Week 4
Abraham's Family Story, part 2
How does Abraham demonstrate hospitality and welcome?
In the Christian reading of this text, we often interpret the three visitors who speak in the Lord's name to be representative of the Trinity.
We are invited in this text to start thinking about what it means to see God in other people - especially strangers, those 'other' than us, and see the divine in them. How would this change how we go about living in community? What is the implication for rejecting others?
Hebrews 13:1-2 "Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it."
Do we miss vital opportunities because we are hesitant in welcoming new people into our circles?
Much is made of the sin of Sodom being homosexuality, but it's not. When read in context with the previous chapter, we find 2 parallel stories of hospitality and treatment of the stranger. The first shows the kind of love for stranger that is pleasing to God and a blessing to the host. The second shows the evil of mistreating the stranger with disrespect and abuse, angering God, and bringing destruction and curse upon themselves.
Americans have a hard time relating to these texts because we do not have the same culture of hospitality that is core to this Biblical culture. It's not massively offensive to us to refuse hospitality to a stranger, but it was in this time and still is in other cultures today. Our culture is one of stranger-danger. We view others with suspicion until they prove themselves.
Is it detrimental to having the community we desire to be so wary of new people?
Has your faith ever nudged you to a greater welcome and hospitality than you would have otherwise practiced?
Read Genesis 22:1-19 The Sacrifice of Isaac
One of the most troublesome stories in scripture!
God tests Abraham's belief in their covenant by asking him to sacrifice the miracle son who's the result of the promise to "be fruitful and multiply". Abraham proves his unwavering faith in God, even as he can't understand why God would ask him to sacrifice Isaac.
God never intends for Isaac to die, but it's a pretty traumatic way to make a point! What do you think about that? Do you think some bible stories are meant to be provocative? There is a test for us here too - that we should be outraged. We should be disturbed. If we're not, we've become numb to the violence around us.
Is it fair that God can test us, but we are not to put the Lord God to the test?
This story resonates in the Christian perspective as a precursor to the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
In some ways that works, but in other ways it's highly problematic and also theologically inconsistent.
The language of obedience, of sacrificing a son as a sacrificial lamb is familiar.
BUT...we have to be careful to recognize these are fundamentally different scenarios. The cross is self-sacrifice. Jesus has agency in going to the cross where Isaac does not. Jesus makes an intentional decision. In the crucifixion, there is no father sacrificing son - God is on the cross in Christ. We are careful to not split God up into more than one. God is one. God bears the weight of the cross.
Comments
Post a Comment