This beautiful and intricate mosaic is from the basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy. .
It dates to the 6th-century.
[Photo and description by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P.]
Genesis 18:1-15
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OBSERVE:
Abraham and Sarah are, after Adam and Eve, among the most famous and significant couples in all of Scripture. Abraham was an obscure herdsman in Haran, which was situated on a tributary river to the Euphrates. His father was Terah, who had brought his family there from Ur in Mesopotamia. Abram (as he was then known) was married to his half-sister Sarai (as she was then known). And then, God visited Abram and told him:
Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you (Genesis 12:1-3).
All of this happened when he was seventy-five, and Sarai was sixty-five! And, demonstrating the faith for which he was to become famous, Abram obeyed God.
However, when our narrative picks up in the Old Testament lectionary reading for this week, there have been profound divine affirmations as well as serious challenges to their faith (see Genesis chapter 12 to 17). The most serious challenge has been Sarah’s barrenness. They have even resorted to the extreme — and misguided — effort to have a child through a surrogate mother, the slave girl Hagar. That doesn’t end well for Hagar and her son Ishmael.
Now, in another divine vision, God has changed Abram’s name to Abraham, and Sarai to Sarah, and God reaffirms his promise:
As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You will be the father of a multitude of nations. Your name will no more be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you. Kings will come out of you. I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your offspring after you. I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are traveling, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. I will be their God (Genesis 17:4-8).
But it can’t escape notice that when this epiphany occurs, Abraham and Sarah are old by anybody’s reckoning!
Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?” (Genesis 17:17).
So, our account begins on a normal afternoon — the heat of the day. As with many cultures located in semi-desert climates, they were probably resting during this time of the day when work would be difficult. They were encamped in tents near the oaks of Mamre, which likely grew near a spring in the area of Hebron.
Everything must have seemed fairly normal to Abraham. Three strangers appear in front of him, and he does what is natural in a Middle Eastern culture — he offers them hospitality. Little does he know that he is entertaining Yahweh himself!
The identity of these three strangers is controversial. Were they angels? If so, quite frequently the Angel of the Lord is interpreted to be Yahweh himself. Was one of them the Son of God as the Orthodox church believes? Or was it mere coincidence that there were three who came — suggesting to the Christian reader a Trinitarian relationship? We can’t know precisely.
Abraham bows, and invites them to a meal. All of the courtesies normal for guests in such a culture were offered — water to wash their feet, a place to rest beneath a tree, bread of the finest meal, butter, milk — and veal! He orders his servant to cook a calf.
And then things became interesting.
They asked him, “Where is Sarah, your wife?”
How did they know her name?
She is in the tent and they are out, under the trees. Given the modesty of Middle Eastern cultures, this is no surprise. A woman wouldn’t likely have been circulating amongst a group of strange men.
We notice that they don’t speak — one of the three men speaks, with an incredible prediction:
I will certainly return to you when the season comes round. Behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.
The writer of Genesis points out what is painfully obvious:
Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.
But Sarah is curious, naturally, about these strangers, and she has been eavesdropping at the opening of the tent, just out of sight. And her reaction is very human:
Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old will I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
This is not merely a comment on her own barrenness, but on poor Abraham’s aged incapacity as well!
Yahweh rebukes Sarah to Abraham, and questions her faith:
Yahweh said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Will I really bear a child, yet I am old?’ Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son.”
It has become clear to Sarah that something more serious is going on than a bunch of strangers making silly promises to old people:
Then Sarah denied it, saying, “I didn’t laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”
We might like to think that Yahweh shared in the joke, and said this with a twinkle in his eye, rather than sternly. After all, the name of the son who would be born would be Isaac, which is Hebrew for he laughs.
APPLY:
Abraham becomes the paradigm of the Godly man in Scripture. Paul touts him as the exemplar of faith in his doctrine of justification by faith:
For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the reward is not counted as grace, but as something owed. But to him who doesn’t work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. (Romans 4:3-5).
And James cites Abraham as an example of a man whose faith was revealed by his works:
Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God (James 2:21-23).
This is an example of “both/and” in Scripture — that justifying faith is a pure gift of God, but that it inevitably results in obedience and good works.
But there is another application for those who might be growing a little older — God is never quite finished with us! We may not be called upon to bear a child at 90 or 100 — we hope! But God can still use us, even after we may think we are “barren” and useless.
RESPOND:
Here is a fascinating factoid — at least to me — there are three major monotheistic religions that regard themselves as Abrahamic — derived from the life and faith of Abraham. They are Judaism, Christianity and Islam. However, there are also smaller sects that regard themselves as part of the Abrahamic family — Samaritanism, Druze, Babism, Bahai, and Rastafarianism.
Adherents to these Abrahamic religions comprise 54% of the world’s population. Certainly it seems to be true that God’s promise to Abraham has been fulfilled:
“Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So will your offspring be (Genesis 15:5).
Of course from a Christian perspective it is not those who are biologically descended from Abraham who are the only descendants, but those who have faith in the God revealed in Jesus Christ. Justifying faith is the DNA required to be a child of Abraham, not works of the law or genes. Paul writes:
Even as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.” Know therefore that those who are of faith, the same are children of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all the nations will be blessed.” (Galatians 3:6-8).
I feel that because of my faith in Christ, I am a child of Abraham as well — I belong to a family that transcends race and ethnicity. Like the old song we used to sing around the campfire:
Father Abraham had many sons
Many sons had Father Abraham
I am one of them and so are you
So let’s all praise the Lord.
Right arm!
[I would add, he also has many daughters!]
But there is one other great comfort I glean from this passage. I am 61 — not really all that old by Abraham and Sarah’s standards. They started their journey of faith to a new land at 75 and 65 respectively! And then their son Isaac was born when they were about 100 and 90!
I certainly hope that my wife and I aren’t called upon to bring another Isaac into the world, but I am encouraged to know that God is not ageist. God can use the very young — as he did with John the Baptist in Elizabeth’s womb, or Samuel when he was only twelve — and the very old, like Abraham and Sarah.
Lord, you revealed yourself in personal relationships to the people of old, and you expressed your interest in their family lives. You perpetuated the line of Abraham and Sarah through Isaac — and you perpetuate their legacy through the same faith that was inspired in them. I am Abraham and Sarah’s child by faith — please continue to use me no matter how old I may be. Amen.
PHOTOS:
“The Hospitality of Abraham (Ravenna)” by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.
SOAR Lectionary Bible Study 