A sermon preached at
Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 28 June 2020, Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, by Timothy Chan. The scripture readings that day were Genesis 22:1-14, Psalm 13, Matthew 10:40-42.
Good morning friends!
Today we read a dramatic story in the book of Genesis. God is testing Abraham,
asking him to sacrifice his own son Isaac as a burnt offering. Even though God
has stopped him at the last minute, it was definitely a stressful experience
for him. Today, I am going to focus on this story, for I find some similarity
to the situation we are facing in our world today. Maybe we are like Abraham,
or Isaac, feeling powerless and vulnerable in the situation, but can only trust
in God’s provision and promise. Before we look into the scripture, let us pray.
Creator God, you are the
God who knows our fear and weakness. We pray that through your word, we can
find strength and faith in you again, so that we could be your faithful
follower. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
This story begins with
‘After these things God tested Abraham’. What are these things? I guess these
things are the many stories and adventures Abraham experienced since he was
called by God. In Genesis chapter 12, God has called Abraham, and promised him
a great nation under his name. Since then, God has blessed him with many
things, and has developed a close relationship with Abraham. He was given a
son, Isaac, through his wife Sarah, who was barren for many years. These are
all good things, wonderful things, just like if God wants to give me land, nice
house, nice car, and a child, I wouldn’t say no! But his time, God is asking of
a totally different thing, He is asking Abraham to offer his most precious
thing to Him, his son Isaac, to be a human sacrifice, as a burnt sacrifice. I
am sure Abraham would feel stress, and I feel stress for him too.
Abraham is in a very
vulnerable situation. He has wealth, but he couldn’t prevent it from happening.
He couldn’t fight back. Most of the time when we face problems which are too
difficult to solve, we would choose to run away, but Abraham knew he couldn’t
run away from God. We wouldn’t know the struggle he had when he heard of this
request, but he didn’t hesitate. He woke up early in the morning, and started
preparing for this quest. He brought his son, and asked him to carry the woods
for burnt offering. During this time, his son Isaac asked him. “The fire and
the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Poor Isaac did
not know it was him to be offered, and Abraham answered, “God himself will
provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” His son did not doubt his
father, even when he was bound. The scripture didn’t give us detail on whether
Isaac tried to resist or not, or if he was willing to be sacrificed. But we can
be sure that in this story, Isaac did not have a say. At the moment Abraham was
about to kill his son, an angel called
to him “Drop your weapon!” or would it be in Chinese, “刀下留人!” Then God was like “Oh, it’s a test only, I
don’t mean to harm your son. Now, take that ram instead to be the burnt
offering.”
We have no idea why God is
testing Abraham, and seems this test is a bit out of line, it is too stressful!
But if we are in the midst of the situation, what would we do? If we have no
idea whether the trial is a reality or a test, how would we respond? I guess
this is what I find similar to the situation we are facing today. Both Abraham
and Isaac were in a very vulnerable situation, they did not really have a
choice. They were forced to give up the most valuable thing to them. Abraham
has to give up his son, and Isaac has to give up his life. While other people
look at it as an insane request for a human sacrifice, Abraham somehow remains
hopeful that God would prepare a lamb for them. Abraham has no choice, but to
put his trust in God’s goodness and promise. He was probably thinking “If God
has promised me a great nation from my offspring, one way or another, God will
keep his promise.” The worst situation has presented itself to him, but he
chose to believe in the goodness of God, and he did not run away from God.
Isaac was in a vulnerable situation, this vulnerability is characterized by
unknown. He has absolutely no idea what was going to happen, but he trusts in
his father.
In Hong Kong and in many
parts of the world, uncertainty is looming over too. We are uncertain about the
future of this city, we are not sure what is this National Security Law, we
have no idea when this pandemic would end. We are not sure if all these are the
punishment from heaven, or is it a test? Or is it a joke? Could it be a
blessing, or could it be a curse? It is the same when I first read about this
scripture, “did God really ask Abraham to sacrifice his son?” There are many
ridiculous things happening in our life right now. Many times in our life, we
find ourselves in a vulnerable situation. The question, what would you do about
it. As I said earlier, you could run away from your problem, you could turn to
all these pleasures the world can offer, to numb your feelings. You could also
blame others for the situation. Brothers and sisters, you could also trust in
God. Trusting in God may not give you a solution and free you from suffering
immediately. Trusting in God is a decision that you would not compromise your
relationship with God to the difficulty and temptation you are facing. Even
though there are difficulties, challenges, heart-breaking moments, and
uncertainty, you would not be using these
as an excuse to give up your conviction and commitment to God.
