June 7, 2020
Scripture and Meditation Romans 4:13-25 God’s Promise Realized through Faith
For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.
For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”)—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So numerous shall your descendants be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Therefore his faith “was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.
Where to start? Our nation is facing three devastating crises concurrently. COVID19 with over 110,000 people dead. Unemployment rates we have not seen since the Great Depression. Protesters in the streets seeking social justice after the murder of George Floyd. Each one worthy of our attention, while each is fanning the flames of the others. Fear, disgust, anger, disbelief, compassion, solidarity, frustration, and hope are all mingled together. We are drawn to watch as peaceful protesters express their first amendment rights. We are angry when looters distract from the injustice. We are horrified to see fire right outside the White House, or a photo op days later and the violence it took to clear that space. We pray for those grieving the loss of a loved one or the loss of our democracy as military Humvees rolled through our streets. We want to deny all of this is happening and wish things would go back to normal. We hope we will soon wake from this nightmare. But no alarm clock will save us.
Our responses to this flash point vary. Some want to lean into the law and others want to transform it. Looters certainly arouse our defense of the law as we seek a stable society. Yet, it is the misuse of the law and the disproportionate use of force against black people that has sparked these protests. Think Rodney King in Los Angeles, Michael Brown in Ferguson. Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia and tragically George Floyd in Minneapolis. Our laws and legal system are failing these, and thousands of other Americans.
Abraham followed the law, but it was his faith in God that was counted as righteousness. The law offered structure and safety, but it was through the righteousness of faith that Abraham would inherit the world would be a blessing to all nations. Faith is null and the promise is void if salvation comes through the law. Yes, our laws are important, but the Jews were not saved by the law and neither are we. But now is the time to reform our laws so that they apply equally to people of color.
Three times Abraham is called the father of many nations. Maybe the song Father Abraham comes to mind. He is foundational in the Jewish, Islamic and Christian religions with each claiming him as their forefather. But since Abraham “is the father of all of us,” how do we have this idea of race? That one group of people is better than another? That Negros would only count as 3/5 of a person in our Constitution? Race is a construct to justify oppression and enslavement of African men and women. It is how we justified declaring some people, dark skinned people, less than so we could exploit their labor and dehumanize them. I know this makes you uncomfortable, but this is the heart of the tensions in our nation. Racism plagues our nation.
Monday, I revisited Martin Luther King Jr’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Written three weeks after I was born, it still speaks wisdom to our situation today. Words that still ring true.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (p. 2)
“Justice too long delayed is justice denied (p.5-6).
“Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever” (p. 12).
He is writing to local pastors who are criticizing him for his fight against injustice and work for desegregation. He candidly shares his disappointment in the white church. He heard religious leaders comply with desegregation because it is “the law” but longed to hear them say we comply because it is “morally right and the Negro is your brother” (p. 15) When we see black protestors do we see our brothers and sisters? Is it morally right to hold police officers accountable in the killing of black people? Or are we still disappointing?
Paul spoke of Abraham’s “hope against hope” in the face of God’s promise to make him a father of many nations. Abraham and his wife Sarah were well past child bearing age- yet God made a promise. A promise that still holds today, because we still have faith in this same God. Sometimes it feels like we are hoping against hope that we can end the racism in our nation. Yet we continue to hope against hope and it feels like the tides are turning. As Rev. Sharpton said at George Floyd’s memorial, “This is a different time, a different season.” The men and women who are peacefully protesting are “hoping against hope” that our nation can change. That our religious leaders will stand with them, that reforms will be made insuring all are treated equally under the law.
But that would mean things would change. That our faith in God would allow us to trust that this change is God’s will, that we are not in control but God is. Abraham and we are saved by faith, that is reckoned as righteousness. Our faith is not a matter of believing this or that, but rather who we believe in. Our faith is in God. The God who keeps promises, who sent his son to upset the status quo and place love and justice before the keeping the law. God is the one who will respond to these injustices and we need to be agents of change for God. To stand in solidarity to end the injustice. Be a presence of love in our community. As Cornell West once said, “Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public.”
I discovered something thinking about Abraham and race. God told Abram, before he was called Abraham, the Israelites would be sojourners and slaves for 400 years. “The Lord said to Abram, “Know of a surety that your descendants will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and will be slaves there, and they will be oppressed for four hundred years” (Gen. 15:13). Do you know how long it has been since the first slave came to America? 400 years. In 1619, the first slave was brought to America, 400 years ago. The Israelites were displaced sojourners in a land that was not theirs and then slaves in Egypt until God through Moses set them free. In America black people have been slaves and then displaced sojourners in this land. Can this be the time when God liberates them?! Frees them from racial profiling, from mass incarceration, from systematic economic oppression. Our dis-ease, our distress might be like the disease and distress of the plagues before God liberated his people. Infection came to the people. Locust destroyed their crops, their livelihood. They experienced change in the weather.
It took a confluence of many things to get the power structure – the Pharaoh -to let the people go. In a hopeful light, maybe we are experiencing all of this chaos and uncertainty so that we can see real change in our culture, standing in solidarity and committed to no longer disappointing our black brothers and sisters. May this time of protest become a time of liberation. 400 years is long enough. May the chants of Black Lives Matter resonate and echo alongside “Let my people go!” May God’s liberation come to this nation, in this time, and may we stand with our brothers and sisters. Amen!
