God keeps his promises
Lent 2
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[00:00:00] I pray that God's word is spoken and that God's word is heard. Amen. Please be seated.
Well, we're only two weeks into Lent, but I'm wondering if you're seeing a pattern. Two weeks you could say could hardly make a pattern. And then I promise you there is one. There's this pattern we're going to see throughout Lent, particularly in our Hebrew scripture, where we're going to recount and remember the covenants that God has made with us, the promises that God has made to us and our ancestors.
And you may remember last week, those of us who were here or who were tuned in, that last week we heard about what we call the Noahic Covenant. The covenant God made with Noah, with Noah's family, all the critters, and all creation. And Mary, uh, delightfully imagined with us that the rainbow would be like the string God would tie around God's finger to remind [00:01:00] God that whenever God was just fed up with us and maybe tempted to just wipe us out and start over, that the rainbow would remind God to hold back and give us another chance.
God promised all creation. All creation. And then. Then. This week, we heard the Abrahamic Covenant. It's not the first time it appears in the Hebrew Bible. We're at Chapter 17 of Genesis. This covenant has come up a couple of times already. And, uh, we hear in the reading this morning, it's actually quite humorous, and it is more humorous in the Hebrew, but, um, we hear, uh, that God reminds Abraham of this covenant, and Abraham falls on his face.
Remember before emojis? When we would type R O F L, rolling on the floor, laughing. Pre emoji. It took a lot [00:02:00] more from our thumbs, right? Um, but this is essentially what Abraham is doing. He hears this promise. Oh, come on now.Abraham's 99 at this point. This is just ridiculous. And, and, and God says, oh no. And, and, and Abraham's, you know, Abraham and Sarah, uh, decided to work something out, uh, through, uh, Hagar instead because surely God didn't mean it, and God says no, Ishmael will be blessed and be a blessing, but that's not the promise I'm talking about.
You will have a son, Isaac, and, and through your descendants with Sarah, your descendants will number greater than the stars in the sky or grains of sand on the beach. You will be the father of nations. This promise, this blessing, will be for all people.
More covenants to come over the weeks ahead. God keeps God's promises. [00:03:00] Even when it seems impossible, and Paul does not hold back. Paul states boldly, you know, Abraham was as good as dead when God made this promise. And God still kept God's promise. Despite the fact that it seemed utterly impossible. And so we come to our gospel.
This is the last time we're going to hear from Mark's gospel till Palm Sunday. We're going to hear a lot from John's gospel over the next several weeks. I noted back in Advent when we were first returning to Mark's gospel that we would also hear a lot of John because Mark's gospel is so short. John comes along as some sort of holy filler and, and fills in some of the gaps and, and, uh, gives us some great material to work with.
If you like John, Mark's year is for you. Um, and so we have this last voice of Mark's gospel before Palm Sunday and we hear this passion prediction. Jesus saying all that's [00:04:00] going to happen to him, that he's going to be handed over, he's going to be killed and rise again. And Peter thinks he's gotten it completely wrong.
Jesus, you didn't get the Messiah memo. That is not what it means. And, Jesus is very clear. Get behind me, Satan. In other words, get in line. One could also say, follow me. Put your thoughts where they belong. Not on human things, but divine things. And then he says this really uncomfortable thing. If you want to be my followers, you have to take up your cross and follow me.
After 2000 years, we may have become numb to what that really means and what it would have meant for Jesus and his followers and any who heard it. That cross, that cross was a sign of Roman [00:05:00] terror, oppression and terror. And Jesus ended up on the cross because he stood up to those who would oppress and those who would use fear and terror.
And then God transformed it all.
That's the promise that we have in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The covenant we celebrate every time we come to this altar. We remember the promise God has made us and God keeps God's promises. That out of the most desperate situations when it seems most impossible, that God will indeed bring about grace and beauty and love and new life even out of death.
Now, [00:06:00] no one wants to hear that they have a cross to carry to, but here's the thing.
God made a promise to Abraham and Sarah. They had some expectations of God, but God also had some expectations of them, right? That's part of what covenant means. God needs us to do our part, to be God's people. To be the people who take Christ's love into the world, who stand up to oppression, who stand up to terror, who refuse to allow injustice to stand.
God is counting on us. Now, I've had some fascinating conversations with you, beloved, over the last several months. And sometimes we'll be talking about something completely [00:07:00] unrelated, seemingly unrelated, and all of a sudden you'll spring it on me. And, and it, it, it has to do some version of that, um, uh, zeitgeist of doom that Mary referred to last week.
It's about fear for the destruction of our nation. That we are in critical point that could mean the end of our country as we know it and the end of democracy as we know it. And then often, uh, the beloved sitting across from me looks at me with a wonder of either, either that I will dive into that doom spiral with them or throw them a lifesaver.
Not the candy, the one they have at the pool. I'm sorry? Oh, that was from Costello. Oh, did not see that coming, but okay. Um, [00:08:00] and I insist. I insist on hope. Because God keeps God's promises. Not because I'm just a silly optimist. I am kind of a silly optimist. But that's not why. That is not why. Because God keeps God's promises.
And, and last week, I was in a conversation with several of you. And, and I was asked to explain why I am hopeful. And I did so, and then one of you said, That's the sermon I want to hear. And I said, Okay. And I said, We'll see what the Holy Spirit has to say. And then I cracked open the lectionary again and went, Oh, I guess it's this Sunday.
If we wish to be His followers, we must take up our cross and follow Him. So one of the things I said was, [00:09:00] That as hard as this time is, our nation has seen harder times, and we got through them. We came out the other side better than we were before, and clearer about the things that are important to us.
And I believe that can happen again. And no one likes to live through these times that are so transformative. They are hard, they are not easy, they are not simple. No one wants to carry that cross.
But here's the thing. We may not want to be those people, but God believes in us. God needs each and every one of us [00:10:00] right now to be God's people right now, to show up, bring God's love, to fight injustice, to speak the truth, and if we see someone about to be hung on a cross by God, it is our call to get in the way or take them down.
That's how Jesus ended up where he ended up was being that person who told the truth, who fought injustice and fought oppression. And God redeemed that gift in ways his, his followers couldn't imagine, even though Jesus kept telling them so, right?
So what I believe is that God [00:11:00] needs us to keep showing up. To not throw in the towel, to say no to despair, to keep being God's people and doing our part, and bringing God's love into the world, and insisting on justice, and saying no to oppression, and rescuing the oppressed from the crucifixions they face, whether they be Someone on a kibbutz on October 7th, a civilian in Gaza, 50 percent of whom were children, by the way, 50 percent or a non binary youth in Oklahoma.
This is the call God is making to us, to be God's love in the world, wherever that love is needed. And if we do that, when we do that, [00:12:00] because I don't think there's an if here, because I believe in us too. Indeed, God can work transformation and grace and resurrection in ways we can't even imagine.
