2 July 2023 Pentecost 5

Genesis 22” 1-14; Psalm 13:16-19; Romans 6:12-23; Matthew 10:40-42

I must admit, our first reading always leaves me with mixed feelings.  Abraham is over 100, possibly by now closer to 120.  And Sarah will now be close to 110.  They have been given this precious child, and Abraham has been told his descendants will number more than the stars in the sky and grains of sand on the beach.  Yet, he is ready and willing to sacrifice this child, his only means of descendants, because God asks him to.

And some of the uncomfortable feelings I am left with are – what does this request say about the God I see as loving, caring and compassionate; as well as how on earth do you get to be calm and willing enough to even contemplate following God’s orders; let alone get to being a whisper away from cutting your own son’s throat just because you heard God asking you to do it.

The story also presents me with a multitude of questions, like, how do you look your son in the face again knowing that you were that close to killing him, and how does Isaac keep a civil relationship with his father after he tried to sacrifice him.  How do you tell your wife that you were that close to killing her child just because God asked him to.  How do you keep ‘in relationship’ with a God who was willing to ‘bait’ you into performing this horrific deed, just to see if you really do ‘fear’ God.  And how would it have affected your trust in the God who called you to be father of the nations, as well as how would it have affected Isaac’s relationship this this God his father knows.

I know child sacrifices were not uncommon in the time of Abraham, and I realise that this story is just metaphorical, but the story leaves me feeling unsure of how well I would have responded if I was given a similar challenge, while at the same time feeling ashamed of my ‘minor grumpiness’ when I am presented with difficult tasks to accomplish because they all just fade into oblivion compared to this.

Our Psalm repeats this message of hope and despair.  The Psalmist appears to no longer feel God present in his life, “how long will you hide your face”.  But the Psalmist remains hopeful of God’s return.  Like many people in our community, and maybe even ourselves at times, the feeling of absence of God from our lives is a reality.  Sometimes we may see this as ‘our’ fault, sometimes it is just that circumstances within our lives make it hard to see God in the situations we face.  But God is there, even in our dark times, even if we can’t feel it at the time.  Hope is that unmeasurable and unexplainable response to difficult times which try to defeat us but cannot overcome us.  Hope is that ability to ‘keep going’ knowing that it is not just ‘up to me’; that there is a greater power that will support and carry me through those times when I feel unable to keep walking.

And Paul addresses the lifestyle of the believers around him, and speaks about our lifestyle too.  The consumerist, secular attractions of the world draw us away from God and from one another.  He tells us communities are built on works of grace and our souls are restored and awakened to eternal life by those same works of grace.  Lifestyle matters.  So the question we could ask ourselves, on a daily basis, is how is my life reflecting God’s pathway of salvation.  What guides my personal, and professional decision-making.  Do people see me as living a secular life, or a Christ-centered one.

And last week our gospel told us how hard discipleship could be.  Set son against father, daughter against mother, Jesus came to bring a sword, not peace.  But today, in this short gospel passage, we see a gentler side of discipleship.  Rather than the huge sacrifice we often attribute to discipleship, Jesus appears to be telling us that is it as easy as giving a cup of cold water to someone in need.  Discipleship does not always have to be hard.  It can be just offering a listening ear to someone in need of a friend; a hug to someone who is grieving; a ride to someone without transport; or food to a foodbank providing for those without.

These small acts of kindness, devotion and forgiveness may go unnoticed by many, but they care for the relationships with those who are important to us.  And Jesus tells us that is no such thing as a small gesture.  Everything, anything, done in faith and love has cosmic significance for the one involved, and for the world God loves so much.  Just like the man on the beach throwing back the starfish, who refuses to accept that he can’t possibly hope to make a difference because of the huge number of starfish stranded on the beach.  He keeps doing his small acts of kindness as he tells his interlocutor that it makes a difference for each one that he can throw back.

And because Jesus has promised to return to redeem all, we can, in the meantime, devote ourselves to acts of mercy and kindness, deeds of compassion and love, small and large, as we care for the small bit of the world in which we reside.  So even a cup of cold water can make a huge difference to those to whom we give it, and Jesus tells us it will have cosmic consequences.

So continue to do those myriad of things which make this world a better place, a more trustworthy place because of your gestures of love, mercy and compassion.  The world that God loves so much is being enriched every moment of every day because of cups of water; hugs; listening ears; because of smiles and welcome greetings; thoughtful gifts and loving thoughts.  So, thank you for all you do, and for your commitment to keeping on doing them.