Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous." Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you."
God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her."
Romans 4:13-25 (NRSV)
The promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.
For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations") -- in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become "the father of many nations," according to what was said, "So numerous shall your descendants be." He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Therefore his faith "was reckoned to him as righteousness." Now the words, "it was reckoned to him," were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.
Then Jesus began to teach his disciples that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
Blog Reflection
This weekend's Scripture readings are for all of us who have to make those tough decisions about any thing in life.
If you are going to make plans for your future, among the things you do, is sit down and carefully consider what the cost of this plan will be to you. What exactly will it require?
In the movie Latter Days, Christian meets Aaron at the airport in Salt Lake City to tell him how much he loves him. As Christian tries to persuade Aaron to not worry if he is gay, by asking him: "What if this is it, right here?" Aaron's response: "You have no idea what I would be giving up." Aaron was a Mormon Missionary. Accepting the fact that he is gay, means the loss of the life that he had built with his church and his family.
The disciples are just amazed at all Jesus has done up to this point. They are hoping that the moment has come, by which they would find greatness. Jesus throws them a real curve ball here. He tells them that he will go to Jerusalem and be killed, and that after three days he will rise again. Jesus then tells his followers that anyone who would follow him, must also deny themselves, take up their cross and follow him. Here in, is the call to discipleship.
Peter did what most of us would do, if we heard that our favorite new leader was going to sacrifice himself. We would do all that we could, to keep Jesus from the terrible things he just described. Because, from Peter's view point, Jesus had not risen from the dead yet. We know how the story ends. At the time Peter responded as he did, he did not understand what the death and resurrection of Jesus would mean. Marcus Borg was right in his book Jesus, A New Vision. We only have a post resurrection understanding of Jesus. We do not know the historical Jesus in his proper context. But, Peter did. So, let's not be too hard on Peter here.
However, Jesus is trying to help Peter understand that God's ways are not as limited as humankind's can be. God sees the whole picture. God has a clear view of what Jesus is doing. Peter has a very limited one.
Jesus' call to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him is what Lent is really all about. Lent is an opportunity to come face to face with the reality about our selfishness, our greed, our envy of power and prestige. As we see it for what it is, Jesus calls on us to deny ourselves and pick up the cross of self sacrifice and self giving and follow Jesus' example of life and death.
The cross is the greatest of contradictions. We have the vertical and the horizontal being held together in an unending tension. We have God in the Person of Jesus Christ, with arms outstretched to embrace all of humanity and be the ultimate love for every human person. At the Cross where hate was the most visible to many, the love that is invisible, but ever active and real was known as Christ sacrificed all out of that love for all of us.
It is not enough for us to carry our cross to Cavalry with Jesus. We too must be willing to give of ourselves by way of learning to see the holy possibility and dignity of every human being. Even in those who are marginalized by the Church and society.
Such as the women who are being scandalized by radio personalities. One courageous woman made her concerns known about why women need access to birth control. She spoke about the actual needs of women, from a woman's perspective. She put herself and all women out in the open for people to be aware of what they face in their reproductive health. And one individual with money and media power felt that he should scandalize her. Yes, as Christians we need to stand with her, and call for a greater respect for women.
We also need to take our place at the cross with teens who are bullied in their schools and communities because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression. Or even a perceived orientation and/or identity/expression. To take an interest in not only the teens themselves, but the system where Christianists with their false claims about the Bible and homosexuality, create and sustain policies that make the bullying of LGBT teens acceptable and allow those who bully unaccountable.
The way of the cross calls upon us to be very concerned about the poor, the destitute, immigrants, Muslims, Jewish people and many others who face the day in and day out targeting of their lives and hope for their future, by those who have their own corporate profits as their number 1 priority. We must do more than be there to help them and share our time and talent. We must also be concerned with the system that wants to justify such violence and cruelty under the disguise of religious zeal.
As we continue to celebrate this Lenten journey together, let us remember that the Cross is our way and life, just as it was for Jesus and all the many martyrs. We are called to be disciples in action, not just worship and word. We are all challenged to deny ourselves, as we give some place to those who can barely enjoy a moment in the sun without worrying about what comes tomorrow. The way to the resurrection is by accepting the need for our own self death. This is the Way of Jesus, who is also the Truth and Life.
Prayers
O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious
to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them
again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and
hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ
your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for the Second Sunday of Lent, Book of Common Prayer, p. 218).
Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but
first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he
was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way
of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and
peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for Fridays, Book of Common Prayer, p. 99).
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is
hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where
there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where
there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where
there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to
be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is
in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we
are born to eternal life. Amen. (Prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, Book of Common Prayer, p. 833).
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