Old age and an age old question.
Signpost for Sunday 25 February 2024 (2nd Sunday in Lent): Gen 17:1-7,15-16; Ps 22:23-31; Rom 4:13-25; Mark 8:31-38 or Mark 9:2-9.
There seems to be quite a lot about faith in this week’s choice of readings prescribed in the Lectionary.
In Romans 4:16 Paul says that Abraham is the father of us all. (He doesn’t say that Adam is. Although later he speaks of Adam as the first man. Obviously he didn’t know about DNA.) Is Abraham the spiritual father of us all then? That could be true if we took his faith as the beginning of faith.
Then in Romans 4:18-25 we discover that Paul’s version of Abraham’s faith isn’t quite accurate. Abram and Sarai both gave up on YHWH’s promise and that’s why Abram slept with Haggai their servant and fathered Ishmael. Given that the YHWH of most Old Testament stories is portrayed as being ‘a jealous god’ I am a little surprised that he totally ignores the fact that Abram and Sarai had tried to fix things themselves. Abraham’s faith seems to be far less than YHWH’s commitment the promise.
Later on we find that both Abraham and Sarah appear to scoff at the thought of YHWH fulfilling his promise to them because they are both geriatrics:
Gen 17:17-18 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”
Interestingly, YHWH never actually agrees to bless Ishmael even though Abraham circumcises him (Gen 17:23). All YHWH says in answer to that request is, “Yes, but…” (Gen 17:19). Sarah also laughs when she hears that she’s going to have a baby. As I mentioned in a previous Signpost, YHWH of course has the last laugh though.
What does any of this say about faith? Reassuringly I think it indicates that doubt is part of faith. It may even strengthen it. Giving up on your god isn’t unusual. But unlike the simple Abraham and Sarah story you are hopefully not waiting for or expecting a promise to eventually be fulfilled. Wondering what’s going on, where is my god, why aren’t my prayers answered are all questions that don’t necessarily mean you have lost your faith. Quite the opposite. Faith is not something that we acquire with the wave of magic wand and then never let go.
And blind faith is not what I believe our god wants us to have either. Blind faith gives up seeking, doesn’t dare to ask questions, may well not open us up to what Yeshua seems to me to teach: meet every single thing you come across with love and compassion no matter how strange, alien or even unacceptable it may appear to be by your own or the standards of the society you live in.
Paul
P.S. I wonder if most of us don’t conflate and sometimes confuse the two meanings of the word ‘faith’ given by the Oxford Dictionary:
faith (noun)
- complete trust or confidence in someone or something.
- strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof
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