Introduction: The Call of Grace: God Permits By Rev. Neal Neuenschwander Genesis 12:10-20 June 3, 2018 If you're like me, every now and then you come across a Bible reading that does not make sense. It doesn't make us look good. And you wonder how it got in Scripture at all. Generally, the smartest thing to do is just skip over it. After all, there's lots of other good stories that can help us make sense of God's role in our lives and in our world. But, every now and then, one of these odd stories get repeated in other parts of the Bible. Or, at least, the main features get repeated. When that happens, it seems to me, at least, that this story is important. There's something we're supposed to see in this odd tale. One example is Peter's denial of Jesus on the night before he died. 3 times Peter says things that really should not be said. But he said them anyway. And you've got to notice that. Another example is the disciple s tendency to argue about status. Who really is superior? Who should be at the right hand of Jesus? Christ hated that, and it happened more than once. Neither of those stories paints a very good picture of the 12 disciples, but the gospel writers insisted that we see them hoping they would help us see ourselves in a much more humble light. The book of Genesis has a similar set of stories. They are called wife-sister stories. And I'll bet each of you a buck that you've never heard them preached before. That's because each of them is based upon a lie a flat-out lie or deception at the very least that was told by a great hero of faith. On 3 different occasions, one of our faith heroes claims that his wife is actually his sister knowing that his wife will then be taken into the harem of a pagan king. Twice this lie is told by Abraham. Once this lie is told by Isaac. Why would they do that? How does God respond? And what does all that mean for you and me today? Those questions will form the essence of my sermon this Sunday morning. Scripture Analysis: Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. 11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, This is his wife. Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you. There are so many things wrong with that! The famine. One reason it was severe is that Abraham chose to live in the Negev, the desert of Southern Israel, instead of Canaan, the land that God had promised from the start.
The scheme. Abraham coaches his wife lie for his sake to save his skin (or, at the very least, to deceive). The second version of the story claims that Sarai was his half-sister. Same father, different mom. But there's no evidence to support that outside of chapter 20, verse 12, so we really don't know if that was a lie or not. We know it was an effort to deceive. When my kids tried to pull a stunt like that, deceiving me without technically telling a lie, there were consequences. A scheme to mislead me is just as bad in my eyes as a lie. The lack of faith. God has told this man in the text I preached last week: I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse. In other words, I've got you're back. I've got you covered. Julius Schoor Von Carolsfeld created a classic image of that promise Abram, Lot, and Sarai surround by angels as they follow God s promise. But Abram doesn't believe it. He thinks he has to fix this on his own. Having said all that, I will make at least one point in his defense. Apart from faith, his fear was legitimate. I've been reading a lot of ancient history in the last 12 months, and I've found several well-known cases of rulers taking other people's wives. These rulers were despots, in that sense. They had complete control, and there was nothing you could do about it if that ruler wanted your wife or child. Apart from faith, there was nothing you could do. 14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. 15 When Pharaoh s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. 16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels. Bu the standards of the ancient world, Abram was smart. He was very smart. Knowing the sort of person that Pharaoh was, Abram turned the liability of a beautiful wife into the asset of a beautiful sister whom he could give to this king. I doubt that Sarai enjoyed that gift at her ripe old age, but she did it for his sake, and he got rich: sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, and servants. He was already a little bit rich--he had some servants and livestock when he left from Haran. Now, he was in the fat. He was very, very rich. But God was not well-pleased. 17 But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram s wife Sarai. 18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. What have you done to me? he said. Why didn t you tell me she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, She is my sister, so that I took her to be my wife?
