Homily at St. Faith’s Episcopal Church
Second Sunday of Lent
February 28, 2010

By: Thomas Graf

This week 2 of the world’s greatest SPIRITUAL LEADERS graced our South Florida area with their PRESENCE and words of GREAT WISDOM. As one newspaper reported:

“The Dali Lama and Desmond TuTu speeches are HOT TICKETS this week. appearances by two of the3 biggest names in religion and human rights activism.

Two men who no doubt have faced great moments of OPPRESSION, PREJUDICE and CONFRONTATION, both PERSONALLY and as heads of communities/nations that have faced such travesties.

Did they ever FEAR? I would imagine so…Yet, despite their fears, they were and are MEN OF GREAT VISION!!

How appropriate they are to us TODAY, in the HERE and NOW at St. Faith’s this 2nd Sunday in Lent…as we reflect on our readings today….and remember another GREAT LEADER…our ancestor…ABRAM.

We are told that, “The word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision.”
How AWESOME that vision must have felt to Abram. I could just imagine his thoughts...
-ME?......OH NO!....maybe years ago, but not now….I’m too old….I’m too tired….you must be mistaking me with someone else……..

Yet….following the VISION are the assuring words of YAHWEH, “DO NOT BE AFRAID.”

It is interesting to note that throughout the OT there are numerous times when individuals/prophets have AWESOME VISIONS (Beginning with same words as here in Genesis…”The word of the Lord…”) that seem to FRIGHTEN the individuals, take them back, confuse, etc. And then immediately the ASSURING words of God RESOUND, “Do not be afraid!”

The final such occurring with a HANDMAIDEN in the NT---with the Angel Gabriel—heralding the birth of OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST!!

Yet even with this reassurance…ABRAM again BEMOANS…FEARS and QUESTIONS…but…we are also told that, “ABRAM BELIEVED THE LORD!”

What does this mean? How do we BELIEVE IN THE LORD?
It means that he ABANDONED his own DISMAL DIAGNOSIS OF THE SITUATION, put HIS TRUST in God’s word and ALLOWED the LORD to FULFILL HIS PROMISE in HIS OWN TIME AND IN HIS OWN WAY>
The Patriarch’s ACT OF TRUST was reckoned to him as righteousness. ABRAM, whose name will be changed to ABRAHAM (The father of many nations) was known as a RIGHTEOUS MAN…one who lived in RIGHT RELATIONSHIP with GOD!

How does one enter into RIGHT RELATIONSHIP with God? It indeed is a process, and it was a PROCESS that we have seen HUMANITY attempting to UNDERSTAND from the beginning of time. We have to remember that ABRAM came from a POLYTHEISTIC culture. Such Beliefs/Customs/Rituals would have deep rooted-ness. Even ABRAHAM’s understanding of RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD would evolve, as that of our Jewish brothers and sisters, and such throughout SALVATION HISTORY…to this day.

For ABRAM, such a relationship depended on THE LAW/COVENANT. The sacrifice described in our passage from Genesis was a normal CUSTOM/RITUAL that would occur as INDIVIDUALS entered into a RFELATIONSHIP/COVENANT together.
The PARTIES in the covenant would literally PASS BETWEEN the dissected ANIMAL PARTS and INVOKED on themselves a fate LIKE THAT OF THE ANIMALS…should they violate the terms of the AGREEMENT/COVENANT.

We are told that after setting up this sacrifice, ABRAM entered into a DEEP and TERRIFYING SLEEP-----this HERALDS a time of CHANGE!!!

What happens next?................In COVENANT between God and Abram, ONLY GOD (SYMBOLIZED AS A SMOKING FIRE POT AND FLAMING TORCH…passed between the dissected animal parts! God COMMITED HIMSELF to fulfill the promise without IMPOSING any RECIPROCAL OBLIGATIONS on ABRAM.

What does this SIGNIFY?.........TRUE GRACE…..FREE GIFT!
INDEED a CHANGE IN RELATIONSHIP OCCURS!!

It would take a LONG, LONG time for people to UNDERSTAND what God attempted to communicate through this action……..SALVATION HISTORY would show that humankind just couldn’t QUITE GET IT……Do we even understand today?

It certainly CONFUSED many during Paul’s time….in our Letter to the Philippians today, we see Paul addressing this confusion…MISUNDERSTANDING. He speaks about: THE ENEMIES OF THE CROSS!!
We are still not exactly sure who these people were. However we can safely assume that they were either GENTILES who could not REASON the CROSS…or,
JEWS who saw the CROSS as a STUMBLING BLOCK.
There is no doubt though, that they were CREATING HAVOC in the area. But…yet…THE CROSS and its MESSAGE was the CENTRLITY of SALVATION HISTORY—the ULTIMATE/TRANSFORMING Intervention of GOD that would change our RELATIONSHIP forever!!!

As Paul would say in Corinthians: “For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim CHRIST CRUCIFIED…a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles…But…to those who are called, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ, the Power of God and the Wisdom of God.

OH GRACED RELATIONSHIP THAT JESUS’ CROSS FULFILLED!!!

He prophetic VISION that our God, who planted the seed with ABRAM…will take to FRUITION with his OWN SON…Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And, even DESPITE the CUNNING efforts of Herod, he cannot interfere with the FULFILLMENT of PROPHETIC TRADITION—SALVATION HISTORY!

Prior to his death—Jesus must repeatedly try to gather JERUSALEM’s children…LIKE A HEN GATHERS HER BROOD BENEATH HER WINGS.
In no way can Herod..THE FOX, interrupt that MISION. In no way can ANYONE/THING/SITUATION interfere with God’s PLAN.

God’s PLAN confounds the wise.
Jesus’ CROSS calls us to deeper, more profound understandings of the
TRANSFORMING POWER OF THE CROSS’ MESSAGE OF FORGIVENESS.

This LENT…let us each look within and see what VISION the Lord has for us. Let us NOT BE AFRAID to EMBRACE this relationship.

It will be different for each of us…

Bishop TuTu often speaks of the TRANSFORMING POWER of the CROSS that can lead us to deeper and richer Understandings of FORGIVENESS…

In one presentation he shared:
“To forgive is not just to be altruistic. It is the best form of self interest. It is also a process that does not exclude hatred and anger. These emotions are all part of being human—even Jesus felt such—You should never hate yourself for hating others who do terrible things, the depth of your love is shown by the extent of your anger.
However, when I talk of forgiveness I mean the belief that you can come out the other side a better person. A better person than the one being consumed by anger and hatred. Remaining in that state locks you in a state of victim-hood making you almost dependent on the perpetrator. If you can find it in yourself to forgive them you can move on, and you can even help the perpetrator to become a better person too.”

This LENT, is Jesus calling us to FORGIVE…TO BE FORGIVEN…? Let us look within and bring it to the TRANSFORMING CROSS OF CHRIST. AMEN!