Abraham was called the
Father of Faith. However, many times, he did not choose to trust in God under
stressful situations. When God promised him that his wife Sarah was going to
give birth, Abraham laughed in disbelief! When God promised him that he would
have his own offspring, Abraham listened to Sarah, and have a child with the
slave girl. When Abraham was under stress, he lied, saying Sarah is his sister
in order to keep his life. Abraham is like you and I, we tend to use our own
way to deal with our problems, but that’s a sign of us lacking trust in God. If
they trusted in God, they would not have a backup plan to have a child through
their slave girl Hagar. If he had trust in God, he would not lie saying Sarah
is his sister. After these things, God tested Abraham. After both failures and
blessings, God tested Abraham. In vulnerable situations, would he choose to run
away, or use his own “smart” way to handle, or he would put his trust in God?
This is the challenge God has given to us all this morning. In such vulnerable
and uncertain situations, are we going to compromise? Or are we trusting in
God’s promise and goodness?
Last week, the committee
of Mission, Outreach and Ecumenism had a meeting in church. We talked about how
the church should respond to the National Security Law. Each one of us shared
our concern over this matter, some of us are worried, some of us are being
cautious. Then one of the committee members said “instead of worrying too much,
maybe we should ask one question “who are we?”, “what makes KUC KUC?” and I
would extend this question to, “in the face of difficulty, what does it mean to
be a follower of Christ?” Are we going to compromise our value and belief to be
the conscience of our society, and to be the voice for justice and equality? Or
do we let the fear and uncertainty overwhelm us, and begin to do self
censorship? As a community of Christ, we have to ask, “who are we?” “what do we
stand for?” It is definitely not an easy question to answer, and I didn’t
intend to stress you. I am preaching so that we can learn from Abraham, to put
our trust in God when we are vulnerable. Only if we can embrace and accept our
vulnerability, God would make his strength perfect in our weakness. For his
grace is always sufficient for us.
God is good, for He is the
God who can turn curse into blessing. If we look at this story from a broader
perspective. It is the moment God has officially banned human sacrifice,
replaced by animal sacrifice. That is when Abraham praised God as “God the
provider”. Not only did he abolish human sacrifice, He sent his only son Jesus
Christ, in replacement of Isaac, and countless animals, to be the perfect
sacrifice. Jesus Christ died on the cross in our place, to reconcile humankind
with God. Jesus has become the center of all relationships, he connects us with
strangers, his face is found in the least within our community, his face is
found in the vulnerable, the poor and the weak.
In the Gospel reading this
morning, Jesus said “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me
welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a
prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous
person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the
righteous;”
Jesus is trying to extend
his identity to the one who has sent him, by welcoming Jesus, we are welcoming
God. By welcoming a prophet, you would receive a prophet’s reward. What does it
mean by welcoming and receiving Jesus, the prophet and a righteous person? I
think Jesus is not only talking about hospitality. By welcoming God into our
life, we are welcoming his value, his love and his image into our lives. By
welcoming God, we are sharing what God has. In the word of the Orthodox
Church’s teaching of divinization, that “the Son of God became man so that we
might become God." Of course we can never be God, but by welcoming God
into our life, we are in this journey of becoming like God, to radiate his love
and yearning for justice and peace, to be the light and salt in this world.
By welcoming strangers and
the vulnerable in our community, we are reaffirming the love God has for all
humanity. It is not easy to fully open up to strangers. It does not mean we
need to satisfy all their needs, and in fact, we could not do that, only God
can satisfy all our needs. However, a cup of cold water is a gesture of
welcoming and hospitality, a sign of solidarity and support. Many of us have
experienced some boundary issues, how much and how far should I help someone?
During my theological training, in the class of Christian counselling, the
teacher reminded us that the goal of Christian service is to help people to
realize the love and presence of God in their lives. Through providing
financial help and different forms of assistance, we are trying to connect and
include the vulnerable and marginalized into the community of God’s love and
presence. But first of all, do we see the face of Christ in the face of the
vulnerable? Can we identify Christ in the midst of our society? Are we willing
to extend the love of God to the people who are in need? I pray that God would
say to us all on the day of judgement that ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did
it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to
me.’
Brothers and sisters, I am
not sure what challenges and difficulties you are facing now. Some of them are
personal, some of them are social. But no matter what, I pray that we can all
embrace and accept our vulnerability, and put our trust in God’s promise and
goodness. In the face of uncertainty and fear, let us remind one another not to
compromise our value and identity as a Christian and a community of Christ.
Just as Christ has died in our place, are we able to find the face of Jesus in
the least among us, and to extend our hospitality and love to them? But
remember, we are not doing all these alone, but through welcoming Christ in our
lives, God is with us. Just as apostle Paul said in Romans 8:31 “If God is for
us, who is against us?” May God grant us strength and faith in this time of
trial. Amen.
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, June 28, 2020