Two things are important here 1 st. There is punishment but it doesn't go to Abram, who created this little scheme. It goes to Pharaoh the one who got duped! God fulfills his promise of protection by punishing Pharaoh for Abram's crime! That doesn't seem right, somehow. 2 nd God speaks to Pharaoh somehow, some way, Pharaoh figures out the cause of this disease. It isn't because of bad hygiene--it's because of Sarai and his relationship with her. Not only that, Pharaoh discerns that all this started with a lie. We don't know how. We don't know how the truth came out. But it does. In all three wife-sister stories, the truth comes out, and when it does, there is a price that must be paid. Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go! 20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had. The first verse projected here makes sense it makes absolute sense. Get out of here. Vanish! Vamoose! Be gone you little schmuck. You hurt me through your schemes. I never want to see your face again. Pharoah should have sent him packing with nothing more than the clothes on his back. After all, Pharaoh could have killed him for this, so banishment would be a very generous response. So, verse 19 makes great sense. Verse 20 doesn't. At least initially, it doesn't, because Pharaoh sends him packing with his stuff: donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep, servants, and so on--all of his ill-gotten gains. Abram gets to keep them all. Who says crime doesn't pay? In this case, it paid well very well. That s why you haven't heard a sermon on it until today. So what are we going to do with this very strange story that's told 3 different times (with slight changes) in God's word? What in the world do you do with that? First, you simply acknowledge that God often treats us better than we deserve. Just own it. That's the way it is. Sometimes, you do escape without penalty from your plots and schemes. Dad didn't notice. Mom didn't see. The classic case is the kid who sneaks a cookie from the jar. But there's much, much more than that. It might have been the time you cheated and didn't get caught. It might have been the time you snuck out the house and dad didn t notice. It might have been the time you lied, and no one caught it or, at least, no body snitched (and turned you in).
Second, you also acknowledge that, in the long run, there is a price to pay. The first price is alienation alienation from those in power. This would not be the last time in Genesis that God's people fled to Egypt in the midst of a famine, but it was the first time that they made an impression upon the Egyptians, and it wasn't a good one. Later, Abram would be alienated from a Philistine king named Abimelech (through another wife-sister scheme). Both Abram and Isaac would be cast out of there. These tricks would make them persona non grata near the Mediterranean coast. There was also some alienation in the family his own family of faith. The very next chapter shows the herders of Abram and lot fighting over this ill-gotten gain. The land where the fled from Egypt was just not big enough to feed them all. So Abram and Lot separate. Wealth separated Abram from his beloved nephew. They had to go their separate ways. I also have to think that there was alienation from Sarai who know that she'd been used. She absolutely knew it. That might have been what led her to abuse her maid later on. Having been abused by her superior in this patriarchal culture, she passed that gift along to her maid. We ll talk more about that story in 2 weeks. But here s the main point: there is consequence for deception. There is a price to pay in the long run. One price was alienation. Another price was delay. God was protecting Abram that much is clear. But Abram was not ready to receive God's very best that much is clear as well. While living by his fear and not his faith, he was not ready to be a father, not ready to be an heir, not ready to be a ruler in the Promised Land. That's why I believe God's promise was delayed. That's why it took Abram decades get an heir.
And that's why it took his family centuries to get God's land. Abram s pattern of deception began a very unhealthy trend. Isaac did sneaky things, too as you can see from this chart. And Jacob was worse than him. They knew how to get money. They were all quite good at that! But they also got conflict, they also got strife, they also got grief. They didn't know how to rule over the land that God had made for them. Sometimes, we're not ready either. God wants to bless you! God wants to help you! God wants to use you in some mighty way. But you're not ready. Your character is not ready. You're just too immature. So, if you re going to fulfill God s purpose in your life, you need to mature. It can happen at 20. It can happen at 50. It can happen at 80. But it does demand a hard look at yourself: Are you living with integrity? Or do you let a lot of things slide especially if it makes you money? Are you living with fidelity? Or do you play both sides now and then? Are you choosing to act on faith? Or do you simply fake it? Do you actually live in fear? You've probably heard the saying, God has a plan for your life! A great and wonderful plan full of adventure and promise and grace. All that's true. The questions is: are you ready to receive it? Are you ready to receive God's promise? Or will you make God wait?
With that, let us pray: Dear God, thank you for the witness of the Scriptures. Thank you for the stories in which your people shine, and thank you for the stories in which they smear your reputation in some way. Help us, God, to learn from these stories, and help us, God, to learn from the seasons when we try and fail to live in faith. Then help us, God, to see that you are counting on us to grow in faith and hope and courage so that the love and grace of Christ be revealed in us, for we ask it in his holy name. Amen.