both faiths) and the father of Ishmael, father of the Arabs and thus, the Muslims of today. All three faiths are ‘people of the Book, as we share the Old Testament.
3 Christians have taken this to be a manifestation of the Triune nature of God, but there is no such concept in the Old Testament. The Hebrews saw these as being angels visiting Abraham.
4 Genesis 18:1 note, p. 36
