Genesis 12:1-7 The Chosen One Two weeks ago, in the sermon about God making the first man and the first woman in Genesis 2, I said that that story of the creation of the world was smaller and more intimate than the account in chapter 1. Just reading through the first pages of the Bible you immediately feel it. The same thing happens here in chapter 12: after all the great events of the earlier chapters, the Creation, the universal flood, and the confusion and profusion of languages during the Tower of Babel incident and the dispersion of humanity; and the stories- whether literally true or symbolic- of Cain and Abel, of the populating of the earth by those men of long, long life- remember Methuselah, 969 years old, of the mysterious sons of God who came down and mated with human women: after all this, and all that time, after all these big extraordinary things- that may actually represent the passing of different ages of human culture- God again goes small, starts fresh, and builds a relationship with one person. God calls Abram- and if it s ok with you, I m just going to say Abraham, even though he isn t given that name until chapter 17. After all these- can we call them failures in chapters 1-11, after human disobedience and lust and raw ambition and murder, when God had to punish and banish Adam and Eve and Cain and the proud people at Babel, now
God calls Abraham; so many stories of God pronouncing curses upon humanity, but here God speaks promises; so many times God had cast the people out, but this time God brings in this man. Verse 1 has God speaking to Abraham, Go, but it really means Come, because here God invites and commands this one human being to experience relationship with God. We may see chapters 1-11 as a history of the curse of our life on this planet, but Abraham s call begins the history of the blessing of life- as God develops an intimate relationship with Abraham, as God reveals himself starting here. Look at verse 7, the Lord appeared to Abraham. In all the Bible, how very few times that kind of language is used! Abraham saw God. Any wonder, then, that he built an altar for worship? Well, for whatever reason, God chose Abraham, and chose to deal with the world through Abraham. How strange, this choice of a man without a home, in fact a call that seems to come for this very purpose: to unsettle this settled family man; leave your country, leave your kin, leave your father s house. And only when he is unsettled, can the promises come true. And just look at them all, wouldn t we be happy with any one of them: descendants- a great nation of them, God says in verse 2; and a land, not just property, but a civilization; an exalted name; and God s blessing- a twofold blessing, where God says, I will bless those
who bless you, and curse those who do not - surely a promise of God s protection, and where God says all families will bless themselves through you - certainly an expectation that all peoples will know God s favor through the life and faith and goodness of Abraham and his descendants. Powerful and affirming stuff, for Abraham, and as well, for those who call themselves Abraham s children. Though it might serve us to ask, Must we be unsettled, too, perhaps not so comfortable, in order to receive these promises? The promises to Abraham and to his children can be understood to correspond to the failures and curses of those earlier events. Let s compare them: the promise of land, that stands over against the disobedience of the first couple and the loss of the Garden; the choice of Abraham and of a people, a counter to the breakdown of society and of natural law when Cain killed his brother; the blessing of God s love and presence, as a counter to the watery destruction of an evil world in Noah s day; the exalted name God gives to Abraham, a counter to the arrogance of the people at Babel, who sought to elevate their names as gods. Here in the call and promises to Abraham is the starting point of Israel as a people; not as descendants of Adam and Eve, or even righteous Noah, but from faithful Abraham does Israel as a nation begin; from wandering Abraham begins the faith of the
children of Israel as God s chosen people. Here, with Abraham, God creates a new community and a new family, full of promise and commanded to believe the promises. And so, even now, we may see these promises to Abraham as corrections to the wrongs and evils of our own times: God s promise that holds true even today, working to counter the violence of the world as nations rise up against other nations; working to counter the willful destruction of our earth by greed and special interests; and a counter to those who strive to justify themselves by diminishing others. In these promises, and in the faith of those who receive them, isn t God redeeming and healing the world and the people of the earth? We may read these verses and think they are among the most optimistic words of all scripture- these promises, and Abraham as a blessing to the world. Indeed, some may think these are the most foolishly optimistic words, that already we are being set up for another failure: Abraham is seventy-five years old, verse 4, pretty old to be just now starting a family; and we were told at the end of chapter 11 that Sarah, his wife, has no ability to conceive. Is there going to be yet another starting over place later, on, when this plan also falls apart? But if we patiently follow Abraham s story, as we try to understand his faith and be built up in it, we see that God s promises do come true. Because in
Abraham we see the victory of faith meeting grace, and the fulfillment of God s plan for Abraham and for the children of Abraham. Grace- that s what it means to be called; grace, that is the correct noun, to be used with the verb chosen, to be used with the verb loved. And God s grace, given first to Abraham and now to us, invites us to believe and hope, as God calls us to himself; and commands us to be faithful and as God speaks and says, Go, now, to journey throughout the land and become a blessing to others. This week I was reading this story, studying it, pondering it, and wondering- why did God call this man, why did it happen this way- or why did the scribes write it down this way? I cannot answer for God s motives, but think I can partially answer that third question. They wrote this down not simply as a retelling, but as a call to faith- for the people and the nation, and for any of us who read the story, that Abraham s example might be a blessing to us; and that we might be challenged by Abraham s faith and his response to God s demand of him, so that we might ask, what does God demand of me? But they got it wrong so much of the time. Read in the gospels how John the Baptist and Jesus railed against those who claimed a certain privilege because
they were children of Abraham. And it s the same standard for non-jewish believers, too, according to Paul- for Christians who acknowledge Abraham as forefather. For three great religions, Abraham is an example to us of obedience and faith, but not a reason for us to feel proud or deserving because we somehow carry his name. Quite the opposite, in fact. Abraham s exalted name, which these three religions share, is part of God s promise long ago that Abraham will be a blessing to all people. Do we believe that promise is still valid today? And, if so, does our life bless others? If that promise still is valid, doesn t it mean that even now we are called and chosen- all of us, from every religion and denomination and race and class and nation that looks to Abraham as ancestor- aren t we today still chosen for this: to be a blessing to one another? Still called to bless and not to curse? To love and not to hate? To show compassion and not to bully? To make peace and not war? Called to humility and not to arrogance? So let us ask, are we truly a blessing to all the families of the earth?