4 February 2010
Psalm 70, 71; Gen. 23:1-20; Heb. 11:32-12:2; John 6:60-71

The story of Abraham and Sarah comes to a close. It is an amazing thought that so many people on earth today trace themselves to these two people wandering about in the middle east several thousand years ago. The connection with the God of creation comes through this line, this faithful man who nonetheless wavered in faith from time to time persevered and saw the blessing of God in his life. Clearly the people around him knew him as a prince and one whom God had indeed blessed greatly. As he goes about finding a place to bury Sarah we hear them acknowledging his greatness and blessedness. The story tells so much that is contemporary in our world. Their wavering faith and his obedience to the voice of his wife in the episode with Hagar has repercussions in our day with the struggle between Islam and the rest of the world. Abraham’s faithfulness, however, was rewarded by God’s faithfulness to the covenant promise of descendants as numerous as the stars.

Now that the crowds have gone, Jesus is speaking only to the disciples and even they are struggling with this teaching. Jesus is pointing beyond the vagaries of this life into eternity, away from the temporal things to the eternal verities and they aren’t getting it. Sometimes He spoke so far over their heads it seems they are dense and yet the things He was saying and teaching were and are actually incomprehensible to us without the eyes of our hearts being enlightened. Just as the promises to Abraham were beyond the imagination so were the words of Jesus here. Peter shows the depth of his faith with his reply to Jesus, he knew that what he had seen and heard were words of life and even if he didn’t presently understand their full meaning he was staying the course.

We are encouraged by those who have gone before and lived by faith. They have done great things for God and yet some of them have also experienced great difficulties and surely had their times of doubt. We are called to run the race of faith not looking for the easy life or the simple life, but rather using Jesus as an example of persevering in the call in spite of the obstacles set before us. Our rewards are eternal, our pain is temporal, therefore let us live for eternity and be willing to risk everything on what we know to be secure. That is the call of faith and the proof of faith.

I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
My lips will shout for joy,
when I sing praises to you;
my soul also, which you have redeemed.