Homily
by The Rev. Marcia McRae
St.
Francis Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC, 2 July 2017
Year
A RCL Proper 8: Genesis
22:1-14; Psalm 13; Romans 6:12-23; Matthew 10:40-42
Notice:
Jesus speaks to us today about welcoming & its rewards.
We
hear this message of welcome & rewards in all 4 Gospels &
other New Testament books,
as
one preacher says,1
so we are wise
to offer a broad welcome. Hospitality builds up the Body of Christ.
Know
this: We can be welcoming even when we disagree about aspects of our
life together2,
which may challenge & test our trust in God.
Why
does God test Abraham as shockingly as God does in today’s lesson?
Abe has been through so much, trusting God’s promise of a son,
leaving home & kinfolk to go to an unknown
land God promises.
You
recall at one point in the years of waiting for this promised son,
Sarah & Abe improvise a solution: Sarah gives her slave girl,
Hagar, to Abe as a surrogate mother.
This
reminds me of an actor forgetting a line on stage & another cast
member improvising a line. Sometimes this works, sometimes not so
well.
We
know Abe & Sarah’s improvisation leads to Sarah’s throwing
Hagar & her son out of the family.
Goodbye
welcome. Goodbye family.
Goodbye
unity.
Remember:
When we encounter today’s dramatic scene on the mountain:
Abe
has already sacrificed
his
first-born son.
I
wonder how Abe feels carrying that fire, that knife as he walks up
that mountain with his only son, his beloved Isaac, who carries the
wood on his own back. What is going through Abe’s mind? Is
he even thinking? What does he feel?
How
many of you have driven or ridden in a car on a narrow, winding
mountain road with no shoulder guard? How did that feel? [Hands
went up. Some shook their heads, others giggled awkwardly at
memories, saying: “Scary”, “Unreal”, “Tedious”.]
I
remember my handicapped dad
[with one arm partly paralyzed]
handling sharp turns in Mexico’s mountains with
no guard rails & before
cars had seat-belts.
What
would you do on a blind curve on a road like that when you see a car
stopped ahead with the driver’s door open?
Who is that driver?
Law enforcement protecting you from a giant tree fallen across the road?
Who is that driver?
Law enforcement protecting you from a giant tree fallen across the road?
An
armed stand-off with bad guys?
Are
these the bad guys?
How
do you respond to this test? Drive in reverse down the narrow,
twisting road? What about cars coming up?
What
is going through Abe’s mind?
He
has trusted God a long time. Perhaps he has inner peace. Notice how
quiet Abe & Isaac are as they walk on to make the sacrifice. We
hear little dialogue.3
What
is
there to say?
Think
about yourself in school & being tested. Recall the quiet testing
requires. Silence gives us space to think, to focus, to trust that
you / that we have learned.
Testing
lets students & teacher know if it is time to move on to more
topics or if there is more work to do on a particular skill.
Military
boot camp builds the individual’s knowledge & skills &
those of the group, the team. As a veteran friend of mine says: It
teaches the person fortitude, teaches what the person can do &
the team can do. Like a test in school, there is very little dialogue
during the physical stamina testing in boot camp.
Testing
builds our courage. It helps us know we are strong &
who’s got our back.
Abe
knows God listens & acts.
I
wonder if that’s why he answers Isaac as he does.
Notice:
Abe tell his team: “Stay here…; the boy & I will go over
there; we will worship & then we will
come back.”
“We
will come back.”
Surely
God hears this & hears Abe assure Isaac:
“God
himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering”
&
God does.
God
provides us the Lamb Jesus to die so we can live in God’s Love. As
Jesus’ disciples our love overflows to others, drawing them into
God’s Love. We live under grace, as
our lesson in Romans reminds us:
We / you have become / are becoming obedient from the heart to the
form of teaching to which we are entrusted…We are
slaves of righteousness.
What
does this mean?
To
be righteous is to act “in accord with [God’s] law”4
of Love. As slaves of righteousness, we are loyal disciples of Jesus.
This calls for sacrifices in our lives.
Jesus
tells us today about the rewards for our sacrifices as his
disciples5:
“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me…[&…] the one who sent
me…” Whoever gives just a cup of water to one of the little ones
will receive their reward.
We
serve as the welcomer & the one being welcomed, the giver &
the receiver of the cup of water.6
We are Jesus’ disciples, instruments of righteousness when we
proclaim7
in word & deed the Good News of God’s Love Jesus offers by
dying for us.
How
can we do this work? Rehearse! Study our lines – the Holy
Scriptures. Build our faith bodies in the boot camp of prayer,
worship, fellowship & ministry in Jesus’ Name.
Prayer
is central to our work, our testing.
As one of my seminary professors, Martin
Smith, says in his book, The
Word is Very Near You:
A Guide to Praying with Scripture:
“We
are conditioned to maintain control, to take charge of situations, to
do the talking.
Prayer
means surrender, & a readiness to return to a simpler state of
openness & attentiveness to a God whose ‘still small voice’
we
tend to drown with our restless noisiness.”8
We
see Abraham let go of control.
Surrendered to God, free of restless noisiness, he is attentive to God & can trust God will provide.
And he recognizes what God provides.
Surrendered to God, free of restless noisiness, he is attentive to God & can trust God will provide.
And he recognizes what God provides.
How
do we sacrifice to God?
How
can we / you
have the grace to
let go & trust God?
have the grace to
let go & trust God?
Bibliography
Blasdell, The Rev. Machrina.
“Whom Ought I Welcome?” Accessed: 28 June 2017.
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/stw/2017/06/05/whom-ought-i-welcome-fourth-sunday-after-pentecost-a-july-2-2017/.
Cunningham, David S. “What
Do We Mean By God?” Essentials
of Christian Theology. ED: William
Placher. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press. 2003.
Dios
Habla Hoy: La Biblia. New York:
American Bible Society. 1983.
Harper’s Bible
Commentary. General Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper &
Row Publishers. 1988.
Holy Bible. New
Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press. 1989.
Hughes, Robert Davis III.
Beloved
Dust: Tides of the Spirit in the Christian Life.
New York: Continuum. 2008.
Jewish Study Bible:
Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation. New York: Oxford
University Press. 2004.
Levenson, Jon D. Sinai &
Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible. New York: HarperCollins
Publishers. 1985.
Markham,
Ian S. Understanding Christian Doctrine.
Malden, ME: Blackwell Publishing. 2008.
Migliore,
Daniel L. Faith Seeking Understanding:
An Introduction to Christian Theology.
2nd Ed. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2004.
The New American Bible
for Catholics. South Bend: Greenlawn Press. 1986.
New Oxford Annotated
Bible with the Apocrypha. Eds.: Herbert G. May, Bruce M. Metzger.
New York: Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 1977.
Smith, Martin. The Word
is Very Near You: A Guide to Praying with Scripture. Lanham, MD:
Cowley Publications. 1989.
1
Blasdell, The Rev. Machrina. “Whom Ought I Welcome?” Accessed:
28 June 2017.
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/stw/2017/06/05/whom-ought-i-welcome-fourth-sunday-after-pentecost-a-july-2-2017/
2
Ibid.
6
Ibid.
7
Ibid.
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