The readings for the ninth Sunday after Pentecost are taken from Genesis 15:1-6; Hebrews 11:1-16; and Luke 12:22-40.
All three lessons center on faith. Faith, belief, and trust (FBT) are all the same word in New Testament Greek and Old Testament Hebrew. FBT means to be at rest in honesty about dependence on God. Each of today’s lessons contributes to our understanding of FBT and thus benefit us.
Genesis records how FBT is the antidote for disappointment. God prevented Sarah from conceiving a child until she was so old that conception was impossible. That was the point. We cannot reproduce our way out of the corruption of sin and death. Only God can give life where no life is possible. The children of Abraham and Sarah are not the physical descendants of Isaac or Jacob BUT all of us who have a soul regenerated by the promise of God, guaranteed in our baptism. God’s promises provide hope, which is the opposite of disappointment, and FBT rests in joy as it waits for God to do the impossible.
Hebrews 11 is a whole chapter on the history of FBT people. Being at rest in honesty about dependence IS the substance of things hoped for. Being at rest in honesty about dependence is the evidence of things unseen because FBT is a product of God’s Word and Spirit in us. Our corrupt human nature is incapable of FBT and is ever rebelling against it. Our soul regenerated in the image of Christ is ever comforted by the living hope that comes through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That’s why Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac—He knew that the God who could give him a son out of nowhere could certainly raise that son from the dead. And God did raise His own Son and all of us with Him from the dead!
In the lesson from Luke, Jesus forbids worry because worry robs us of the life He is ever giving us and robs us of experiencing a life that is free to love and care for others. FBT is also the antidote for fear. Think of what you are afraid of and why you are afraid. It is always our corrupt human nature afraid it won’t get what it wants. Would God really let us starve to death or die from exposure because we had no clothing? Even if we did die in this body, we would live on, free of that corrupt body, in heaven. What else are we afraid of? Can anything be taken away from us that God cannot restore, and in a far better way? A heart full of fear is angry because it knows it is not in control. A new heart given by God is always at rest in the truth and comprehensiveness of how God provides for our life. God makes all things work together for good. He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?