In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
1 That which God promises to make fruitful is not barren, no matter how old. Yes, Abram, even your Sarai will bear children. Lots of them. So many children, you would find the chore of counting the grains of sand along the Mediterranean far easier than counting your descendants. You will have an easier time remembering the names of all the stars in the clear night sky than knowing the names of all your children.
2 So Abram packed up and headed to Canaan. But when the famine grew too severe, when God’s promises grew too tough to trust, Abram packed up and headed for successful Egypt. As if it weren’t bad enough to take matters into his hands and rely on himself to provide for his family, when they arrived in Egypt, Abram showed his true colors. Untrusting Abram didn’t want to meet his demise at the hands of the Egyptians, so he instructed his wife Sarai to tell the Egyptians she was his sister, so that they might have her without having to kill her husband. But the Lord was faithful where Abram was faithless; He protected Sarai where Abram protected only himself. According to rabbinic tradition, the Lord protected Sarai from Pharaoh’s advances, afflicting him with plagues whenever he came near her. When Pharaoh discovered he had been tricked, he sent Abram and Sarai back to Canaan.
3 And sixty-five became seventy. And seventy became seventy-five. And maybe Abraham misunderstood the Lord’s promise to make his descendants as numerous as the stars. Maybe the promise needed a little help from Abram or Sarai. So Sarai, knowing not many seventy-five-year-old women bear children, took matters into her own hands. It wasn’t how they had a child that mattered, Sarai reasoned; any son would do. So Sarai gave her Egyptian servant-girl Hagar to Abram that she might bear children and so fulfill God’s promise. But Ishmael was not the son of the promise. And seventy-five became eighty. And eighty-year-old women have fewer children than seventy-five-year-old ones.
4 So when the Lord reaffirmed His promise that Abram would be the father of many nations, he renamed him—from Abram to Abraham. And as proof that God would bring from Sarai’s womb—not Hagar’s—the Lord renamed her Sarah. Laugh if you want; the Lord’s promises will be fulfilled. That which God promises to make fruitful is not barren, no matter how old. All that is required of you, Abraham, is to be faithful. All that is required of you Sarah, is to receive the Lord’s gifts.
5 It’s easy to disparage Abraham and Sarah for disbelieving the Lord’s promise to work through something as nonsensical, as contrary to logic, as the womb of an elderly woman. It’s easy to wonder at Abram’s wickedness for passing his wife off as his sister just to save his own hide. But what about you, pastor? The Lord has promised to make His children as numerous as the stars in the skies. His promise is not contingent upon your ability to find a way to make it work. His children are not a product of your cleverness, your tireless devotion to the ministry, your winsome attitude. They are a product of His opening the womb of an elderly woman, nearly two thousand years old to be precise, to give birth to innumerable nations. And the office of pastor, like Abraham’s office of husband, is not one of self preservation. If telling Pharaoh Sarah is your wife will cost you your life, so be it. If warning a parishioner of his sin will cost you your popularity, your good standing, or your salary, so be it. If defending the Bride of Christ against any assailants from within or without costs you your life, so be it.
6 Yes, it’s completely laughable to believe that God begets children for Himself—not through marketing strategies or fundraising campaigns—but through His Word and Sacraments. And, even while you know that, the temptation is to laugh, or at least to smirk smugly, and to give in to the ways the world around you tells you will grow your congregation. That which God promises to make fruitful is not barren. Repent.
7 Not just any son will do. No son born of Abraham and Hagar will be the son of the promise because the promise was to Abraham and Sarah. Isaac is Sarah’s son, born of her flesh, born from her womb. But even he is not the Son of the Promise. He only foreshadows the One who would be born. Not just any son will do. No son born of Joseph and Mary would be the Son of God. Only the miraculous opening of the womb of the Virgin, giving birth to the Son of the Promise, would deliver Abraham and Sarah, Joseph and Mary, you and your congregation from their sinfulness.
8 It’s laughable. God took human flesh to die for humanity. This Jesus you proclaim is for you, too, pastor. He judges you not on the successfulness of your ministry or the effectiveness of your shepherding. The ministry has no success except what He who ministers to you allows it to have. All your shortcomings, all your ineffective ministry, all your half-hearted shepherding, all your faithlessness, all your self-serving, all your doubting the Lord’s laughable promises: these are carried away by the Husband who was willing to die to save His Bride.
9 Learn from Sarah to receive what the Lord gives. Learn from her to laugh. The Lord fulfills His promises. Even to you.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria
Pastor Jeff Hemmer
Hope, Jerseyville