Why is this transaction worthy of inclusion in the Word of
God? It seems an inconsequential detail
in the life of Abraham but it has significance in at least two ways. Abraham could have received and accepted the
land as a gift but chose instead to purchase it. In the same way, he had refused to allow the
king of Sodom to enrich him in any way in chapter 14 after the battle that
restored Sodom and rescued Lot, Abraham here will not receive anything from
anyone but God. It also tells us that
Abraham believed God that eventually His seed would possess this land and that
Sarah’s remains would be cared for by their progeny. As it turns out several generations of this
family, the patriarchs, will be buried in this place. All this is to say that Abraham implicitly
and completely trusted the Lord in all things, whether he understood them or
not.
Jesus is speaking these words in the synagogue in Capernaum. The people to whom these particular words are
addressed are identified by John as “disciples.” These would be those who were outside the
circle of the twelve but who were nonetheless regulars in the crowd. They are willing to say that this is a hard
saying and question who can receive it. At the level of literal meaning it is
indeed nigh onto impossible to receive this teaching. Jesus, however, says that it isn’t the
fleshly, literal meaning that is at stake here but the spiritual level and that
it is not possible for them to accept it unless the Father through the action
of the Spirit draws someone to the teaching.
Peter believes that, whatever Jesus’ words mean, they are words of life
and no one else has these and they believe that He is the Holy One of God, the
Messiah. Even with respect to these men
Jesus is the one who chose them, not the other way round, and one of them He
says is “a devil.”
The first four verses of the Hebrews reading are
inspirational in recalling the mighty works of God on behalf of and through
those who had faith in Him. The next
three verses remind us that God doesn’t always do great things for His people,
sometimes they suffer terribly and there is no rescue or exaltation, no
vindication in this life. The summary judgment
on this is that the world wasn’t and isn’t worthy of them. Abraham had to make sense of his life without
seeing the complete fulfillment of the promises made to him. It had to have been difficult for him to bury
Sarah after so many years of waiting for fulfillment and to know that he would
have to die without seeing these things but continuing to believe his family
would indeed possess this land. We and
the disciples eat bread and drink wine in faith believing not only in the
resurrection of Jesus but that we too will be resurrected due to His perfect
sacrifice and our faith in Him. Let us
then run with patient endurance our own race in faith, inspired by those who
have gone before who wait for us at the finish line.
Even to old age and
gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.
Your righteousness, O God,
reaches the high heavens.
You who have done great things,
O God, who is like you?
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.
Your righteousness, O God,
reaches the high heavens.
You who have done great things,
O God, who is like you?
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